Skip to main content

To: VA: Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness (OSP)

Failures in Fingerprinting and DNA Collection Leave Offenders Untraceable: Phoenix VA Police

🧬 Subtitle: By refusing to fingerprint arrestees or collect DNA, Phoenix VA Police are allowing suspects tied to sex crimes, unsolved murders, and other serious federal offenses to avoid being entered into national justice systems—effectively burying cases that could be solved and endangering lives through willful inaction.

📌 OAWP COMPLAINT UNCOVERS SERIOUS BREAKDOWN

A complaint filed with the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection (OAWP) in January 2024—Case 24-Phoenix-23807—revealed shocking procedural failures at the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Police Department. Officers are not fingerprinting arrestees, not collecting DNA, not filing proper charges, and not coordinating with the DOJ or U.S. Marshals. These gaps allow violent offenders, including sex crime suspects, to avoid justice and escape national law enforcement databases.

"There’s no VA policy requiring fingerprinting," investigators concluded.

But the law doesn’t require policy—it demands compliance.

📋 SYSTEMIC NEGLECT, NOT ISOLATED INCIDENTS

This report documents a pattern—not a mistake. Phoenix VA:

  • Possesses a LiveScan fingerprint machine (since 2020)

  • Has legal obligations under DOJ regulations

  • Routinely downgrades felony-level crimes to citations

  • Fails to follow Rule 4 and Rule 5 of federal criminal procedure

  • Releases suspects without fingerprints, DNA, or federal complaints

Instead of processing offenders, they simply hand them a citation—or let them walk.

🧬 DNA LAWS IGNORED, FEDERAL PROTOCOLS BROKEN

Under the DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005 (34 U.S.C. § 40702) and 28 CFR Part 28, the VA must collect DNA from anyone arrested, facing charges, or convicted. But without fingerprinting, those DNA samples can’t be processed or tracked by FBI systems like CODIS.

DOJ regulations even state: "DNA collection may be limited to individuals from whom an agency collects fingerprints."

No fingerprints = no match = Rapists and Murder suspects living thier best lives!.

📎 NO NCIC ENTRY, NO CODIS HIT, NO RECORD

Despite repeated warnings, Phoenix VA continues to:

  • Ignore DOJ expectations

  • Refuse to present offenders to magistrates

  • Fail to submit AO 91 criminal complaints

  • Operate outside federal coordination with USMS and USAO

This is not just poor practice. It’s a federal procedural void.

⚖️ OFFICERS SILENCED, REFORM BLOCKED

Attempts to correct this problem began in 2020. But senior law enforcement officials at Office of Security and Law Enforcement (OSLE) and Office of Senior Security Officer (OSSO) rejected those efforts. Officers were told to stop pushing reform. Multiple insiders reported feeling "handcuffed by leadership."

They’ve seen colleagues and nurses assaulted—yet were directed to issue a citation and send the suspect home. No prints. No charges. No protections.

💥 COULD THIS HAPPEN AGAIN? REMEMBER SUTHERLAND SPRINGS

In 2017, the Air Force failed to report a violent offender’s fingerprints. That man killed 26 people in Texas. The DoD IG said the tragedy was entirely preventable.

Phoenix VA has been warned. They’ve ignored the same red flags.

📄 WE DEMAND IMMEDIATE ACTION

  • 🔹 DOJ and FBI-compliant fingerprinting at all VA police units

  • 🔹 Federal audit of arrest procedures at Phoenix VA

  • 🔹 Mandatory retraining on AO 91 and Rule 5

  • 🔹 Congressional and OIG investigation into failures

🛑 THIS IS WILLFUL NEGLIGENCE

Phoenix VA has:

  • The fingerprint machines

  • The DOJ guidance

  • The ability to coordinate with federal prosecutors

They choose not to.

And while they do nothing, offenders slip through the cracks—and sex crimes, rapes, and murders remain unsolved.

✍️ Sign this petition. Demand oversight. Demand justice. Before it’s too late.

For more technical details, read here:

https://www.change.org/p/unlawful-arrests-veterans-affairs-police-are-violating-due-process-protection-laws/u/33660787

#PhoenixVAPolice #CarlTHaydenVAMC #PVAHCS #PhoenixVAHealthcareSystem #VAHandbook0730 #38CFR1218 #VApoliceMisconduct #End Rape

Why is this important?

Because justice begins with accountability—and right now, Phoenix VA Police are bypassing the very systems meant to protect us.

By refusing to fingerprint and collect DNA from individuals arrested for violent and serious crimes, VA Police are allowing dangerous suspects to avoid tracking, escape federal charges, and walk away unpunished. These aren’t technical glitches—these are conscious decisions to ignore the law.

When federal agencies fail to follow DOJ procedures, sex offenders don’t get entered into the system. Rapists aren’t matched in CODIS. Cold cases stay cold. And violent criminals remain free to offend again.

The tools exist. The laws are clear. But Phoenix VA Police are choosing inaction—and that inaction is putting veterans, employees, and the public at risk.

If we don’t demand change now, we risk another preventable tragedy—another name in the headlines—because the system failed to act.

Updates

2025-12-11 07:34:55 -0500

10 signatures reached

2025-11-28 08:19:21 -0500

On October 29th, 2025, the VA’s Office of Operations, Security & Preparedness (OSP) was officially notified of this failure, and the incident was formally logged by the VA Integrated Operations Center (IOC) under whistleblower disclosure ID#: Case 24-Phoenix-23807.

The submission exposed that Phoenix VA Police had no policy requiring fingerprints to be submitted to the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Center during criminal arrests.

Because of this lapse, a veteran who fought with Phoenix VA Police in 2020 was released without her fingerprints ever being sent to the FBI, preventing a criminal history record from being created. She later shot at Phoenix Police officers — a tragedy that could have been prevented.

With OSP notified and the case now logged in the IOC system, the VA can no longer claim they were unaware.

They are officially on record — and out of excuses.