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To: Reginald G. A. Neal, Ed.D | Assistant Secretary, Operations, Security, and Preparedness (OSP)

Phoenix VA Police Leadership Retained Despite Substantiated Racial Harassment Findings

This publication exists to preserve and publicly document what many employees, veterans, whistleblowers, and observers describe as a culture of tolerated misconduct, failed oversight, institutional protectionism, and retained discriminatory leadership within the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Police Department (Phoenix VA Police / PVAPD). 

Official federal findings have already substantiated racial harassment against an African-American employee within Phoenix, VA Police leadership. Yet from August, 2025, to present, senior officials within the Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness (OSP) have reportedly continued retaining officials associated with substantiated racial harassment, substantiated sexual harassment concerns, retaliation concerns, and potential "Giglio-Related Credibility" concerns in positions of federal law enforcement authority.

Summary of Documented Facts

  1. Substantiated Discrimination: As confirmed by the VA Office of Employment Discrimination Complaint Adjudication (OEDCA) on October 13, 2023 (VA Case No. 200P-644-2022-147530), the Phoenix VA Police Service was found to have created a racially hostile work environment in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This finding confirmed that supervisory police officer Joshua FISTER, made racially offensive comments, and managemen  tolerated discriminatory jokes, and failed to correct inappropriate conduct. 

  2. Leadership Deception and Denial: Despite official federal findings substantiating racial harassment within Phoenix VA Police leadership, PHXVAPD officials have allegedly continued denying racial discrimination problems within the department while minimizing or concealing substantiated discrimination findings, retaliation concerns, and hostile work environment allegations. Critics argue this conduct undermines public trust, transparency, and confidence in VA Police leadership and raises serious Title VII Civil Rights concerns. 

  3. Targeted Retaliation: Employees who report discrimination, expose leadership misconduct, or challenge questionable practices are consistently targeted and labeled as "disgruntled employees." This retaliatory practice is designed to silence truth-tellers and shift focus away from managerial failures, as evidenced by circumstances surrounding the department-wide email sent on October 8, 2025, which included official court documents and agency findings. (Read about the Exposing Email)

  4. Historical Pattern of Bias: Systemic bias is evidenced by the discriminatory rescinding of the Chief of Police selection for an experienced Black veteran around 2008/2009, based on inconsistent application of standards that were subsequently relaxed for non-Black officers with similar or fewer qualifications. (See Evidence)

  5. Specific Incidents of Racial Hostility: Leadership personnel such as Joshua FISTER engaged in racially derogatory remarks, including comparing a Black officer to "Mr. Tibbs" and mocking Black officers by referencing the movie Forrest Gump in a derogatory, racially charged manner, demonstrating profound racial bias. 

Public Awareness Notice:

In light of substantiated findings of racial harassment, documented workplace concerns, and the continued retention of Phoenix VA Police leadership officials, including Joshua FISTER, this publication serves as a record for preservation and public awareness regarding the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Police Department (Phoenix VA Police / PHXVAPD) and its oversight history:

  •  Substantiated Racial Harassment Findings: Official federal findings substantiated racial harassment involving an African-American employee within Phoenix VA Police leadership structures.

  • Retention of Leadership Officials: Despite substantiated findings and related concerns, management officials reportedly remained in positions involving supervisory authority, hiring influence, promotional influence, and federal law enforcement leadership. 

  • Phoenix VA Executive Leadership Awareness: Phoenix Veterans Affairs Healthcare System (PVAHCS) "Executive Leadership" reportedly received notification of Title VII discrimination complaints, Office of Resolution Management (ORM) matters, and substantiated workplace findings from 2022 to present. Despite this awareness, the same management VA Police management officials remained in positions of power while under the authority of the PVAHCS Executive Leadership functions prior to the 2025/2026 consolidation to OSP. 

  • OSP Awareness From August 2025 to Present: Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness (OSP) leadership reportedly received direct evidence, complaints, investigative materials, emails, and reporting concerning these matters from August 2025 to present while the same Phoenix VA Police leadership structure remained in place. . 

  • Public Awareness Purpose: This information is preserved so current and future employees, applicants, veterans, whistleblowers, minority applicants, female applicants, and members of the public may independently research the documented history, workplace culture concerns, and leadership decisions associated with Phoenix VA Police. 

Why is this important?


  1. Protecting Veterans and Public Trust:  Phoenix VA Police officers are entrusted with protecting veterans, employees, visitors, and federal facilities. Concerns involving substantiated racial harassment, retaliation, and leadership misconduct raise broader questions regarding professionalism, integrity, judgment, and public trust within a federal law enforcement environment. 

  2. Federal Civil Rights Concerns:   Official findings substantiated racial harassment involving an African-American employee within Phoenix VA Police leadership structures. These concerns directly implicate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and broader federal workplace protections intended to prevent discriminatory and hostile work environments. 

  3. Leadership Retention Despite Findings:  A major concern is not simply that findings existed, but that Phoenix VA Health Care System's  "Executive Leadership" retained the same management officials despite awareness of substantiated findings, complaints, and workplace concerns over multiple years. Critics argue this reflects a broader culture of institutional protectionism rather than accountability. 

  4.  Whistleblower and Retaliation Concerns:  Employees and observers have raised concerns regarding retaliation, intimidation, and the dismissal of employees as “disgruntled” after reporting misconduct or workplace concerns. Such perceptions can discourage reporting, damage morale, and weaken confidence in internal accountability systems. 

  5.  Preservation and Public Awareness:  This publication exists to preserve publicly accessible information regarding Phoenix VA Police leadership history, substantiated findings, oversight awareness, and workplace culture concerns so that current and future employees, applicants, veterans, and members of the public may independently review and assess the documented record. 

Updates

2026-08-02 08:24:55 -0400

Phoenix VA Executives Put a Crown on a "Proven" Harasser — Then Made Him One of Them… Multiple Times

Phoenix VA Executive Leadership continually allows this supervisory law enforcement official - responsible for a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 - to sit in their morning meetings.

They were fully aware of the substantiated finding of a racially hostile work environment based on Race.

Yet every time he is appointed "Acting Chief" by the agency - they sit with him, laugh, talk, and carry on as if it never happened.

Read here:

https://c.org/fTszcZDVmJ

2026-07-28 17:19:20 -0400

The "Open Letter to Reginald G. A. Neal" Is Now Part of the Official Record

On July 25, an Open Letter was published to Reginald G. A. Neal detailing the retention of a Phoenix VA Police supervisor with substantiated racial discrimination and substantiated sexual harassment findings.

The letter was formally submitted to OSP.

Senior OSP leadership, including Ian Dinesen, Patrick L. Hernandez, and Edward Dubois, received it.

The information is no longer confined to the department.

It is now logged at the national level.

The record exists.

Read the Open Letter here:

https://c.org/nsPGZ4TWhG

2026-07-21 22:56:12 -0400

What Is “The Hallway Strut”?

At Phoenix VA Police, “The Hallway Strut” is the swagger of leadership officials who kept their badges, authority, and control after substantiated racial discrimination and sexual misconduct—because the Phoenix VA "Executive Leadership" overseeing the department from 2022 until its 2025–2026 consolidation under OSP allowed protection over accountability.

They did not clear their names.

Executive leadership simply allowed the consequences to be optional—and left employees (especially female employees) and taxpayers carrying the damage.

https://c.org/VkJDJcbyKF

2026-07-06 19:23:23 -0400

UPDATE: THE PAPER TRAIL IS HARDCODED. VAIOC LOGGED.

​On July 7, 2026, the complete administrative record of corruption was officially forced into the VA's national Integrated Operations Center (IOC) under VA Directive 0322.

​Phoenix Executive Directors Elijah Ditter and Stacey Scherpf, along with national OSP leadership, were placed directly on the open transmission. Local management can no longer hide or filter this crisis.

​The national enterprise log now permanently records:

​• The binding 2023 OEDCA liability finding for a racially hostile work environment (Case No. 200P-644-2022-147530).

​• The substantiated 2023 sexual harassment findings against a retained supervisor.

​The Bottom Line: National security desks are now actively monitoring the footprint. Any further attempts by local leadership to sweep this under the rug or target whistleblowers are being tracked at the highest level of the agency. The truth is locked in.

2026-06-23 22:32:52 -0400

UPDATE: HERNANDEZ KNOWS. THE LEADERSHIP REMAINS.

On June 22, 2026, Patrick L. Hernandez, Chief of the VA's Office of Operations, Security, and Preparedness (OSP), received our Open Letter regarding the Phoenix VA Police Department.

This was not the first warning.

On February 11, 2026, Hernandez personally visited Phoenix VA Police after years of whistleblower disclosures involving racial harassment, sexual harassment, retaliation, and credibility concerns within police leadership.

He heard the concerns.

He became aware.

Yet the same leadership remains.

Officials associated with substantiated misconduct continue to occupy management positions, while employees continue to report retaliation.

Most troubling, OSP's own Office of Security and Law Enforcement has recognized that certain officials can become:

• "potentially a Giglio-impaired individual unsuitable for a VA Police position."

2026-06-09 13:24:08 -0400

Notice for Applicants and Potential Hires:

Please be aware that as of 2026, the Phoenix VA Police leadership actively employs and retains individuals in supervisory positions who have violated harassment policies, the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and engaged in racial discrimination and sexual harassment. Furthermore, whistleblowers and individuals who file complaints reportedly face ridicule, discreditation, further harassment, and retaliation. This environment persists because the Executive Leadership of the Office of Operations Security and Preparedness (OSP) has failed to take effective action to reform the department, despite confirmed instances of racial and sexual discrimination.

2026-05-27 04:47:32 -0400

Multiple Final Agency Decisions (FADs) involving Phoenix VA Police-related matters are currently pending as of now, with employees and observers awaiting determinations regarding discrimination, retaliation, hostile work environment allegations, and related workplace misconduct concerns.

Pending matters demonstrates that concerns surrounding Phoenix VA Police were not isolated incidents, but part of a broader leadership and workplace culture controversy that remained hidden for years behind what some employees described as a “small-town mentality” within a federal law enforcement environment.

Recent public relations efforts and image rehabilitation attempts cannot erase years of documented complaints, substantiated findings, retaliation concerns, and leadership decisions.

2026-04-17 14:14:36 -0400

Under OSP oversight of the Phoenix VA Police Department, the message has become clear:

• If you are a Black or African American employee, your voice will not be heard—even when discrimination is substantiated."

OSP "Executive" Leadership continues to retain supervisory officials with substantiated "racial and sexual harassment," signaling that this conduct is acceptable.

And if you are a woman—especially a Black woman—
you are even less likely to be heard.

This is not oversight.
This is tolerance of discrimination under federal authority.

2026-04-13 17:47:05 -0400

OSP leadership has made a quiet but unmistakable statement in 2026: substantiated racial harassment is acceptable under their oversight. By retaining supervisory law enforcement officials found responsible for racial misconduct, they have endorsed placing individuals in positions of public trust who hold the power to arrest, charge, and impact lives permanently.

This directly contradicts VA’s own legal and ethical standards requiring integrity, impartiality, and public trust in federal service .

Rather than correcting the long-standing culture of R.O.T. (Retaliation, Obstruction, Tolerance) within Phoenix VA Police, OSP has absorbed it. The result is no longer just R.O.T.—it is now R.O.T.T.E.N. at the oversight level.

2026-03-16 16:43:30 -0400

25 signatures reached

2026-02-06 07:37:31 -0500

No matter how the department tries to spin the narrative, whether by claiming former officers “made it up” or dismissing complaints as exaggerations, the facts say otherwise.

The VA’s own attorneys confirmed what officers have been saying all along: this department has a real problem with race discrimination and sexual harassment.

That truth is already on record. It is only a matter of time before continued investigations, litigation, and public scrutiny expose the full scope of the damage and force accountability.

We will continue to support every effort to bring these systemic failures into the light until the harm is acknowledged, addressed, and stopped.

2026-01-24 20:54:56 -0500

🚨 Update (Jan 2026)

On Jan 16, 2026, Phoenix VA Police reportedly detained a non-English-speaking man for ICE — no charges, no judge, no court appearance.

⚠️ ICE administrative warrants are civil, not judicial, and do not authorize VA Police to arrest or detain.

❗If accurate, this raises serious due process and federal authority concerns tied to longstanding oversight failures.

📄 Read here: https://c.org/LYyW2Vt5nN

2026-01-16 13:02:00 -0500

Senior leadership within OSP and at the executive level of the Phoenix Healthcare System and the Phoenix VA Healthcare System are aware of substantiated racial discrimination, sexual harassment, and other serious misconduct. ❗

Despite this awareness, there appears to be little to no meaningful action taken to address or correct these issues. This lack of accountability raises serious concerns about leadership responsibility, oversight, and commitment to a safe and equitable workplace. ⚠️

These matters warrant further questioning and a formal investigation. To ensure transparency and accountability, an Administrative Investigation Board (AIB) should be considered. 🔍⚖️

2026-01-07 19:38:09 -0500

Inside a Failed OIG Investigation: Records Show Phoenix Veteran Affairs Police Corruption — Case No. 2024-02060-HL-0660 — Referred to Their Own Oversight (OS&LE) and Cleared ("Non-Sustained")

https://archive.org/details/va-oig-hotline-case-2024-02060-hl-0660-complaint

2026-01-02 02:17:10 -0500

VA OIG Complaint: #2024-03707-HL-1220 (Firearm & Sexual Harassment)

FOIA records raise serious concerns about Phoenix VA Police oversight. A firearm incident involving a non-patient employee was handled under a patient-only policy exception, limiting scrutiny. A related Harassment Prevention Program complaint substantiated 3 of 4 claims, confirming misconduct.

This occurred three days after the April 1, 2024 VA police tragedy in Kansas. Despite multiple harassment complaints elevated throughout 2025 to VA leadership and oversight offices, records reflect minimal corrective action.
Read the documents here:

https://www.scribd.com/document/974782995/VA-OIG-Complaint-2024-03707-HL-1220-Firearm-Sexual-Harassment