FederalDaily - January 31, 2007

Survey: Park Police Complain of Lack of Funding

A majority of surveyed U.S. Park Police (USPP) officers say they lack the funding, manpower and necessary equipment to do their jobs, according to a recent survey of USPP line officers. The survey, conducted by the USPP Chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), was released Jan. 29 by the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). USPP staffing levels are at a 20-year low and assaults against the remaining officers have reached an all-time high, PEER said. There is plenty to complain about, according to a letter from the FOP to USPP management that accompanied the survey. Lack of funding is a constant problem. According to the FOP letter, the crunch has forced the cancellation of training classes and has grown so severe that the FOP had to pitch in to buy feed and grain for the horses in the USPP mounted patrol. Some motorcycle unit officers had to pay for replacement parts out of their own pockets to keep their USPP bikes running, and a canine officer had to pay for the upkeep of his patrol dog, FOP said. To see more, go to: www.peer.org/news/news_id.php?row_id=812.

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Army Opens High-Tech Rehab Center

The Army opened a $50 million high-tech rehabilitation center—built with private donations—that will provide intensive therapy for returning veterans who have either lost a limb or suffered severe burns. The 60,000-square-foot Center for the Intrepid, at Fort Sam Houston near San Antonio, Texas, opened Jan. 29. It was funded by private donations to the Intrepid Foundation, a charity that also builds shelter houses for families of wounded vets undergoing treatment. Of the more than 24,000 U.S. soldiers injured since the start of the Iraq war, more than 500 have lost a limb. The center is open to all those injured while on active duty. The state-of-the-art four-story center includes clinical space, a military performance lab with a gait lab and computer-assisted rehabilitation environment, a wave pool, an indoor running track, a two-story climbing wall and a prosthetics center. “These wounded military members, injured in service to America, are top-notch athletes who deserve a facility that is the best in the world,” center officials said in a statement. To see more, go to: www.fallenheroesfund.org/common/page.php?ref=press_kit.

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GAO: DoD Needs to Tighten Seabasing Plan

DoD needs to get a better grip on the planning of a bold new plan that would base all offensive American combat units on ships at sea, according to a new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report. Called joint seabasing, the concept was embraced by the Pentagon as an alternative to finding land bases in countries reluctant to give access to the U.S. military. GAO in a Jan. 26 report looked at whether DoD had employed a comprehensive approach to seabasing and whether it had developed a joint experimentation campaign plan. It had not, the report said. Redundancy exists. For example, the Navy plan—to procure a $14.5 billion contract to develop a seabasing fleet of ships—serves about the same purpose as the Army’s $15 billion effort. “No overarching joint seabasing experimentation plan exists to guide these efforts because the U.S. Joint Forces Command has not taken the lead in coordinating joint seabasing experimentation,” the report said. GAO recommended that DoD develop a management approach that includes senior leadership involvement and a dedicated implementation team. To see more, go to www.gao.gov/docsearch/abstract.php?rptno=GAO-07-211.

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