Police Officer

Police Officer

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Columbia, Missouri

Salary Range: $40332 - $52426 Per Year

Job Summary: This is an open continuous announcement scheduled to close 09/30/2026. Applications will be accepted on an ongoing basis; qualified candidates will be considered and referred as vacancies become available. VA Police Officers ensuring a safe and secure environment within various settings, including a variety of jurisdictional environments, such as VHA Medical Centers and facilities, Inpatient Clinics, Outpatient Clinics, domiciliaries and administrative sites.

Major Duties:

• This position serves as a vital part of the VA Police Services often serving as the face of the VA and as the first person a Veteran or visitor encounters when entering a VA facility. Serves as a Police Officer with duties primarily executed on Veterans Affairs Department properties, including any properties owned, leased, or licensed to the VA. Provides law enforcement services across various jurisdictional environments, where each type of jurisdiction (Exclusive, Concurrent, and Proprietorial) entails different enforcement rules. Protects Veterans, volunteers, and others on Departmental property, including U.S. officials and other individuals, from threats to personal safety when the use of force is necessary to enforce laws and regulations. Safeguards Veterans, employees, and visitors' sensitive and protected medical information from unauthorized release or use where prohibited by law or policy, following guidance from the privacy officer, FOIA, HIPAA, etc. Carries firearms and other VA-approved weapons, intervening when needed to deescalate situations and determining the appropriate level of force to apply. Informs individuals of their rights (Miranda, Weingarten, Garrity, etc.) and protects their constitutional and civil rights. Conducts patrols using vehicles, on foot, and/or by bicycle. Detects and intervenes in criminal activities; responds to calls for police assistance, irregularities, and unusual or suspicious circumstances. Enforces traffic laws and regulations, including those pertaining to speeding and the reckless operation of vehicles while impaired or intoxicated. Participates in stops and contacts, exercises search and arrest authority, detains witnesses, and apprehends suspects. Executes arrest warrants issued by federal and local courts. Identifies security vulnerabilities and documents or reports changes in crime prevention programs. Prepares detailed reports of findings, highlighting identified risks and immediate steps taken to mitigate them. Work Schedule: Compressed/Flexible Schedule. Candidates must be willing to work weekends, irregular work hours and extended hours if determined by the needs of the service. Furthermore, candidates must be willing to be placed, detailed, or temporarily assigned to other related services and/or locations, if necessary. Available shifts may include Days and Nights; shifts to be confirmed upon selection. Position Description Title/PD#: Police Officer/PDS10376-A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized. ADDITIONAL POLICE OFFICER CONDITIONS OF EMPLOYMENT: 1. New VA Police Officers are required to attend an 8-week course at the VA Law Enforcement Training Center in Little Rock, Arkansas. Satisfactory completion of this course is a condition of continued employment.2. Designated Drug-Testing Position: Applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to an appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA. Applicants will not be appointed to the position if a verified positive drug test is received.3. A medical examination is required. The duties of these positions require moderate to arduous physical exertion and/or duties of a hazardous nature. The following medical requirements apply to all applicants: good near and distant vision, ability to distinguish basic colors, and ability to hear the conversational voice.4. Applicants and employees must have the capacity to perform the essential functions of the position without risk to themselves or others. Applicants and employees must possess emotional and mental stability. A psychological examination is required. In most instances, a specific medical condition or impairment will not automatically disqualify an applicant or employee. A medical condition or impairment is disqualifying only if the condition, for good medical reason, precludes assignment to or warrants restriction from the duties of the specific position. For some positions, the loss or impairment of a specific function may be compensated for by the satisfactory use of a prosthesis or mechanical aid. Reasonable accommodation shall also be considered in determining an applicant's ability to perform the duties of a position.5. A character investigation will be conducted on applicants selected for employment. The purpose of such an investigation is to secure evidence of the candidate's honesty, integrity, general character, and loyalty to the U.S. Government.6. As a condition of employment, must qualify to be issued a firearm and semi-annually with assigned firearm, annually with an expandable Straight Baton (MEB), maintain a valid State or Commonwealth Driver's License and pass annual physical and psychosocial assessments. Applicants must be able to possess firearms under the terms of the Gun Control Act of 1968, as amended (18 U.S.C. 922(g)(9).

Qualifications: To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. GS-05 grade level: At least one (1) full year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-4 level in the federal service that has given me the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities required to successfully perform the duties of a Police Officer. Specialized experience is work that provided knowledge of a body of basic laws and regulations, law enforcement operations, practices, and techniques and involved responsibility for maintaining order and protecting life and property. Creditable specialized experience may have been gained in work on a police force; through service as a military police officer; in work providing visitor protection and law enforcement in parks, forests, or other natural resource or recreational environments; in performing criminal investigative duties; or in other work that provided the required knowledge and skills. At this level, police work must have included patrolling assigned area(s) to enforce laws and ordinances, regulate traffic, control crowds, prevent crimes and/or arrest violators. Experience as a security guard or corrections officer is generally NOT qualifying. Note: Experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hour worked per week. OR EDUCATION: Successfully completed a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree in Police Science or a comparable degree program related to the work of the position. This education must have been obtained at an accredited college or university. NOTE: Transcripts (unofficial or official) must be submitted with your application materials. Education cannot be credited without documentation. OR COMBINATION: Successfully completed a Federal, State, county, or municipal police academy or comparable training course that included at least 40 classroom hours of instruction in police department procedures and methods, and local law and regulations, to substitute a maximum of 3 months of specialized experience AND possess at least 9 months of specialized experience as identified above. NOTE: Appropriate documentation of completion must be submitted with your application materials. A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Beginning September 27, 2025, Federal agencies will only accept resumes up to two pages in length to comply with the Merit Hiring Plan. Resumes longer than two pages will result in ineligibility for further consideration for the position. USAJOBS will not allow you to upload or build resumes longer than two pages, and you will need to update the resumes in your profile before applying for a job. Resumes should include information relevant to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and competencies of the position to which you are applying. VA is unable to make assumptions about qualifications if not clearly listed. Resumes must be legible so they can be reviewed for eligibility, minimum qualifications and other position requirements listed in the job announcement. Your resume must be 5MB or less. We recommend saving and uploading your resume as a PDF to maintain formatting and number of pages. We also accept GIF, JPG, JPEG, PNG, RTF, TXT, PDF, ODT or Word (DOC or DOCX). We do not accept PDF portfolio files. We recommend using a sans-serif font size like Lato, if available. Other widely available options are Calibri, Helvetica, Arial, Verdana, Open San Source Sans Pro, Roboto or Noro Sans. Make your page margins 0.5 inches. Consider using 14-point size font for titles and 10-point for the main text in your resume. The resume builder can help you create a resume using these recommendations and uses the information in your USAJOBS profile to help you get started.

How to Apply: All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the occupational questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (EST) on 09/30/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12859212. 1. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USAJOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. 2. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date. You may check the status of your application at any time by logging into your USA Jobs account and clicking on Applications. Information regarding your application status can be found in the USAJobs Help Center. To return to an incomplete application, log into your USAJOBS account and click Update Application in the vacancy announcement. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USAJOBS account or your application will be incomplete.

Application Deadline: 2026-09-30