How to Keep Your VA Police Badge After Adverse Findings | A Phoenix VA Executive Leadership Special
SUMMARY: How to keep your badge after the agency rules against you: Sit with the Phoenix VA "Executives Leadership Team," laugh on cue, and let longevity & friendship do the rest. Removal still pending.
So the agency substantiated the racial discrimination. So the agency sustained the sexual harassment finding. So what?
At the Phoenix VA, that is not the end of the story. It is the beginning of the advanced course.
STEP 1: COLLECT THE FINDINGS
Get at least one Title VII racial discrimination determination and one sustained finding of inappropriate conduct of a sexual nature ("Simulated Masturbation"). Bonus points if "Executive Leadership" personally signs off on it. This builds street credibility.
STEP 2: DO NOT PANIC
In most local or municpal police departments this would be career-ending. No Police Chief or Executive Leader would dare keep someone with substantiated racial and sexual discrimination findings in a position of power.
At the Phoenix VA it is treated like a minor paperwork issue. Remain calm. Continue reporting for duty.
STEP 3: KEEP SHOWING UP TO THE MORNING MEETINGS
This is the critical move. Sit with executive leadership. Smile. Laugh when they laugh. Become part of the furniture. Over time the findings start to feel like old paperwork instead of active problems.
Even better — future leaders can look back fondly on the years they supervised harassment and a Title VII violation — and did nothing effective to stop it.
STEP 4: ACCEPT THE OCCASIONAL ACTING ROLE
If offered the chance to play "Acting Chief" for a day, take it. As a racial and sexual discriminator, you can still be the face of the VA — the living proof that “integrity” is optional.
STEP 5: LET LONGEVITY DO THE HEAVY LIFTING
The longer you remain, the more the past becomes “complicated” instead of disqualifying. Familiarity is the best defense.
STEP 6: WATCH THE OPTICS WORK
While you keep your seat, the facility can still release photos of Black officers and talk about diversity. The two realities are not required to match.
Act like the investigations never happened. Act like everything is fine. And smile.
GRADUATION REQUIREMENT
Successfully keep your seat at the table after the agency itself ruled against you — while the "Executives" keep damaging their own reputations for you.
REMOVAL STILL PENDING
In the meantime, the department continues to live by its true motto:
- “Protecting Those Who Serve Themselves.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Concerned Citizens AZ Investigative Team — Documenting How the Phoenix Veterans Affairs Executive Leadership Team (ELT) Turned a Substantiated Harasser Into One of Their Own
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
READER NOTICE
Concerned Citizens Media encourages readers to independently verify the information contained in this publication, including through public records, official sources, or AI-assisted research tools. For additional information or clarification, readers are encouraged to contact appropriate Department of Veterans Affairs officials or their local VA facility directly.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER
Any attempt to retaliate against current or former VA employees, officers, contractors, or witnesses for engaging in protected whistleblower or EEO activity related to the matters discussed herein may constitute a violation of federal law, including 5 U.S.C. § 2302(b)(8)–(9), Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and applicable VA anti‑retaliation policies. Documentation, reporting, or public discussion of substantiated misconduct, harassment, discrimination, or policy violations is protected activity.