Summary: For years, Phoenix VA Police leadership claimed their department was clean, but the truth tells a different story. Harassment and discrimination were hidden through informal handling, leaving officers silenced and systemic issues unaddressed. Now, official complaints, investigations, and lawsuits are exposing the reality leadership worked so hard to deny. This article breaks down how concealment became culture, how officers are reclaiming their voices, and how evidence—like the Bennett and Francis cases—proves the system is broken. 

🕵️‍♂️A SYSTEMIC PATTERN OF AVOIDANCE🕵️‍♂️

For the past seven years (and likely prior), leadership within the Phoenix VA Police Department has consistently chosen to handle harassment allegations at the "lowest possible level." Instead of following the mandatory requirements under VA Directive/Handbook 5979 (Harassment Prevention Program), which demands timely documentation, fact-finding, and immediate reporting, they diverted complaints into informal conversations and undocumented resolutions.

The result? A paper trail that appeared clean. On record, the department could boast that it had no serious harassment or discrimination problems. But this was not the reality—it was concealment through informality. ❌

🕳️HOW A CULTURE OF CONCEALMENT TOOK ROOT🕳️

When informality becomes practice, it evolves into culture. Leadership (and even officers) were conditioned to avoid documentation, fearing that any official report would blemish the department’s image. Employees were subtly discouraged from pursuing official reporting channels, either through fear of retaliation or through the futility of being told, “we’ll handle it here.” 🤐

This was not just mismanagement—it was a deliberate culture of concealment.

✊THE SHIFT: EMPLOYEES PUSH BACK✊

That culture began to unravel when employees turned to official reporting channels—filing complaints with the Office of Accountability and Whistleblower Protection (OAWP), the Office of Resolution Management (ORM), the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the VA Office of Inspector General (VA OIG), and even the U.S. District Court – District of Arizona ⚖️.

These filings forced leadership into a corner. No longer able to bury complaints off the record, they were suddenly confronted with systemic issues that had always existed but were never acknowledged. And their reaction? Control the narrative. 🎭

🔍NARRATIVE CONTROL VS. REALITY🔍

Today, Phoenix VA Police leadership acknowledges isolated incidents of harassment but denies systemic issues. Their messaging: “There were no problems until recently.” 🌀

This framing is disingenuous. The truth is that the problems were always present—they were just hidden behind a wall of informal handling. The surge in documented complaints is not evidence of new problems; it is evidence of employees refusing to remain silent. 📢

This pattern fits the findings of the VA Office of Inspector General’s 2018 report, which concluded that governance of VA Police programs was inadequate, oversight mechanisms were broken, and systemic accountability was missing.

Importantly, leadership has recently admitted that harassment occurred this year—but what they avoid telling you is that multiple incidents of harassment were formally substantiated, including in 2023 (Racial and Sexual) and again in 2024. Their selective admissions are designed to downplay the broader systemic truth. ⚠️

🗣️MESSAGE TO PHOENIX VA POLICE OFFICERS: "WE'LL BE YOUR VOICE!"🗣️

You know the reality. You keep getting pulled into these non-stop fact-findings, administrative investigations, OAWP inquiries, and other reviews. Some of you have even been advised of your Weingarten rights, or maybe compelled under Garrity to answer questions about harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, or misconduct. Yet while you sit under oath—knowing you must answer truthfully under penalty of perjury—your leaders still claim there are “no issues.” 🙄

You know that silence is imposed, but this voice is for you. Silencing is compelled by administrative power and control—you are told NOT to speak about investigations, which effectively mutes your voice.

Remember: the system is designed to protect the government and those in power, not the individual employee. That is how power works: it preserves itself. 🏛️

👮🏿MESSAGE TO THE BLACK OFFICERS: "The Silent Few"👮🏿

Bennett’s Case 📑

The VA's Office of Resolution Management (formerly ORMDI, now ORM) investigated the case of the department’s "first" Black Lead Police Officer, Matthew Bennett, which was referred to the Office of Employment Discrimination Complaint Adjudication (OEDCA). OEDCA issued the Final Agency Decision (VA Case No. 200P-644-2022-147530), substantiating that he faced a hostile work environment based on race. (See Case Details Here)

Many of you Phoenix VA Police Officers (actively reading this) were compelled to give statements in that case, providing sworn testimony and records that confirmed the discrimination. For those of you that knew Bennett—he wasn’t stupid—he kept two years’ worth of memorandums (something he was apparently made fun of for doing - which the department now uses to retaliate against officers with), and that documentation ultimately proved critical. It helped substantiate his discrimination claim and forced the U.S. Attorney’s Office and Department of Veterans Affairs to offer a settlement 💼⚖️.  Which Bennett agreed to on May 15th, 2024 according to public records. 

Francis’s Case 🕊️

You also know Francis’s case (Case No. 25-cv-01009-KML, Francis v. Department of Veterans Affairs, 2025) is pending, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office is pushing hard to dismiss it to avoid discovery (See Case Here). Historically, Phoenix VA leadership resisted the federal system, preferring to lean on the state process. Yet in Francis’s situation, they made an exception—the 1% of cases, where compromised law enforcement leadership, chose to "attempt" to pursue him with criminal charges in federal court. That inconsistency raises serious questions: why now, and why him? 🤔 (See Details Here)

If the case proceeds, many of you 🫵 will be subpoenaed for depositions. Francis, however, has the resources and legal support to fight this fully and help bring light to the issues this department has. 🛡️

The Ongoing Silence 🤫

Remaining silent because you hope for a promotion, thinking, “well, they don’t have any Black supervisors yet, maybe they’ll pick me,” is self-defeating. If they valued you, you’d already be promoted. Leadership may be tired of hearing about Bennett’s and Francis’ cases—and yes, nobody likes talking about discrimination or racism—but there is too much truth here to ignore. Silence only helps them preserve their false narrative. 🧱

Invisibility and Erasure 👤

Just as Ralph Ellison captured in The Invisible Man (1952), your voices are treated as invisible the moment discrimination is substantiated and then dismissed by leadership. Leaders now go further, falsely claiming there is no discrimination and never has been. You are expected to carry on as though it never happened. But invisibility is not protection—it is erasure, and denial on top of erasure is its own form of violence.

The policies are clear. The protections are real. But they only work if you use them. 📌

Editor’s Note: The mentioning of the Black officers here is not about giving special attention—it is about holding them accountable for their silence. Too often that silence shields wrongdoing. This fight is about all of us working together. We have thanked the White officers who spoke up when the Black and other officers did not. This is not about DEI or anything; it is about proof. Bennett’s and Francis’s cases provide the clearest evidence of misconduct and discrimination. That is why they are referenced.

📺THE BRADY BUNCH📺

Numerous within Phoenix VA Police leadership are Brady- or Giglio-Impaired—their credibility so compromised that they cannot be trusted in testimony or investigations. Like a corrupt version of the “Brady Bunch,” these leaders form a dysfunctional circle of protection, shielding one another from accountability while the department suffers. Officers know who they are, and records confirm their impairments. Yet these individuals remain in positions of authority, making critical decisions despite their compromised standing.

🔒CLOSING: POWER AND CONTROL🔒

This is not new. These are classic attempts at power preservation—denial, narrative control, and selective admissions. Anyone familiar with the 48 Laws of Power will recognize the tactics. But what leadership has failed to realize is that even their favorite tactics now work against them. 🔄

• Law 40: Despise the Free Lunch 🍔 – Leadership wants you to believe their offers of help or invitations to “come to management with your problems” are genuine. Do not be fooled. Under federal law, if you bring your issues directly to management, they can claim the matter was resolved internally and use that to block or undermine a future official EEO complaint or investigation. That “free lunch” is not a gift—it is a trap. 🪤 

• • To the Phoenix VA Police Officers: Do NOT accept their lunches, their pizza, their "steak and egg" breakfasts burritos, or their invitations to confide. Once you do, they will say the matter was handled and settled. 🍳🍕

• • Keep the power in your hands: you have the option to go directly to ORM or HPP to file an EEO or harassment complaint and use official processes. Do not give up your power to individuals whose only goal is to protect themselves. Reject the free handouts, reject the spies, but most of all reject the free lunch—and keep your voice and your rights intact. ✊

The truth is clear: Power shifts when silence breaks. Phoenix VA Police leadership is not in denial by mistake. They are in denial by design. They have built a system to shield themselves, to protect their own standing, and to preserve a façade of order while their workforce suffers under harassment and fear. Every denial, every downplayed incident, every selective admission is proof of a leadership more invested in covering itself than protecting its people.

And only by speaking, documenting, and demanding accountability can that corrupt design be dismantled. 🧨