Joint Hearing on Hundreds of Weapons Missing from Parks Police Inventory
WASHINGTON – On Friday, August 2nd at 9:00 a.m., the House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on National Security and the House Natural Resources Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environment Regulation will hold a joint hearing entitled “Missing Weapons at the National Park Service: Mismanagement and Lack of Accountability.”
On June 27th, the Office of Inspector General (OIG) released a scathing report on the U.S. Park Police’s weapons inventory records and oversight of the weapons accountability program, calling the problems “fundamental errors in record keeping” and “glaring nonfeasance by senior command.” According to the report, the OIG made unannounced visits to several USPP weapons storage facilities, including in Washington, D.C., Staten Island, NY and San Francisco, CA. OIG agents found hundreds of weapons unaccounted for on USPP inventory records and found more than 1,400 “extra weapons” for a force that consists of only 640 officers. The OIG also found inadequate inventory supervision by senior officers.
This hearing will address the need for proper inventory procedures and improved oversight for firearms management.
Hearing Details:
Friday, August 2nd
“Missing Weapons at the National Park Service: Mismanagement and Lack of Accountability”
Subcommittee on National Security, Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), and the House Committee on Natural Resources’ Public Lands and Environmental Regulation, Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT)
9:00 a.m. in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building
Witnesses:
Kim Thorsen
Deputy Assistant Secretary for Public Safety, Resource Protection and Emergency Services
U.S. Department of Interior
The Honorable Jonathan B. Jarvis
Director, National Parks Service
U.S. Department of the Interior
Chief Theresa Chambers
U.S. Park Police
U.S. Department of the Interior
Robert A. Knox
Assistant Inspector General for Investigations
Office of Inspector General
U.S. Department of the Interior