Findings are based on work done at the VA central office in Washington, D.C., and at 11 VA medical centers in 6 States. Crime at VA medical centers has been rising steadily, and the nature of the crimes covers the spectrum of violent crimes against persons, property crimes, and substance abuse. The VA relies primarily on 1,800 police for crime prevention. Failure to recruit enough qualified security personnel and counter high police turnover makes it difficult for VA to maintain effective security. Inadequate pay ($12,500 per year average) is considered the primary reason for high turnover. An additional problem is the limited 5-day training received by security police. While officers are required to receive this training during their first year of employment, the average time between employment and training was found to be over 12 months. VA police have neither the authority nor the training to conduct criminal investigations, except to the extent necessary to determine if a crime has been committed. For investigations, the VA generally relies on four regional security officers and 27 detectives stationed at certain centers. Limited assistance is provided by local police and Federal law enforcement agencies. Training of officers should be expanded to include specialized instruction in how to deal with the crimes most prevalent at the centers. Investigation could be strengthened by assigning detectives to districts rather than individual centers, so as to increase the investigative capability of centers without detectives on their security forces.