Action | Comprehensive Review and Update of the Training Standards Relating to Special Conservators of the Peace |
Stage | NOIRA |
Comment Period | Ended on 3/2/2022 |
My name is Stacy Sumner and I am the Manager of Security Services at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. I have been with the VMFA for 12 years and a SCOP Officer for 10 of those years. Our SCOP program provides security to the facility 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The VMFA is one of the top 10 fine arts museums in the nation, which further proves the vital need for the highest level of security. We are a state funded facility with budget restrictions like any other state funded agency. With these new regulations, the impact on our budget and staffing would be devastating. With additional costs for ammunition and range fees for two different firearm ranges, and also the strain on our staffing to require every officer to meet these new training requirements, these new regulations would be unrealistic to match and ones that simply cannot be accomplished with normal or even exceptional effort. I am not in favor of changing the firearms training requirements and I strongly recommend that our SCOP Officers continue to utilize the Private Security firearms courses.