$200,000 security "oversight" at Salem VA Medical Center

In 2015, Chief Hendley shows WSLS 10 some of the new security upgrades (Copyright by WSLS - All rights reserved)

SALEM (WSLS 10) - The Salem VA Medical Center has been identified as a potential target for terrorism according to the VA police chief.

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During our continuing investigation into the medical center we found more than $1.3 million of taxpayer money earmarked for security upgrades. The upgrades were supposed to be up and running last year but as we found out some parts still aren't functioning and it's costing taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix.

Around the outside of the Salem VA Medical Center (VAMC) a fence helps secure the area during a lockdown but over the last few years there were other upgrades you may not have noticed.

Documents we requested under the Freedom of Information Act show $1,370,674 earmarked for three major projects. VAMC Police Chief Dale Hendley says the updates were finished in September 2014. Hendley was the project manager and oversaw payments.

"Before I would make a payment, I would have to talk to the contracting officer representative and say, 'Is this portion done and can I release the funding?' Once he says 'Yes you can release the funding', then in the computer I would go in and release the funding," said Hendley.

One of the security projects would allow the more than 80 buildings on the campus to be locked or opened with the push of a button. Previously it had to be done by hand taking more than thirty minutes and a lot of man power. Now, ten months later our investigation finds there are problems with security systems.

"If I spent $1 million on something then I would make sure that it worked correctly," said Zibton.

"Me too. Yes ma'am. I would want it to work correctly," said Hendley.

Chief Hendley shows WSLS 10 some of the new security upgrades

We've learned Chief Hendley has requested thousands of dollars for fixes. During our investigation WSLS 10 obtained audio of a staff meeting in April discussing security issues. Comments the public wasn't supposed to hear.

"Yeah. right now, all of the exterior access control still not working because it's not tied up to the fire alarm system. I put in for funding, around $200,000, don't share that amount with anybody," said Hendley in the meeting.

With doors not tied into the fire alarm system if there was an emergency lock down and a fire started people couldn't get out. Because of that shortcoming the chief says system cannot be turned on and isn't being used.

A $200,000 oversight.

Hendley continued telling staff about other issues.

"The second thing is none of our motion intrusion is working. All 28 devices are down. You guys should have been told about that some time ago," said Hendley in the meeting.

In an email sent to officers they were told to walk the areas including the credit union because it didn't have working motion detectors. Another email sent in late June to the entire staff said in part "Currently we are experiencing problems with our alarm server and all of the alarms are down in the facility."

Salem VA Police headquarters where security is monitored

The chief said to staff in the April meeting when the system was installed they didn't connect it and there would be an additional cost to fix it.

"I do know that because my contracting officer representative did not do what I asked him to do several months ago, when they were finishing up the project and when one of the devices fell off the back door of building 8 and almost hit a doctor in the head and then another one was missing from over in building 75, I told the contracting officer representative to go around and check all of the newly installed packs and then he didn't do it," said Hendley in the staff meeting.

The contracting officer represenative, Charles Woodley, would not go on camera but sent a statement saying "...we simply had not completed checking on them when Chief Hendley asked for a status update.  We were able to complete the full inspection of the newly-installed Personal Access Controls and developed a list of deficiencies to be addressed by the contractor."

Chief Hendley admitted there been issues with the motion intrusion system but when we asked him to explain he said "The problem is that this would be a vulnerability to the facility so I'm not going to address that right now."

When we pointed out the multiple glitches.

"As with any electrical device you're going to have a failure at one point or another. Even if it's brand-new. You could buy a brand-new car, drive down the road and something may cause it to stop," said Hendley.

"To me if I was trying to do all of this and these things kept happening I would be frustrated," said Zibton.

"It can be frustrated (frustrating) when you have a glitch in the system but like I said that's any electrical device," said Hendley.

Chief Hendley said the $200,000 request was approved for the doors and they will start fixing the system in October. Meanwhile the chief believes the Salem VA is safe.

So where did the ball get dropped? We are waiting on the VA to give us the bids and contracts for the projects to see if it was an oversight that wasn't included in the original job or if the job wasn't done to specifications. It's worth noting in the conversations we've had with people at the VA in connection with this story and others in this series there seems to be a lot of finger-pointing.

We have tried reaching out to the contracting officer Chief Hendley mentioned, but have not received a response.


About the Author:

You can see Jenna weekday mornings at the anchor desk on WSLS 10 Today from 5-7 a.m. She also leads our monthly Solutionaries Series, where we highlight the creative thinkers and doers working to make the world a better place.