Park Police chief suspended after citing budget, staffing problems

The National Park Service has placed the chief of the Park Police on administrative leave after she made comments to the media about budget and personnel shortfalls at the agency.

The suspension follows a gag order the agency instituted after Chief Teresa Chambers was quoted in a Tuesday Washington Post article. Chambers told the Post that her 620-member force needs as many as 800 additional officers to meet increased demands, faces a $12 million shortfall this fiscal year, and needs up to $8 million more for next fiscal year.

After the article ran, Don Murphy, the Park Service's deputy director, said Chambers' comments broke two federal rules: one barring public comment about ongoing budget discussions, the other prohibiting lobbying by someone in her position.

After a late-day meeting Friday, the Park Service announced that Chambers had been placed on administrative leave and that Deputy Chief Ben Holmes would serve as acting chief. The service did not give any specific reason for the action.

However, Park Service spokesman David Barna acknowledged on Friday the agency was not actually sure if Chambers broke any federal laws, and lawyers are now researching what agency heads can and cannot publicly say.

Some House lawmakers questioned the agency's decision to discipline Chambers for speaking out about budget problems, adding that they know the Park Police faces problems.

Dan Drummond, spokesman for Rep. James Moran, D-Va., said Chambers is a highly respected chief and should be allowed to speak freely about her agency.

"The congressman is not only concerned about the gag order, but also about the staffing levels," Drummond said. "He does not feel that there should be a gag order on her. She should be allowed to speak freely."

Drummond said Moran's office is looking into whether public officials like Chambers can be restricted from talking publicly about budget problems. He added that the office would also examine budget conditions within the Park Police.

An official who specializes in government law said he did not know of any laws that would prohibit an agency chief from publicly talking about budget issues, although there might be administrative policies regarding such actions.

"It sounds like a broad statement that they don't want people to talk about unpleasant things," said the legal expert, who asked not to be identified. "We all are in a world today where we are all keenly aware of the human resource problems in government and are acutely interested in a discussion about them."

Barna acknowledged that the Park Police, and the Park Service overall, face new pressures due to expanding missions and increased homeland security obligations.

"There's no doubt in anybody's mind that things are getting tight, especially in this agency," he said.

The core mission of the Park Police is to guard monuments, Barna said, but responsibilities have increased in recent years to include traffic enforcement and assistance to investigations.

Additionally, the Homeland Security Department ordered more protection around the monuments, leading the Park Police to begin training unarmed guards to stand watch outside the monuments.

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the Park Service has had to funnel more money toward law enforcement activities, Barna added. When the national threat level was raised from yellow to orange in Sept. 2002, the service spent $2 million on overtime pay, he said.

"We don't have a budget for that," Barna said.

One of the challenges facing the Park Police is whether it should pursue a bigger budget to meet increased obligations, or push for only doing its original mission, according to Barna.

"The real question is, what is their mission and what should they be doing?" he said.