Positions
There are several position levels within the Office of Protection Services:
- Smithsonian Museum protection officers are security officers that have been designated as "special police" under the US Code (Title 40, Chapter 63, ยง6306) and have limited police powers. They undergo forty hours of training (that is limited and does not meet the standards of established police academies) in firearm use, arrest, handcuff procedures, and pepper spray use. They are assigned to one of nineteen Smithsonian museums or research sites in New York City, Maryland, Virginia, or the District of Columbia. There is also a specialized K-9 unit with bomb-detection dogs that patrol museum grounds. Officers utilize patrol vehicles for most sites in D.C. as well as ATV and Boats for the facility in Maryland.
- Smithsonian Museum physical security specialists and Supervisory physical security specialists assist in overseeing the protection operations at individual sites.
- US National Zoological Park Police officers, although under the authority and oversight of the Smithsonian Institution Office of Protection Services, do not report to the Office of Protection Services because they are specifically assigned to the National Zoo and the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia. The National Zoological Park Police is one of the oldest police forces in the District of Columbia. According to the official National Zoo Website, the Zoological Police was one of the original five police agencies in D.C. created in 1889. The 163-acre (0.66 km2) National Zoo is a Smithsonian facility in the District of Columbia and is staffed 24 hours a day by full-time US National Zoological Park police officers. The National Zoo also maintains a 3200 acre Research facility (Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute; SCBI) in Front Royal, Virginia; which is staffed by members of the National Zoological Park Police. According to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) website, all NZPP officers are trained at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC) NZPP officers are Federal law enforcement officers and carry full law enforcement jurisdiction within the District of Columbia and Virginia that work closely with the Metropolitan Police Department and the US Park Police, as well as other federal law enforcement agencies to include Virginia Law Enforcement Authorities.
Read more about this topic: Smithsonian Police
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