Beginning in 2017, the VA Butler Health Care Center performed several “spontaneous” training drills for its officers using loaded weapons, but the officers weren't aware that the calls were drills, according to the federal government's findings.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel revealed that one of the officers notified it as a whistleblower in 2018 about the unsafe training drills that started in December 2017 and occurred at least a dozen times until Sept. 18, 2018.

The complaint led to a suspension of “rapid-response” drills. On April 13, the center revised its procedures, effectively closing the case.

“This report focuses on an event that occurred nearly three years ago,” said Paula McCarl, spokeswoman for the Butler VA Health Care System. “Since then, the following improvements have been made to ensure the facility is providing quality service and security to staff, volunteers and veterans:

“The facility has implemented and educated all police staff on the revised VA Police Training guidance to ensure proper training and understanding of safety techniques; the facility hired additional police officers to provide extra security and trainings; (and) the facility hired an emergency management specialist to manage and coordinate emergency services, drills and trainings.”

McCarl said the VA “is committed to maintaining the safety of those who enter its facilities.”

Special Counsel Henry J. Kerner notified VA Secretary Robert Wilkie of the whistleblower's statements, and the claims were confirmed by the VA Office of Inspector General on Jan. 9, 2019.Changes were recommended on how to conduct training exercises that are live-action, scenario-based.“Police Service leadership ran an active-threat training without providing police officers advance notice, and did so while the responding officers were on duty and carrying loaded duty weapons,” according to a letter sent by the Special Counsel to President Donald Trump and Congress.“When police officers are asked to respond to an active threat while carrying loaded weapons, there is no room for error,” said Kerner in a prepared statement Tuesday.“These types of exercises should be conducted in a safe training environment. I thank the whistleblower for bringing this important issue to our attention and thank the VA for implementing corrective measures in the training program that will ensure the safety of all participants,” he said.According to the U.S. Inspector General's report, the whistleblower was on duty with another police officer in December 2017, when the officers got a call reporting a theft from the cafeteria by a contractor's worker.When they arrived, they found a person fitting the description of the suspect and recognized the person as another employee who was role-playing in the scenario. Realizing it was a drill, the officers carried out the training exercise.

Afterward, the whistleblower and others said they told the associate director of operations at the center that training needed to be scheduled in advance and that the participating officers had to be placed in training status, not on-duty status as they were for the theft scenario.The whistleblower also noted that during training, officers should use rubber weapons and fake pepper spray to minimize the risk of injury instead of live ammunition.The whistleblower alleged adequate measures had not been taken to correct this conduct even after they made their complaints.Federal investigators found that the associate director of the center lacked the law-enforcement experience and training to recognize the needs and dangers of this type of training.The inspector general also found that the VA Office of Security and Law Enforcement failed “to provide clear guidance regarding how to conduct” training for facilities like the Butler VA.