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[CAIA Intake] VA Police transparency page placement within VAMCs #67055

Closed xiongjaneg closed 1 week ago

xiongjaneg commented 1 year ago

About your team

CAIA Support Request

Describe what you need in a few sentences:

This is for the work described in Collaboration Cycle for Sitewide - Facilities, VA Medical Centers, Police Transparency #65082. This is legislatively-mandated police activity information on VAMC web pages that must be completed by December 29, 2023. This will be new content on the VA website so we'd like review and guidance.

Which are you doing?

Types of Support

What areas does your team need support in? Check all that apply.

Content

Timeframe

We guide and work alongside teams across nearly every OCTO digital product. We also work with partners across VA to lead content migration and manage all unauthenticated content on VA.gov. And we're always working to expand the VA.gov content style guide and our IA and accessibility documentation. We need to prioritize all intake requests based on our overall workload and VA and OCTO priorities.

Tell us about your product's timeline. And we'll work with you to meet timeline needs as best we can. The Cleland Dole Act Sec 405 legislation enacted Dec. 29, 2022 requires within one year of enactment: (e) (1) The Secretary shall publish on the internet website of each facility of the Department the following information with respect to the facility:

(A) Summaries and statistics covering the previous five-year period regarding—

(i) arrests made by and tickets issued by Department police officers;

(ii) prosecutions, ticketing, and other actions relating to such arrests;

(iii) the use of force and weapons discharge by Department police officers; and

(iv) complaints, investigations, and disciplinary actions regarding Department police officers.

(B) Contact information for employees of the Department and the public to directly contact the police force of the facility, including for an individual (or the representative, attorney, or authorized agent of the individual) to request information regarding the arrest, ticketing, detainment, use of force, or other police matters pertaining to that individual.

(2) The Secretary shall ensure that each police force of a facility of the Department is able to provide to an individual who contacts the police force pursuant to paragraph (1)(B) the information described in such paragraph

Have you worked with CAIA before?

What's your team’s next step and its timing?

Timing for your next step:

Is this timing related to a specific event or Congressionally mandated deadline?

If you're conducting research, when is that starting? N/A

Provide date if available: xx/xx/xxxx

Will you release this new product incrementally (for example, release to 25% of users to start)?

Note: If you checked yes, we’ll reach out to discuss details about the content in the react widget (we use these widgets to display entry points for new products to a certain percentage of users who visit our static pages).

When do you expect to launch your product to 100% of users?

Please provide an estimated date so our team can create other relevant tickets.

Collaboration Cycle

Will this work be going through the Collaboration Cycle?

If no ...

If yes ...

Please provide the link to your Collaboration Cycle ticket:

Please check all of the phases in the Collaboration Cycle you have completed:

For planning purposes, please check all of the phases in the Collaboration Cycle you feel you might need CAIA support and guidance:

Design Intent

Supporting artifacts

Please provide links to supporting artifacts as available.

Additional Support: Collaborative Sessions

Have you already worked with someone from OCTO leadership?

How do you plan to work with us on this request?

Accessibility Help in Slack

The #accessibility-help channel in the DSVA Slack, is also available to you as a resource. Everyone is welcome to ask questions or get help from our a11y (accessibility) specialists. Tag @Terry Nichols to get a11y help asap.

Next steps

Once you’ve submitted this ticket, please post a link to this issue in the #sitewide-content-ia Slack channel and tag @Terry Nichols.

### CAIA General Ticket Tasks
- [x] Set up Kickoff Meetings (Terry/Lily 11/1/2023
### Content tasks
- [ ] https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/68949
### IA Tasks
- [ ] https://github.com/department-of-veterans-affairs/va.gov-team/issues/69003
coforma-terry commented 1 year ago

CAIA Update:

Kickoff meeting scheduled for Nov 1st - 12:30 - 12:45 PM ET.

https://coformaco.zoom.us/j/85176281046?pwd=WWxhYXQ4L05zTGFLMFRnZ3JrMmczdz09

kristinoletmuskat commented 1 year ago

Helloooo just wanted to pop in with some IA thoughts. I will be out next week, so wanted to get some questions to the product team and just document thoughts we need to sync on with our content partners before ya'lls design intent, and before we have our official CAIA kickoff!

During the kickoff we can talk about how we'd like to work together through this project.

Here are some thoughts and questions:

  1. I've been documenting some thoughts in this muralin case anyone wants to take a look and add stickies/comments

  2. In general, we think ya'lls plan of putting the "VA Police" detail page in the first level of the 'About' section makes sense!

  3. We would love to take this opportunity to codify some rules around the order of pages in the 'About' section -- I added some stickies in the mural about this, but we're wondering how the order is currently determined? Could ya'll see if you can figure that our before our kickoff call?

  4. For VAMCs that have existing police data in the 'Prepare for your visit' accordions, we think there still might be a case for including some info about security there, but we'd love to work together to codify what goes in there and what doesn't go in there, and see if we can get some standards together. Ex: stuff about there being metal detectors and a bag search does seem to help you prepare for your visit. Or maybe info about those super cool police/mental health worker partnerships that some VAMCs have.

@xiongjaneg @laurwill

xiongjaneg commented 1 year ago

@davidmpickett @thejordanwood @aklausmeier Could we review and discuss Kristin's comments at our next UX Refinement so we're prepared to discuss at the Nov. 1 kickoff? Thank you!

davidmpickett commented 1 year ago
  1. In general, we think ya'lls plan of putting the "VA Police" detail page in the first level of the 'About' section makes sense!

I want to clarify that when @thejordanwood made these designs, we had not actually decided yet if these pages would live at the System level or Facility level. Since then, the conversation has actually gone in the opposite direction (one page per Facility) of what's reflected in the Sketch file (one page per System). Sorry for the confusion, that sidebar mockup was not supposed to be an official IA proposal.

I will be creating a more detailed content model as part of this upcoming sprint.

davidmpickett commented 1 year ago
  1. We would love to take this opportunity to codify some rules around the order of pages in the 'About' section -- I added some stickies in the mural about this, but we're wondering how the order is currently determined? Could ya'll see if you can figure that our before our kickoff call?

The menus are managed in Drupal as drag & drop interfaces. The discrepancies in the order of items are likely due to these menus being created at different times during the VAMC upgrade process and there being no way to programmatically enforce a specific order. That being said, reordering the menu items to match a specified order is a possibility. These menus are only editable by Drupal admins so once they are cleaned up, they should be relatively stable.

Here are the possible L2 items in the ABOUT [VAMC SYSTEM] section of the menu. Programs and Research are only enabled for some VAMC systems.

Let me know what your preferred order of these items is and I can spin up a ticket to have the 140 menus updated to match

screencapture-training-qtpbfivdfzrlrlyiqwmanznaobpek1ca-demo-cms-va-gov-admin-structure-menu-manage-va-amarillo-health-care-2023-10-27-11_34_38

davidmpickett commented 1 year ago
  1. In general, we think ya'lls plan of putting the "VA Police" detail page in the first level of the 'About' section makes sense!

I want to clarify that when @thejordanwood made these designs, we had not actually decided yet if these pages would live at the System level or Facility level. Since then, the conversation has actually gone in the opposite direction (one page per Facility) of what's reflected in the Sketch file (one page per System). Sorry for the confusion, that sidebar mockup was not supposed to be an official IA proposal.

I will be creating a more detailed content model as part of this upcoming sprint.

Update on this item. Yesterday I discussed with our team two possible navigation options given the decision to have one page per facility

Based on initial feedback from @mmiddaugh and the team yesterday, it seems like we are aligned on Option 2. @thejordanwood will be updating the sketch file to distinguish between the system-level index page and the facility-level data pages

davidmpickett commented 1 year ago
  1. For VAMCs that have existing police data in the 'Prepare for your visit' accordions, we think there still might be a case for including some info about security there, but we'd love to work together to codify what goes in there and what doesn't go in there, and see if we can get some standards together. Ex: stuff about there being metal detectors and a bag search does seem to help you prepare for your visit. Or maybe info about those super cool police/mental health worker partnerships that some VAMCs have.

The 'Prepare for your visit' accordions are very blobby and hardening them is a documented need. Unfortunately, I don't think any updates to those are in scope for MVP of the Police Transparency initiative.

Similarly, related to your note in Mural, we will not be migrating any content that is currently in Police Detail pages for MVP. However, we are setting ourselves up for that future possibility by creating a new Drupal content type for VAMC System Police pages.

edit - added link to ticket for future content iteration

kristinoletmuskat commented 1 year ago

Hey @davidmpickett, thanks so much for your detailed response! I was out last week to just catching up. We can chat about this during our CAIA sync tomorrow, and I can bring some of our open Qs back to Mikki on Thursday during our weekly sync.

I've also added some comments to your mural!

One more Q: For the order of the 'about' section, are we able to get any data on the which links are most vs least used by veterans? I realize it will probably vary by system/facility, but I'm leaning towards that as a method to order them, and wondering if we could put some data behind it.

davidmpickett commented 1 year ago

One more Q: For the order of the 'about' section, are we able to get any data on the which links are most vs least used by veterans? I realize it will probably vary by system/facility, but I'm leaning towards that as a method to order them, and wondering if we could put some data behind it.

This was easy to pull since the URLs are so consistent. Data in Google analytics pulled across all VAMC systems for Jan 1- Oct 30, 2023 for traffic to top-level pages (subpages excluded) in About Us.

*These sections are not enabled on all VAMCs

research.pdf about-us.pdf work-with-us.pdf contact-us.pdf policies.pdf programs.pdf

thejordanwood commented 1 year ago

@kristinoletmuskat To answer your question from the kickoff meeting, this is what we're thinking for content on system and facility pages.

I have a mockup on the Current page of the Sketch file with an idea of how we can show this, although I do expect some of the content and design to change.

mmiddaugh commented 1 year ago

VA Police Service leadership encourages us to repurpose the content available on VA Police (Department.va) for the intro and FAQs needed for the VAMC VA Police pages. Hoping you can help us avoid duplication and negative SEO impact with some tweaks.

Page intro Proposed intro content: >VA police officers ensure that VA Medical Centers and other VA health facilities are safe environments where Veterans and family members can receive care. Existing content from Department.VA page: > The VA Police are the armed and uniformed federal law enforcement service of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). VA Police are responsible for the protection of VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) and other facilities such as Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs), Health Care Centers (HCCs), annexes, and other facilities operated by VA. The VA Police also serve VA’s National Cemetery Administration (NCA) and Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA), including locations in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The safety, security, and wellness of all who provide care and services is a leadership priority. > > The primary role of the VA Police is to deter and stop crime, keep order, and investigate crimes that may have happened within the legal authority of the VA. Some cases are investigated by special agents from the VA Office of the Inspector General (OIG). > > VA Police and police specialty positions, such as Criminal Investigators, get their authority legally from Title 38 of the United States Code (USC), Sections 901 and 902. Rules, regulations, and enforcement actions specific to the VA are written in Title 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).
FAQs Proposed FAQ content > - Q: What services do the VA Police provide? > - A: VA Police are armed and uniformed federal law enforcement officers who provide law enforcement and security services which benefit Veterans, their families, and their communities. Services include crime prevention and investigation, maintaining law and order, vehicle and foot patrols, telecommunication services, and workplace violence prevention. > - Q: Do VA Police work with local law enforcement? > - A: The VA Police and local law enforcement have agreements to establish the role of community agencies in responding to crimes that happen on VA property. VA Police and local law enforcement partners train together on skills and tactics such as active threat drills, crisis intervention training, disaster response, and more. > - Q: Am I eligible to join the VA Police Force? > - A: 90% of VA Police have a military background. VA Police is looking for qualified applicants to join its team. Candidates must have either criminal justice education, experience as a police officer, experience as a military police officer or a combination of education and experience. Visit `USAJOBS` to view current VA Police job announcements. > Transitioning service members may be eligible for employment training, internship, and apprenticeship opportunities with VA police through the DoD SkillBridge program. For more information email Skillbridge.vapolice@va.gov. > - Q: Why are VA Police wearing body-worn cameras? > - A: As a part of their mission to “protect those who served”, VA Police across the country will begin to use in-car and body-worn cameras by the end of 2023. This policy will increase the safety of VA facilities through the use of equitable, transparent, accountable, constitutional, and effective law enforcement practices. > - Q: How will my privacy be protected? > - A: VA is committed to protecting the privacy of the Veterans, families, caregivers, and survivors we serve. All local VA Privacy Officers and VA Police Officers will attend extensive privacy training before officers begin using body-worn cameras. (are we able to link to the Body worn FAQ - or other FAQ- on Department.va?)
xiongjaneg commented 1 year ago

@coforma-terry Our team has a draft of the centralized content ready for the Police page on VAMCs. Do you want me to add it here or to #68949?

kristinoletmuskat commented 12 months ago

Hey @davidmpickett , I have some answers for you on our open question re: the order of the 'about' section. Here's the recommendation we'd like to make and why:

About Us Programs (if enabled) Research (if enabled) Privacy and Policies VA Police Work with us Contact us

Rationale:

  1. We want to reserve the top and bottom spots for the most important items for veterans, due to the Primacy/Recency effects. That would be Contact Us and About Us according to the metrics, and we think putting 'about' at the top and 'contact' at the bottom is a recognizable pattern.
  2. The next highest link 'work with us' we think is not geared towards veterans looking for medical care, so we've listed that one below police and policies.
  3. We've added Privacy to 'Privacy and Policies' because that's how we refer to this type of content elsewhere on va.gov. Ex: https://www.va.gov/privacy-policy/

Lmk if you have any questions or additional thoughts! I think we feel strongest about the position of the About Us and Contact Us, compared to the stuff in the middle.

davidmpickett commented 12 months ago

Thanks @kristinoletmuskat. This all makes sense. I'll work on drafting follow up ticket(s) to implement these changes and link them here.

kristinoletmuskat commented 2 weeks ago

Hey @davidmpickett -- any reason not to close this ticket?

davidmpickett commented 2 weeks ago

Good to close! We got your guidance and create tickets on our side to update