Australian Protective Service

The Australian Protective Service (APS) was an Australian Commonwealth agency which existed between 1984 and 2004. The APS was created by the separation of the Protective Service component of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) into a new agency based upon recommendations contained in the Stewart Royal Commission of Inquiry into Drug Trafficking. It was initially responsible for protecting personnel and property of the Australian government; foreign diplomatic missions and Internationally Protected Persons (IPPs); and the provision of custodial services at immigration detention centres. From 1990 the APS commenced providing Counter Terrorist First Response duties at certain security-designated airports including the specialist Bomb Appraisal Officer function and, following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, deployed Air Security Officers (ASOs - often referred to as 'Air Marshals') on board Australian registered commercial aircraft. Close Personal Protection (CPP), or bodyguard, functions were never provided by the APS; where this has been a Commonwealth responsibility, the function is provided by the AFP.

The staff and functions of the APS were reintegrated into the AFP in 2004 as part of Australian Government efforts to better coordinate the response to terrorism.

The Australian Protective Service (APS) was established in 1984 when 420 Constables transferred from the Australian Federal Police.

The APS followed a tradition dating back through its predecessors the Protective Service component of the Australian Federal Police, the uniformed branch of the former Commonwealth Police and the former Peace Officer Guard. What follows is a brief history of the Commonwealth Law Enforcement and Security Service which led up to the inception of the Australian Protective Service (APS).

Australia's first Commonwealth Police Force was short lived - surviving only two years between December 1917 and 1919 being set up following an altercation between the then Prime Minister of Australia, William Morris (Billie) Hughes and a heckler at a rally in Queensland after local police sergeant declined to become involved 'in a Federal matter'. In later years discussions between Commonwealth government and state authorities resulted in the birth of the Commonwealth Investigation Service - a plainclothes unit with the responsibility of conducting investigations into specific breaches of Commonwealth legislation. The early 1930s saw the formation of the Peace Officer Guard with the aim of protecting Commonwealth property and interests. The Peace Officer Guard (POG) operated at such establishments as munitions factories, research facilities and certain Commonwealth Government departments. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO) came into existence in 1949, absorbing some of the functions of the Commonwealth Investigations Service and assuming new areas of responsibilities. The Commonwealth Police was re-formed in 1960, absorbing both Peace Officer Guards and Commonwealth Investigations Service officers. In 1975 the most ambitious plan to restructure Australia's national police service was attempted by the Commonwealth Government. An amalgamation of Commonwealth Police, Northern Territory Police and Australian Capital Territory Police forces, Department of Customs and Excise and Special Reports Branch of the Department of Immigration would have produced the "Australia Police". However, the amalgamation was abandoned later the same year following a change of Government. The bombing of the Hilton Hotel in Sydney during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) on 13 February 1978 prompted the Federal Government to commission an inquiry into Australia's national police service by former London Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Robert Mark. As a consequence of this inquiry, on 19 October 1979, the Commonwealth Police and the Australian Capital Police Forces were amalgamated to form the Australian Federal Police which, shortly after, was expanded to assume the functions of the former Narcotics Section of the Bureau of Customs.

...
Wikipedia