Security police

In some countries, security police are those persons, employed by or for a governmental agency, who provide police and security services to those agencies' properties.

Security police protect their agency's facilities, properties, personnel, users, visitors and operations from harm and may enforce certain laws and administrative regulations. Most security police have at least some arrest authority. The law enforcement powers of security police vary widely, in some cases limited to those of private persons yet in others amounting to full police powers equivalent to state/provincial, or local law enforcement.

As distinct from general law enforcement, the primary focus of security police is on the protection of specific properties and persons. This causes some overlap with functions normally performed by security guards. However, security police are distinguished from guards by greater authority, often higher levels of training, and correspondingly higher expectations of performance in the protection of life and property.

In other countries, 'security police' is the name given to the secret security and intelligence services charged with protecting the State at the highest level, including responsibilities such as personal protection of the head of state, counter-espionage, and anti-terrorism.

Special police may include:

All special police officers derive their authority from two sources:

These powers might include the power to detain, arrest, investigate criminal offenses, carry weapons, employ force, and/or take other actions to protect life and property beyond that of the ordinary citizen. One key distinction is between "sworn" (or bound by oath or affirmation to uphold the laws even at personal risk), and "non-sworn" or "civilian" who are ordinary employees with normal obligations to an employer.

Some security police are full-fledged peace officers with the same powers as regular Peace Officers. Others have enhanced powers which are limited by law to the properties they protect, or a specified radius or distance. In some cases these powers are expanded by a Memorandum of Understanding or other legal document where other policing agencies delegate additional powers to enforce local law.

Some special police have the more limited powers than a security guards in compliance with the laws of their jurisdiction. These distinctions are of particular importance to special police and their employers.

The RAAF Security Police is responsible for base security and policing the RAAF and they work closely with the Airfield Defence Guards. The Military Working Dog Unit also provides a further security function.

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Wikipedia