Specialist Protective Services

Specialist Protective Services
Active1 July 2012 – present[1]
CountryAustralia
AgencyAustralian Federal Police
Role
Operations jurisdiction
  • National
  • International
HeadquartersCanberra
AbbreviationSPS
Structure
Sworn membersApprox. 200[2]
Notables
Significant operation(s)

The Specialist Protective Services (SPS) (formerly Specialist Response Group (SRG)) is a highly trained police unit of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) consisting of a range of teams capable of deploying at short notice in order to undertake a variety of specialist policing tasks. SPS predominantly consist of sworn police officers, based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), who are capable of resolving high risk planned and emergency policing operations; both domestically and internationally.[6][7][8]

The SPS is a police tactical group as defined under the Australian and New Zealand Counter-Terrorism Committee (ANZCTC) arrangements. SPS commenced operations in July 2012 under the name Specialist Response Group as a result of the merging of the Specialist Response and Security Team (SRS) (from ACT Policing) and the Operational Response Group (ORG) from AFP's International Deployment Group. The SRG became the largest centralised specialist policing capability in Australia, with almost 200 personnel.[2]

In 2020, the AFP conducted a review of their organisational structure and operating model and subsequently established the Specialist Protection Command on 1 July 2020.[9][10] The AFP reported in a 2019-20 annual report that the SRG had been renamed as Specialist Protective Services.[11]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference SRGlaunch was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b The Hon Jason Clare MP (5 July 2012). "AFP launches its new Specialist Response Group". Minister for Home Affairs and Justice (Press release). Archived from the original on 25 November 2012.
  3. ^ "ACT Policing Annual Report 2002-2003" (PDF). Annual Report on Policing in the Australian Capital Territory. Australian Federal Police: 32. 2003. ISSN 1038-1570. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  4. ^ Australian Federal Police - The First Thirty Years (PDF). Canberra: Australian Federal Police. May 2010. p. 61. ISBN 9780646525884. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 March 2016.
  5. ^ "The SRS is here!". Australian Federal Police (Press release). 21 February 2003. Archived from the original on 13 July 2009.
  6. ^ "Specialist Response Group". Australian Federal Police. 6 April 2016. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  7. ^ "Specialist Response Group". Australian Federal Police. 2013. Archived from the original on 9 October 2013.
  8. ^ Knaus, Christopher (5 July 2012). "ACT Policing launches elite tactical unit". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 19 March 2013.
  9. ^ "Annual Report 2019-20" (PDF). Annual Report. Canberra: Australian Federal Police: 25. 2020. ISSN 2202-7491. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  10. ^ "Corporate Plan 2020– covering 2020–21 to 2023–2124" (PDF). Corporate Plan. Canberra: Australian Federal Police: 9. 2020. ISSN 2205-2542. Retrieved 16 August 2021.
  11. ^ ACT Policing Annual Report 2019-2020 (PDF). Australian Federal Police. 2020. p. 82. Retrieved 17 August 2021.