The Airport Security Police is the police force of the

Bermuda International Airport L.F. Wade International Airport , formerly named Bermuda International Airport, is the sole airport serving the British overseas territory of Bermuda in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is located in the parish of St. George's and is northeast of B ...

History of the Bermuda International Airport

Prior to 1995, the airfield was a US Naval Air Station,

NAS Bermuda Naval Air Station Bermuda (Kindley Field) (usually described in Bermuda as United States Naval Air Station Bermuda, and not to be confused with the former Royal Naval Air Station Bermuda or the United States Naval Air Station Bermuda Annex, whi ...

. Following an

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

investigative report by

Sam Donaldson Samuel Andrew Donaldson Jr. (born March 11, 1934) is an American former reporter and news anchor, serving with ABC News from 1967 to 2009. He is best known as the network's White House Correspondent (1977–1989 and 1998–99) and as a panelist ...

, which scandalised it as the 'Club Med of the US Navy', NAS Bermuda, and the other US Naval facilities in Bermuda, were slated for rapid closure. The west end of the airfield had originally been operated by

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

Transport Command, during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Following the War, all of the RAF establishment in Bermuda had been withdrawn, but the senior local RAF officer,

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

Edward Maurice "Mo" Ware, DFC, remained on loan to the local government (eventually becoming the civilian Director of the Department of Civil Aviation), and oversaw the conversion of the RAF facilities into a Civil Air Terminal (the rest of the airfield, Kindley Field, was, at that time, operated by the US Army Air Forces). By 1945, flying boats were rapidly being replaced as airliners by landplanes, and civil airlines began using the US Army's runway to access the Bermuda Government's terminal. In 1948, the US Army Air Forces became the independent US Air Force, the airbase became Kindley Air Force Base, and the civil flying boat airport on Darrell's Island closed completely. In 1970, the airfield was transferred to the US Navy. When the US Navy withdrew from Bermuda in 1995, operation of the entire airfield was handed over to the Bermuda Government, and it was renamed the

(with the Civil Air Terminal no longer distinguished within it).

Airport policing prior to 1995

As a US Naval Air Station, policing of most of the airfield had been a US Naval responsibility, carried out by US NAS Bermuda Police, and by US Navy Security Detachments (for a time, there had also been a US Marine Corps detachment). The area used by the Bermuda Government, comprising the Civil Air Terminal, and what are now labelled Aprons One and Two, with that part of the taxiways and former runway (currently Taxiway Bravo) which lay between, were policed by the

Bermuda Police Service The Bermuda Police Service is the law enforcement agency of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is responsible for policing the entire archipelago, including incorporated municipalities, and the surrounding waters. It is part of, and ...

(BPS). The Bermuda Police Service maintained a small station in the Civil Air Terminal, controlled the access points to airside used by workers and vehicles, drove vehicle patrols, and kept watch on the tarmac (with no jetways, passengers at the airport are able to mingle with apron workers). The Bermuda Police Service was responsible for all policing duties on the ''airside'' of the Civil Air Terminal, including arresting and removing passengers from aircraft, and responding to emergencies. The Airport Police Station had no jail facilities, but also served to hold people detained by other agencies (Bermuda Immigration, HM Customs, US Customs, Immigration and Agriculture) 'til they could be transferred to the St. George's Police Station. The duties facing the service at the airport were considered unarduous, and it was long used as the first posting for newly-trained constables.

Creation of the Airport Security Police

In 1995, with the withdrawal of the US Navy, the Bermuda government took on responsibility for policing the entire airfield. Unfortunately, Bermuda was still feeling the effects of the recession of the early 1990s, and this had led to a reduction in the manpower of the Bermuda Police Service. At the same time, the new Police Commissioner, Colin Coxal

was determined to modernise the Bermuda Police Service by returning it to its root

It was felt that the service had lost familiarity with the community it was policing, with constables waiting in police stations to react to situations, rather than walking the beat, anticipating, and preventing them. As the Bermuda Police Service attempted to redirect its efforts to more traditional 'community policing', which required a greater manpower, it found itself short of constabulary. Many non-policing roles within the service were reassigned to civilians in order to place more police officers on the street, but it was ultimately decided to withdraw the detachment from the airport in order to make-up the shortfall elsewhere. The Bermuda Government was still responsible for the policing of the airfield, which responsibility fell to the Ministry of Transport's (MOT) Department of Air Operations (DAO). Rather than organise a new police force itself, the DAO contracted a private company (Island Wide Security Services – now Bermuda Security Group) to organise, recruit, train, and operate the force on its behalf. Recruiting was primarily of ex-service personnel. This included former members of the Bermuda Police Service, the Bermuda Reserve Constabulary, The

Royal Bermuda Regiment The Royal Bermuda Regiment (RBR), formerly the Bermuda Regiment, is the home defence unit of the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda. It is a single Territorial Army (United Kingdom), territorial infantry battalion#British Army, battalion tha ...

(which trains in

Internal security Internal security is the act of keeping peace within the borders of a sovereign state or other Self-governance, self-governing territories, generally by upholding the national law and defending against internal security threats. Responsibility fo ...

as a potential back-up to the civil police), the

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and

Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...

. Former US Naval personnel resident in Bermuda have also been recruited. The new Airport Security Police took over all airside duties from the Bermuda Police Service (and the US Naval Security Detachments) in 1995. Those parts of the US Naval Base not necessary for the operation of the airfield were fenced off, and were guarded, til the area was redeveloped, by Baselands Security, security guards (who lacked police powers) recruited and controlled by the Bermuda Police Service.

Organisation of the Airport Security Police

The unit has a strength of about twenty, under the control of a uniformed manager, a former senior officer of the Bermuda Police Service. The Bermuda Police Service vets recruits, who are trained with the assistance of the Bermuda Police Training School. The Airport Security Police operates under the instruction of the DAO's Aviation Security Officer. Its powers, including its powers of arrest, are all drawn from the Air Transport Act. As a British Overseas Territory, security of the airfield, and of aviation in Bermuda, is ultimately the responsibility of the UK Government. The National Aviation Security Plan (NASP) of the UK Government's Department for Transport, Local Government and the Regions (DTLR) (now the Department for Transport (DfT)), also determined the content of the Bermudian NASP, which describes the roles, responsibilities and procedures relating to security of the Bermuda International Airport. Consequently, the ASP also act under the oversight of the UK Department for Transport's (DfT) Regional Aviation Security Officer, responsible for Bermuda and for other British Overseas Territories in the Atlantic and the West Indies, based in the United States. Additionally, as the airspace around Bermuda has, by an agreement between the UK and US Governments, been placed under US control, and as passengers flying to directly to the United States from Bermuda pre-clear US Immigration and Customs in Bermuda before entering the departure lounge, the duties of the Airport Security Police are also shaped by activities in the US and necessarily have the effect of assisting with the security of the US border.

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