page_title: Polícia Aérea
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Polícia Aérea / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Secretary of the Air Force Michael Donley salutes the Portuguese air force honor guard upon his arrival to Lajes Field, accompanied by Maj. Gen. Victor Franciso, Headquarters Azores Air Zone commander, Col. Sergio Ferreira, Air Base No. 4 commander, and Col. Jose Rivera, 65th Air Base Wing commander, Dec. 18, 2011. The Secretary toured several units of the 65th Air Base Wing and spoke with Airmen in all functions and dimensions of the mission at Lajes Field. (U.S. Air Force photo/Guido Melo)
context_page_description: The Polícia Aérea is the military police and ground combat special force of the Portuguese Air Force.
  The Air Police has as its main symbol the Blue Beret with the Emblem of the Air Force.
context_section_description: When created as an independent branch in 1952, the Portuguese Air Force had no military police or a permanent specialized security force to protect its bases. Initially and when needed, these tasks were entrusted to the National Republican Guard (Portuguese gendarmerie). After 1957, these tasks were transferred to the Military Police of the Portuguese Army.
  At the same time, some units of the Air Force created ad hoc police detachments, sometimes referred to as Polícia da Aeronáutica (Aeronautics Police). One of the first of such detachments was the police corps created by the Lajes Air Base, on the May 31, 1955, made up of one officer, one sergeant and 32 airmen.
  In the late 1950s, the Portuguese Air Force finally creates a permanent Polícia Aérea (PA, Air Police), establishing the police and close defense flights (EPDP, esquadrilhas de polícia e defesa próxima). Each air base should have one EPDP as part of its internal organization.
  The PA force is greatly expanded after 1961, with the beginning of the Portuguese Overseas War and the need to defend the Air Force bases located in the theatres of operation of Angola, Portuguese Guinea and Mozambique. During this War, PA suffered more than 20 dead.
  Initially, the EPDP flights were made up of Military Police personnel transferred from the Army to the Air Force. However, after 1963, the PA personnel started to be recruited directly by the Air Force, receiving a specific training at the Tancos Air Base.
  In the late 1970s, following the reorganization of the Air Force bases, the former EPDP flights were replaced by the air police squadrons (EPA, esquadras de Polícia Aérea). Each EPA being made up of a headquarters, an operational flight and a support flight.
  In 1981, the Corpo de Polícia Aérea (CPA, Air Police Corps) is created, headed by a Colonel or Lieutenant-Colonel, under the direct dependence of the General commanding officer of the Air Force Operational Command. This Corps groups all PA personnel and units under a single organization. The several PA units – although part of the CPA – continued to be integrated into the several Air Force bases organizations. The CPA would eventually be extinct in 1990.
caption: Polícia Aérea honor guard in the arriving of the U.S. Air Force Secretary at Lajes Air Base
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