History

In 1913 when Australia’s national capital was named Canberra, the New South Wales (NSW) Police Force patrolled the region.

The original (local) police force for the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was formed in 1927, a month after the opening of Canberra’s provisional Parliament House, and was made up of one (former) NSW Police sergeant, Philip J. Cook, and 10 Commonwealth Peace Officers.

While Canberra was very much in its initial years of establishing itself as a national capital, its growing population would eventually see the need for an expanding police service.

This first Commonwealth service was renamed as the Commonwealth Police (Australian Capital Territory) in 1938, and later to the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) Police in 1957.

A defining moment in the evolution of community policing in the national capital was reached on 19 October 1979 with the beginning of the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Since this time, ACT Policing has stood proud as the community policing arm of the AFP, delivering the full spectrum of frontline police services to the people of Canberra.

On Duty: Celebrating a Centenary of Policing in Canberra (coffee table book)

On Duty: Celebrating a Centenary of Policing in Canberra was released in 2013 to commemorate Canberra’s centenary and the role policing has played in the ACT over the past 100 years. The book features a selection of 100 ‘snapshots’ of the events, milestones, significant accounts and achievements that have contributed to the evolution of policing in the ACT.

For a low-resolution version of the book view On Duty - Celebrating a Centenary of Policing in Canberra (PDF 6.5MB).