Military Policing

Air Force

Aviation in the military began in the early 1900s. Aviation operations were placed under the umbrella of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Aviation operations in the Army went through several changes and finally became the Army Air Service on May 24, 1918. The mission of the Army Air Service was to provide protection for the military ground forces. At that time, law enforcement duties in the Army Air Service were primarily focused on guarding aircraft and were simply an extra detail for personnel.

After World War I (1926), the Army Air Service became the U.S. Army Air Corps (AAC) and remained the AAC until World War II. With the advent of World War II, and with projections for record growth, including the use of 60,000 airplanes, the semiautonomous United States Army Air Force (USAAF) was created within the Army in 1941. The creation of the USAAF led to the construction of hundreds of air bases that needed to be secured and protected. The difference between the traditional role of the military police (MP) in the army and the new role of the military police guarding air bases became evident.

Black enlisted men, serving in the newly formed Air Base Security Battalions (ABS Battalions), were the first troops to be charged with defending the new airbases. During World War II, the ABS Battalions continued to provide domestic base duties, but also began to perform general police duties in the war zones. This new role in World War II led to a new designation, both domestically (Guard [Page 750]Companies) and overseas (Military Police Company, Aviation). The end of the war led to military down-sizing, ultimately releasing the most trained and experienced law enforcement personnel. At this time, the training of new law enforcement personnel became virtually nonexistent.

After the war, in 1947, the Air Force became an autonomous branch of the armed forces and the groundwork for a new law enforcement force began. The new law enforcement force became known as the Air Police, but changed to Security Police in 1966, followed by Security Forces in 1997.

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