Pentagon Police

Located in Washington, D.C., the Pentagon is the headquarters of the Department of Defense (DoD) and is one of the world's largest office buildings. Renowned as a national monument and architectural marvel, the building was constructed in 16 months beginning on September 11, 1941, and was completed on January 15, 1943. The cost of the building was about $40 million and the project's total cost was almost $83 million. About 23,000 employees, both military and civilian, work in the Pentagon, including the more than 500 officers of the Pentagon Police Department (PPD; whose formal name is the Pentagon Force Protection Agency). The mission of the PPD is to promote a high level of law enforcement and security services to provide a safe and orderly work environment for the Department of Defense community located within the Pentagon and in the larger National Capitol Region.

Providing security for the Pentagon has remained a constant problem throughout its history. As the repository of war plans and technical secrets and the site of communications and operations centers of the U.S. military establishment, secure and controlled access were required in many areas within the building. Still, the large number of visitors other than Department of Defense employees, including contractors, consultants, officials from other agencies, and foreign dignitaries, had to be accommodated expeditiously.

Prior to 1971, the General Service Administration's (GSA) U.S. Special Police conducted all law enforcement and security functions at the Pentagon. In response to a growing number of incidents affecting federal facilities throughout the country, attention to the security program was reexamined. As a result of mass demonstrations, bombings, and bomb threats within the country, the Federal Protective Service was established and became responsible for the protection of the Pentagon and its personnel, as well as the United States assets housed therein.

In 1987, the GSA administrator delegated authority for protecting the Pentagon to the DoD. To carry out the new mission, the DoD established the Defense Protective Service as a new organization within the Washington Headquarters Service. Within this organization it became necessary to contract for additional guards from civilian security companies. The regular force became more professional as a result of higher levels of initial and ongoing training. A criminal investigation unit was added to facilitate inquiries into crime in and around the building, and special weapons and tactics teams were also formed for use in emergency situations.

The present police force is a direct result of the terrorist attack on the Pentagon on September 11, [Page 816]2001, in which 125 people at the Pentagon were killed or unaccounted for and 46 passengers and crew of American Airlines Flight 77 were also killed when the plane crashed into the building. At the time of the attack, the existing force numbered fewer than 200 officers; in late 2004, the new Pentagon Police, which officially came into existence in 2002, was composed of more than 500 officers responsible for patrol and physical security of the building and its grounds. Although the force might seem large for only one building, its grounds, and a few miscellaneous military locations within the Capitol region, the Pentagon's land area is almost 600 acres. There are 150 stairways, almost 300 restrooms, more than 4,000 clocks, and a 5.5-acre center courtyard, in addition to 17.5 miles of corridors that are patrolled regularly. The Pentagon also features a shopping corridor, medical and dental offices, a post office, and financial institutions, all of which receive police services from the Pentagon Police. Officers are also closely involved in crime prevention through environmental design projects and in terrorism prevention activities surrounding visual and electronic checks of all mail and packages that are received at the building.

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