Airport Police units are a security police

Security police

In some countries, including the United States, security police are those persons, employed by or for a governmental agency, who provide police and security services to those agencies' properties....

 agency assigned to perform law enforcement functions at airport

Airport

An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...

s. In some cases, they are branches of larger general purposes agencies. Other variations include dedicated agencies, combined police/fire agencies and even military units. In the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 it is the local territorial police force

Territorial police force

The phrase Territorial Police Force varies in precise meaning according to the country to which it is related, generally distinguishing a force whose area of responsibility is defined by sub-national boundaries from others which deal with the entire country or a restricted range of...

's responsibility to provide armed patrols to that airport, for example the Metropolitan Police Service

Metropolitan Police Service

The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...

's Aviation Security Operational Command Unit

Aviation Security Operational Command Unit

The Aviation Security Operational Command Unit is a Specialist Operations unit of London's Metropolitan Police Service. The unit is responsible for providing law enforcement and security for both Heathrow and London City airports...

, with responsibility for London Heathrow Airport

London Heathrow Airport

London Heathrow Airport or Heathrow , in the London Borough of Hillingdon, is the busiest airport in the United Kingdom and the third busiest airport in the world in terms of total passenger traffic, handling more international passengers than any other airport around the globe...

 and London City

London City Airport

London City Airport is a single-runway airport. It principally serves the financial district of London and is located on a former Docklands site, east of the City of London, opposite the London Regatta Centre, in the London Borough of Newham in east London. It was developed by the engineering...

. In the British Overseas Territory of Bermuda

Bermuda

Bermuda is a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. Located off the east coast of the United States, its nearest landmass is Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. It is about south of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and northeast of Miami, Florida...

, policing of the Bermuda International Airport

Bermuda International Airport

L.F. Wade International Airport , formerly named Bermuda International Airport, is the sole airport serving Bermuda, a British overseas territory in the North Atlantic Ocean. It is located in the parish of St. George's and is northeast of Bermuda's capital city of Hamilton. In 2006, L.F. Wade...

 passed from the Bermuda Police Service

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 entirely funded by, the Government of Bermuda...

 to the Ministry of Transport's own Airport Security Police

Airport Security Police (Bermuda)

-History of the Bermuda International Airport:Prior to 1995, the airfield was a US Naval Air Station, NAS Bermuda. Following a US network news report, 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...

 in 1995.

Airport police agencies are vital components of the international aviation security system but do not, in themselves, perform all aspects of airport security.

See also

• :Category:Airport law enforcement agencies
• Airport policing in the United Kingdom
  Airport policing in the United Kingdom
  Airport policing in the United Kingdom has taken many forms since the rise of scheduled airline services in the post-war period. Policing at major civilian airports was responsibility of the specialist constabularies operated by three central government departments until 1974, when the rise in...
  
  
• Airport security
  Airport security
  Airport security refers to the techniques and methods used in protecting airports and aircraft from crime.Large numbers of people pass through airports. This presents potential targets for terrorism and other forms of crime due to the number of people located in a particular location...
  
  
• Airport Police (Ireland)
• Transit police
  Transit police
  Transit police are a specialized police agency or unit employed by a common carrier, which could be a transit district, railroad, bus line, other transport carrier, or the state...