The Australian Protective Service (APS) was an Australian Commonwealth law enforcement agency which existed between October 1984 and June 2004. The APS was created by the separation of the Uniformed Protective Service component of the Australian Federal Police (AFP) into a new agency based upon recommendations contained in the Stewart Royal Commission of Inquiry into Drug Trafficking. It was initially responsible for protecting personnel and property of the Australian government; foreign diplomatic missions in both Australia and overseas, Internationally Protected Persons (IPPs); and the provision of custodial services at immigration detention centres. The APS provided a uniformed protection presence at most sensitive government establishments through either a permanent guarding presence or mobile patrol and alarm response function. From 1990 the APS commenced providing Counter Terrorist First Response duties at certain security-designated airports and establishments including the specialist Bomb Appraisal Officer function and, following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, deployed Air Security Officers (ASOs – often referred to as 'sky marshals') on board Australian registered commercial aircraft. Close Personal Protection (CPP), or bodyguard, functions were never formally provided by the APS; where this has been a Commonwealth responsibility, the function was provided by the AFP. Following an extensive review in 2002–2003 and as a result of the September 11 attacks, the staff and functions of the APS were reintegrated into the AFP in mid–2004 as part of Australian Government efforts to better coordinate the national response to terrorism. History The Australian Protective Service (APS) was established in 1984 when 420 Constables transferred from the Australian Federal Police. The APS followed a tradition dating back through its predecessors the Protective Service component of the Australian Federal Police, the uniformed branch of the former Commonwealth Police and the former Peace Officer Guard. What follows is a brief history of the Commonwealth Law Enforcement and Security Service which led up to the inception of the Australian Protective Service (APS). Australia's first Commonwealth Police Force was short lived – surviving only two years between December 1917 and 1919 being set up following an altercation between the then Prime Minister of Australia, William Morris (Billie) Hughes and a heckler at a rally in Queensland after local police sergeant declined to become involved 'in a Federal matter'. In later years discussions between Commonwealth government and state authorities resulted in the birth of the Commonwealth Investigation Service – a plainclothes unit with the responsibility of conducting