The Polícia Aérea (Portuguese for "Air Police") or PA is the military police and ground combat force of the Portuguese Air Force. The Air Police has as its main symbol the Blue Beret with the Emblem of the Air Force. Missions The Polícia Aérea has the following main missions, both in Portugal and abroad (namely in support to deployed air assets and units): Internal security and immediate defense of the Air Force facilities and sensitive areas; Ground-based air defense; Internal policing of the units and other bodies of the Air Force; Order and security enforcement. To fulfill these missions, the PA has to maintain combat capability, employing appropriate tactics, specific equipment and war dogs. It has to be able to act both in normal security conditions as in hostile environments created by acts of terrorism, sabotage or nuclear, biological and chemical threat. History When created as an independent branch in 1952, the Portuguese Air Force had no military police or a permanent specialized security force to protect its bases. Initially and when needed, these tasks were entrusted to the National Republican Guard (Portuguese gendarmerie). After 1957, these tasks were transferred to the Military Police of the Portuguese Army. At the same time, some units of the Air Force created ad hoc police detachments, sometimes referred to as Polícia da Aeronáutica (Aeronautics Police). One of the first of such detachments was the police corps created by the Lajes Air Base, on the May 31, 1955, made up of one officer, one sergeant and 32 airmen. In the late 1950s, the Portuguese Air Force finally creates a permanent Polícia Aérea (PA, Air Police), establishing the police and close defense flights (EPDP, esquadrilhas de polícia e defesa próxima). Each air base should have one EPDP as part of its internal organization. The PA force is greatly expanded after 1961, with the beginning of the Portuguese Overseas War and the need to defend the Air Force bases located in the theatres of operation of Angola, Portuguese Guinea and Mozambique. During this War, PA suffered more than 20 dead. Initially, the EPDP flights were made up of Military Police personnel transferred from the Army to the Air Force. However, after 1963, the PA personnel started to be recruited directly by the Air Force, receiving a specific training at the Tancos Air Base. In the late 1970s, following the reorganization of the Air Force bases, the