Shortly after Extended Jurisdiction came into force , the US September 11 attacks completely changed the national security landscape and al-Qaeda/Islamist terrorism became the MDP 's principle threat . The MDP already extensively “ working outside the wire ” formed a number of Area Police Teams ( APT ) , which were teams of mobile officers who would undertake mobile armed counter-terrorism patrols and local crime surge operations of the Defence Estate and defence interests . Prior to this , the force had been organised around Operational Command Units ( OCU ) based on static Defence locations . The APTs were never adequately funded and quickly , due to pressure on the Defence Budget in 2004 , by both the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns , these teams were rationalised to work at Divisional not Area level and became known as Divisional Support Groups ( DSG ) a role which continues today
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
History of the Ministry of Defence Police