The final military dictator, Manuel Noriega, had been belligerent toward the U.S. culminating in the killing of a U.S. Marine lieutenant and U.S. invasion ordered by U.S. President George H. W. Bush.

[3] However, starting in the late 1930s, the National Police attracted several new recruits who had attended military academies in other Latin American countries.

He began promoting fewer enlisted men to officer rank, giving the police a more military character.

[3] In 1968, the Guard overthrew President Arnulfo Arias in a coup d'état led by Major Boris Martínez and others, including then Major Omar Torrijos, after newly elected Arias forced senior officers into retirement or assignments in distant provinces by presidential order.

Torrijos thrust Martínez aside in 1969, promoted himself to brigadier general, and was the de facto ruler of the country until his death in a 1981 plane crash.

Under Noriega, the PDF was more a tool of political control, than a force dedicated to national defense and law enforcement.

[3] Besides consolidating his grasp on power by increasing military forces and spending, Noriega also increased the power and influence of the PDF Military Intelligence Section (G-2 for its standard military designation), which he commanded prior his rise to power and it became a secret police, feared even inside the PDF ranks; and he also relied on several loyal military units, like the 7th Inf Co. "Macho de Monte" (Mountain Men, a guerrilla warfare unit named after a sort of aggressive wild boar), the 1st Public Order Co. "Doberman" (a riot police force), the UESAT (Unidades Especiales de Servicio Anti Terror, an Israeli trained counter-terrorism strike force).

The "Doberman" Co. was disbanded and replaced by the 2nd Public Order Co. "Centurions" after the "Dobermen" key role in the last coup attempt against Noriega.

Due to the political turmoil of the late 1980s, he formed the civilian paramilitary unit called the Dignity Battalions composed by regular sympathizers and the CODEPADI, a similar group formed by civil servants inside public institutions; both intended to bolster up forces to be used in case of foreign military action, but were mainly used as shock troops in acts of political repression.

On February 10, 1990, the government of then President Guillermo Endara abolished Panama's military and reformed the security apparatus by creating the Panamanian Public Forces.

In 2012, the National Customs Authority, the National Immigration Service (SNM), and the National Passport Service, following advice from the government of the United States of America would merge and form other security sectors autonomous or entity of the Republic of Panama, the Government Executive issued Decree 871 of November 14, 2012 that creates an interagency commission to first handle structuring, coordination, and technical processes for the merger of the first customs and immigration agencies to subsequently merge passports.

Many officers of the PPF nowadays are also graduates of foreign exchange programs in Latin American military and police academies.