FPS provides integrated law enforcement and security services to U.S. federal buildings, courthouses, and other properties administered by the GSA and the DHS.

[3] The Federal Protective Service is a branch of the Management Directorate and a component of the DHS, functioning as the police force of the Secretary of Homeland Security.

Prior to the formal establishment of Washington & the District of Columbia, commissioners hired six night watchmen to protect designated buildings the government was intended to occupy.

The act of June 1, 1948, authorized the federal administrator to appoint special policemen for duty in connection with the policing of all buildings owned and occupied by the United States.

The FPS force, known at the time as the United States Special Police, came under the supervision of the Protection Division of the Public Building Service.

[citation needed] In 1980, Fidel Castro instigated a wave of emigration from Cuba to the United States using the harbor town of Mariel for debarkation.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service and Border Patrol were understaffed to provide civilian law enforcement officers needed to maintain order within the installations.

On October 28, 2009, President Barack Obama signed legislation that transferred FPS from ICE to the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

2764 passed, documented lapses that had occurred on federal government property, including the theft of a trailer of surveillance equipment from an FBI parking deck.

The GAO report made national headlines in July 2009 as it cited frequent lapses, including failure to prevent investigators from carrying weapons into several key federal installations.

[10] On June 17, 2019, a lone gunman by the name of Brian Issack Clyde opened fire on the Earle Cabell Federal Building and Courthouse in Dallas, Texas.

[11][12] On May 30, 2020, Dave Patrick Underwood, a contract security officer for the Federal Protective Service, was shot and killed in Oakland, California.

[13] Two suspects, one of whom had killed a Santa Cruz County deputy in a subsequent attack on police, were arrested in June; they were found to have had ties to the far-right boogaloo movement.

Citation: AFGE NL#918 The Protective Investigations Program was established in early 2004, to ensure the safety of DHS and FPS protectees and facilities.

FPS Headquarters developed a Memorandum of Understanding, in collaboration with the U.S. Capitol Police, enabling the two entities to use each other's resources to effectively, efficiently and professionally respond to and investigate threats and inappropriate communications directed at members of Congress, their families and staff when outside the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

FPS collaborates with other components within DHS and has established liaisons with agencies having a protective and investigative mission such as the U.S. Secret Service—National Threat Assessment Center, Social Security Administration (SSA), U.S.

FPS special agents have made arrests and conducted investigations of subjects charged with making inappropriate communications and threats to members of the U.S. Congress (House and Senate) or their staff, the director of Federal Emergency Management Agency, FPS Director, members of the military reserve, SSA, the Department of Veteran Affairs and other federal employees.

The mission of the Explosive Detector Dog (EDD) Teams is the protection of life and property and providing a strong visible and psychological deterrent against criminal and terrorist acts.

Prior to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the FPS had a minimal program of 10 EDD Teams located in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

[17] The EDD Teams conduct routine explosive searches of office areas, vehicles, materials, packages and persons housed in federally owned or leased facilities.

Currently, each MegaCenter monitors multiple types of alarm systems, closed-circuit television, and wireless dispatch communications within federal facilities throughout the entire nation.

[18] Official: Others: This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Department of Homeland Security.