Australian Federal Police
federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia
The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the principal federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government, responsible for investigating crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth of Australia. The AFP is an agency of the Department of Home Affairs and is responsible to the Minister for Home Affairs. Since October 2025, the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police is Krissy Barrett.
The AFP has a focus on preventing, investigating and disrupting transnational, serious, complex, and organised crime, including terrorism and violent extremism, cybercrime, child exploitation, drug smuggling, and human trafficking. The AFP is also responsible for delivering community policing in the Australian Capital Territory through ACT Policing, and to other dependent territories, providing protective security in major airports, and close protection for dignitaries. The AFP also contributes to United Nations peacekeeping around the world. It is a member of the National Intelligence Community and works closely with the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), the Australian Border Force, and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission.
History
The Australian Federal Police was formed on 19 October 1979 under the Australian Federal Police Act 1979. after the merging of the former Commonwealth Police and the Australian Capital Territory Police. This followed a review of Australia's anti-terrorism capacity by Sir Robert Mark, former commissioner of the Metropolitan Police in the UK, which was commissioned by the Fraser government following the 1978 Hilton bombing.
The public source identifies “Australian Federal Police” as federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Australian, Federal and Police.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Australian Federal Police”, the useful work is to connect “federal police agency of the Commonwealth of Australia” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q781401. VIAF identifies the subject as 149453955. The Library of Congress control number is n81115537. 5 of 6 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 1 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2025, 1979 and 1978.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Australian Federal Police”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Australian Federal Police primary sources, Australian Federal Police archive and Australian research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Australian Federal Police”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Australian Federal Police” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.