You will glad to know that this isn’t about an episode of Star Trek or Capt Jean-Luc Piccard but merely me having the opportunity to provide you with an insight into the significant changes that have occurred both in the wider RAF and more poignantly for you all, our beloved RAF Police.

Over the past 3 years and for some time to come, the RAF has introduced and will continue to introduce new capabilities that have significant technology at the heart of their operations. This has meant that the RAF has had to change not only its operating structures and procedures but how it delivers Air defence in light of an ever-changing global threat picture. It is safe to say that we have entered an information age that presents us with new and emerging threats, the likes of which have not been seen before; even when you compare it to the cold war era.

With technology driving everything in all walks of life, today’s platforms contain more complex systems than can ever be imagined and this presents our adversaries with an increased information thirst to understand what we know, how we know it and what we do with it. A ‘Next Generation’ RAF Police force has therefore had to evolve so that it is more capable than ever at countering these threats. Essential to this has and will be maintaining our core outputs in Law Enforcement , Counter Intelligence and Protective Security; the latter of course, includes Military Working Dogs.

Starting in 2020, the RAF Police began looking at how it could restructure in line with the changes imposed by the RAF leadership and the direction that it needed to pursue to defend the UK.

In 2022, HQ AIR instigated a rapid and challenging change program in its operating model for the whole of the RAF. The Station ‘Binbrook model’ and changes to the FP Fce had to be factored in as well as the ministerially led direction of the creation of a Defence Serious Crime Command (DSCC); more on this later.

In terms of the Binbrook model, it is no more. Instead, what has been adopted is an Airbase/ Air Wing model that essentially sees all of our flying platforms sitting under 1 Gp and all our Airbases sitting within 2 Gp. 22 Gp remains the training delivery organisation for AIR and 11 Gp is now the Global Air Component Command Gp looking after our ever-expanding global operations.

Some of you may have heard that the Force Protection (FP) Force for which, we, along with the RAF Regiment were part of, is no more. I can confirm that this is true as part of the many reviews that were undertaken in this change process, it was recognised that whilst we need to work intrinsically together, our roles and capabilities are different; the RAFP leading on policing and security with the RAF Regiment leading on ground defence. To this end, on 28 Nov 22, our 1-star (Air Officer (AO) FP) was re-roled into AO Global Enablement (GE) for which, he now has additional forces beneath him.  He is still in our 1-star in terms of chain of command but with the conscious uncoupling of the FP Force on the very same date, PM(RAF) now has his own force which comprises of the RAF Police, MPGS and all our associated civil servants. This new force is known as the Air Security Force (ASF) so, PM(RAF) also now attracts the title of Commander ASF. The RAF Regiment has stood up on their own as the Combat & Readiness Force (C&RF) and other forces within the 2 Gp GE pillar are Support Force, Medical Force, 90 Signal Unit and Battlespace Management & Space Force, all of which are commanded by a Group Captain.

All of this change, that has been ongoing for some 3 years now, has led us to the position that we, the RAF Police, now find ourselves in. Moving away from our traditional geographical Sqn set up, this has now been superseded with a capability facing hierarchy to provide direct policing and security support to all RAF capabilities, it’s air platforms and HQs at all levels. This allows the RAF Police to be at the heart of influencing development, operations, sustainment and decision making at the earliest opportunity available.  As such, there are now 3 Police and Security Wings (PSWs) and 9 capability facing Sqns.  These are:

Wings

  1. P&SW – ‘People’ facing
  2. P&SW – ‘Platform’ facing
  3. P&SW – ‘Air Mobility’ facing

Sqns

  1. (Tactical) RAFP & Sy Sqn
  2. Counter Intelligence and Security Sqn
  3. RAFP (Reserves) & Sy Sqn
  4. RAFP & Sy Sqn supporting the Typhoon Force
  5. RAFP & Sy Sqn supporting the ISTAR Force
  6. RAFP & Sy Sqn supporting the Listening Force
  7. RAFP & Sy Sqn supporting the Air Mobility Force
  8. RAFP & Sy Sqn supporting the 22 Gp Training Units
  9. RAFP & Sy Sqn supporting Battlespace Management & Space Force.

As I mentioned earlier, following several ministerially directed reviews and their subsequent direction, 5 Dec 22 saw the creation of the DSCC. Subordinate to this command layer is the Defence Serious Crime Unit (DSCU) which now has the remit to investigate all serious and complex crime within the Armed Forces. This has seen all single service SIBs amalgamate into a single formation headed by a newly created – Provost Marshal (Serious Crime). Sadly, this has meant that we have had to hand over our RAF SIB capability to this new organisation. Be rest assured however that RAF Police SIB investigators remain a key part of this new organisation as well as our own and will  continue to do so for the future as they return to the fold post tour completion, and we keep feeding it with our superb personnel.

Putting change aside (thankfully), you will be glad to know that our footprint has changed very little over the past 5 years, with around 1300 personnel employed across the world in a multitude of diverse employments, including Close Protection, Forensics, Digital Forensics, Military Working Dogs, secondments to Home Office Police Forces and other government agencies, Security Advisors to all the main overseas operating areas, Security Assurance for the RAF and wider Defence. This list could go on and on such is the appetite for what our people deliver.

You can see, there has been much change over the past couple of years for the RAF Police and indeed the RAF!  There will be time to allow all of this to settle in and we may perhaps have to test and adjust a little, but the RAF Police is still as important today as it was in days and years gone by. I can assure you all that RAF Police is held in the very highest regard, and we will keep moving forward and flying the flag of the Snowdrops.

Fiat Justitia.

WO Simon “Jimmy” Brown

PMWO