history

1931 - July, 1931, Hillsgrove State Airport, located on Airport Road, then called Occupasstuxet Road,
             opened becoming the first State owned and operated airport in the country. Warwick (city) Police
             and RI State Police were tasked with law enforcement responsibilities at Hillsgrove.

1938 - Hillsgrove State Airport was renamed Theodore Francis Green State Airport, Rhode Island's
             Governor from 1933-1937 and an avid supporter of aviation.

1940 - Public Law 1940, ch. 851, subsection 15, the Uniform Aeronautics Regulatory Act, was passed
            empowering "selected employees" of the Division of Aeronautics with law enforcement authority
            on a statewide level regarding aviation related issues. P.L. 1940, ch. 851, s/s 15, was passed into
            General Law 1-4-14 in 1956. Although the statutory power existed, there was no Security/Police
            Department created at this time.

1954 - The Airport Security Unit, Divison of Aeronautics,under the Department of Public Works (later to
             be renamed the Department of Transportation), State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
             was created with four officers and a Chief/Director. There was no formal training for these
             officers. They were unarmed and still relied upon Warwick and State Police to provide for arrests.

1960 - A new airport terminal, located on Post Road, U.S. Route 1, opened. The Airport Security
             Unit, under the newly renamed Division of Airports, was still providing law enforcement without
             in-house provisions for making arrests. The Unit was empowered with Uniform Traffic
             Summons' as part of their traffic control duties. These summons' were the same traffic tickets as
             those issued by every other police agency in the state.

1978 - Mandates from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for arming and providing formal
             training for Airport Law Enforcement Officers (L.E.O.'s), were implemented. This included the
             Airport Security Unit.

1981 - The Rhode Island Airport Security Unit officially changed its name to the Rhode Island Airport
             Police Department. Formal training was provided by the RI State Police to those members of the
             Security Unit who were "grandfathered" into the Airport Police Department and all new officers
             were, and still are, required to attend the full session of the Rhode Island Municipal Police Training
             Academy. There are three Police Academys in the State of Rhode Island -the first one is
             administered by and for the RI State Police, the second is administered by and for the City of
             Providence Police Department and the third is administered by the State of Rhode Island for the
             remaining 38 city and town police departments and all of the other State Law Enforcement
             agencies including, but not limited to, the Airport Police, State Marshalls, Department of
             Environmental Management Conservation Officers, University of Rhode Island Campus Police,
             Community College of Rhode Island Campus Police. Brown University Police are the only
             non-state/municipality police department that attends the Academy. The Airport Police were
             re-uniformed and armed. They were now able to make arrests but lacked a facility to hold and
             process prisoners. Warwick Police provided "mutual assistance" for arrest, booking, holding and
             prosecution of prisoners. RI State Police also were available as this is a State owned and operated
             airport. Connection with the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System was
             established with the Airport Police being assigned an ORI (NLETS address)of "RI0020600".

1993 - The Rhode Island Airport Corporation (RIAC) was created replacing the Division of Airports.
             RIAC is fully owned and operated by the State of Rhode Island and is therefore a public agency.
             (Basically speaking, the State of Rhode Island created a new town and called it The Airport
             Corporation. As such, we are the police department for this new town.) "Peace Officer Defined",
             RI General Law 12-7-21, was ammended to correct an oversight and include the Airport Police under
             Rhode Island's Police Officer-defining statute.

1995 - The current airport terminal, the Bruce Sundlun Terminal Building at T.F. Green International
             Airport, opened, and with that, the Airport Police Department was restructured into a fully
             funtional police department, complete with booking and holding facilities, and administrative, patrol
             and investigative/prosecution divisions.