The ACT had its own independent police force until 1979, where it merged with Commonwealth and Northern Territory police to become the Australian Federal Police.

Then Chief Minister, Rosemary Follett, wrote to the prime minister, Paul Keating, seeking to review the arrangement between ACT and the Commonwealth in 1991.

Terry Connolly, the attorney-general, claimed that Canberra needed more police assistance than other cities of similar population, due to the responsibilities of being a national capital.

"As yet [the Commonwealth] doesn't pay enough and we need to examine the data. It will be good to come up with a financial formula that has bipartisan support," he said.

Despite the strong push to create a dedicated ACT police force, Terry Connolly expressed that he did not want to sever links with the AFP.

To this day, ACT policing remains a portfolio of the AFP rather than being its own, individual, police force.

See: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/13963800