Federal Protective Service

The U.S. Federal Protective Service is an office within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's National Protection and Programs Directorate.

As part of the FY 2010 budget, FPS was transfered from ICE to the DHS NPPD [National Protection and Programs Directorate]

The U.S. Federal Protective Service was formerly an office within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency.

The Federal Protective Service employs over 1,200 Federal Police Officers, Inspectors, and Special Agents. These officers are tasked with the protection of over 9,000 federal buildings and properties that are either leased or owned by the U.S. General Services Administration or the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

More information about the FPS can be found here, and here.

Scanning the Federal Protective Service

Regions

The Federal Protective Service is divided into 11 regions throughout the United States.

Region 1 - New England
Region 2 - Northeast & Caribbean
Region 3 - Mid-Atlantic
Region 4 - Southeast
Region 5 - Central
Region 6 - Heartland
Region 7 - Greater Southwest
Region 8 - Rocky Mountain
Region 9 - Pacific Rim
Region 10 - Northwest & Arctic
Region 11 - National Capitol Region

A map of the FPS Regions can be found on the DHS website.

MegaCenters

Each of these regions is assigned to a "MegaCenter" who provides alarm monitoring and emergency dispatch services to the units in the field. There are four such centers in the United States.

MegaCenter Philadelphia (Pennsylvania; Serves Regions 1, 2, 3)
MegaCenter Battle Creek (Michigan; Serves Regions 4, 5, 6)
MegaCenter Denver (Colorado; Serves Regions 7, 8, 9, 10)
MegaCenter Suitland (Maryland; Serves Region 11)

More information about the MegaCenters can be found here.

Unit IDs

Each unit in the field is assigned a distinctive sequence number to identify their region and assignment. Assignment designators are as follows:

CHARLES - Captain
GEORGE - Contract Guards
IDA - Investigator
KING - Canine Unit
LINCOLN - Lieutenant
OSCAR - Court Security Officers
PAUL - Patrol Officer
SAM - Sergeant
TOM - Physical Security Specialist (Non-Commissioned)
VICTOR - Commander
X-RAY - Dispatch Supervisor

 Example Unit Number: 11 GEORGE 199
 The first digits indicate what region the unit is assigned to.
 In this example the officer is assigned to the National Capitol Region (Region 11)
 
 The next designator is a letter, this letter indicates what type or assignment
 the unit holds.
 In this example "GEORGE" indicates that the unit is a Contract Security Guard.
 
 The third number is an individual officer number.

Frequencies by MegaCenter & Region

The most common frequencies nationwide are 417.200 and 415.200. Squelch tones (PL, DPL, NAC) and actual frequencies will vary by location. Some areas are using APCO-25 Common Air Interface digital. Full time or part time encryption is also being employed by some areas and regions.

MegaCenter Philadelphia (Regions 1, 2, 3)

Region 1 (New England)
 408.2000 R / 417.2000 NAC 201  Regional Channel (logged in ME, NH, MA, RI, VT and CT)
  
Region 2 (Northeast)
 408.2000 R NAC 270  Albany, New York City, Long Island
 417.2000 R NAC 293  Syracuse

Region 3 (Mid-Atlantic)
 413.8750R CSQ      Pittsburg, Philadelphia, Baltimore (PL 123.0 reported in use in Philadelphia & Baltimore)
 409.4000R 103.5    Philadelphia - NEW 12/2010 
 409.4000R 123.0    Woodlawn/Baltimore - New 2/2012

MegaCenter Battle Creek (Regions 4, 5, 6)

Region 4 (Southeast)
 410.8000R NAC 201 Miami(Dade County)/Ft. Lauderdale(Broward County) (one frequency covers both counties)
 410.8000R NAC 201  West Palm Beach
 415.2000R PL 192.8 Louisville (Alternate PL reported to be 118.8)
 415.2000R Unk      Memphis
 407.0000R PL 103.5 Dayton
 410.8000R NAC 201  NC/SC Linked repeater (Patrol Units partially in clear)
  (TGID 1 RID 6840452 (SC Patrol),9539434,8539350,8539366,8539350,8539332 & 
   TGID 4095 RID 5)
 *Atlanta area operations are on the Atlanta Federal (GSA) TRS

Region 5 (Central) 
 407.0000 NAC 201  Cleveland, Toledo
 406.2000 Unk      Indianapolis (P25, Unknown NAC)
 407.0000 NAC 201  Minneapolis/St. Paul (Primary?), Chicago (Back-Up)
 408.2000 NAC 201  Detroit
 406.7000 NAC 201  Chicago (Primary), Milwaukee
 406.2000 NAC 201  Milwaukee (Primary), Chicago
 408.2000 unk      Battle Creek

Region 6 (Heartland)
 417.2000 Unk      St. Louis (P25, Unknown NAC; Partial Encryption reported)
 408.2000 NAC 293  Kansas City (P25, Partial Encryption)

MegaCenter Denver (Regions 7, 8, 9, 10)

Region 7 (Greater Southwest)

Region 7 P-25 Channel Plan

Ch Description      Output   Input    NAC
 1 Dallas-Ft Worth  410.8000 419.8000 731
 2 Houston          410.8000 419.8000 798
 3 New Orleans      410.8000 419.8000 742 
 4 Baton Rouge      410.8000 419.8000 753
 5 El Paso          410.8000 419.8000 709
 6 San Antonio      410.8000 419.8000 715
 7 OKC              410.8000 419.8000 764
 8 Little Rock      410.8000 418.4000 721
 9 Austin           410.8000 419.8000 776
10 Albquerque       406.2000 415.2000 787
11 R-7 Main         410.8000 419.8000 201
12 R-7 Talk-Around  413.9500  N/A     293

Region 7 Confirmed Usage

 406.200 NAC 787 Albuquerque, NM P25e
 410.800 NAC 201  Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio
 410.800 NAC 715  Austin, San Antonio
 410.800 NAC unk. Fort Worth  
 415.200 CSQ      Dallas/Ft. Worth Dispatch (old, replaced by 410.800)
 417.650 CSQ      Dallas/Ft. Worth
 419.150 CSQ      Dallas Tactical
 419.650 CSQ      Ft. Worth Tactical
 415.200 PL 103.5 Austin
 415.200 PL 103.5 Houston (old, replaced by 410.800)
 415.200 Unk      El Paso
 415.200 PL 103.5 Oklahoma City
 415.200 PL 103.5 Little Rock

Region 8 (Rocky Mountain)

 410.800 DCS 125  Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley
 *Denver/Boulder operations are on the Front Range Federal (GSA) TRS
 *Salt Lake City operations are on the Salt Lake City Federal (GSA) TRS

Region 9 (Pacific Rim)

 417.200 PL 127.3 San Fransisco, Sacramento
 417.200 PL 127.3  Mount Lukens
 415.200 Pl 127.3  11000 Wilshire Blvd., Federal Building
 415.200 PL 127.3  300 North Los Angeles Street Federal Building

Region 10 (Northwest & Arctic)

 408.2000 NAC 114  "Regional" Regional Channel
 410.8000 NAC 114  "Issaquah" Issaquah Channel
 408.2000 NAC 114  "Tacoma" Tacoma Channel
 415.2000 PL 114.8 "TacomaSSA" Tacoma Social Security Admin Guards Tac (may be using NAC 114)
 410.8000 NAC 114  "Olympia" Olympia Channel
 408.2000 NAC 114  "Everett" Everett Channel
 411.0375 PL 114.8 "FL Ward 1" Floor Warden Channel 1 (may be using NAC 114)
 408.2000 NAC 107  "Portland" Portland Channel
 407.0000 NAC 114  "EGWW Gar" Edith Green-Wendell Wyatt Federal Building Guards
 413.9500 PL 114.8 "ODS Ptnd" ODS Tower Portland Guards Tac (may be using NAC 293)
 407.0000 NAC 114  "SpokaneFB" Spokane Federal Building Guards Tac
 413.4750 NAC 114  "E-WA Gd" East Washington Guards Tactical
 413.9500 PL 114.8 "JunoFBks1" Juno-Fairbanks Channel 1 (may be using NAC 114)
 413.9500 NAC 114  "GuardTac"
 408.2000 Unk       Anchorage
 
 *Quoted text denotes channel name.

MegaCenter Suitland (Region 11)

Region 11 (National Capitol, includes Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, DC)
 415.2000 NAC 201  National Capitol Region Ch 1/2 (Partial Encryption)
 417.2000 NAC 201  National Capitol Region Ch 3/4 (Partial Encryption)
 414.4750 NAC 203  National Capitol Region Ch 5/6 (Partial Encryption)

FPS may also use the following frequencies:

411.2750
412.4000
414.4750
417.2500
417.4250
418.0750
419.1500
419.6500