All federal police employees, which includes all members of ACT police, are required to be vaccinated before next Monday or face disciplinary action under Section 40 of the AFP Act.
Those who fail to follow the directive of AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw will be assessed on their "suitability for employment ... in the absence of the employee having a valid exemption".
If an exemption is rejected, the person has seven days to comply before an "appropriate course of action" is determined.
In the disciplined world of policing, members serve at the will of the Commissioner. To defy a directive invariably has a poor outcome for any member.
It is understood that there are around 100 federal officers and contractors who are seen as vaccine "hold outs" within the organisation, but less than a handful within the ACT.
The federal police directive comes after a group of around 60 Queensland police lost their battle in the Industrial Relation Commission to reject the mandate in their home state.
Around 7000 people work for the federal police, including around 900 attached to the so-called outcome two, which is the community police service paid for through a $196 million annual contract with the ACT government.
The Australian Federal Police Association recently issued advice to all members in which it stated that following independent legal advice, "it is likely lawful that the Commissioner can mandate vaccinations for the majority of AFP appointees".
"There have been a number of unsuccessful court challenges to vaccination mandates, both in the context of policing but also in other professions and industries which have mandated vaccinations, which have indicated that mandates are lawful and reasonable for those working within essential and emergency services," the association said its circular to members.
"Following the announcement by the Commissioner, the AFPA has been engaging with the AFP to obtain further information about the processes and governance to be put in place regarding the vaccination mandate.
"In particular, the AFPA is working to ensure that any such mandate contains robust protections for those with legitimate reasons for not being able to receive a COVID-19 vaccination."
The association said that it understood "there will be some members who will not welcome this position".
"However, we want to assure you that this decision has not been made lightly and has been taken having considered independent legal advice," it stated.
Police say that 83.6 per cent of its employees have reported that they are fully vaccinated and 87.8 per cent have received one vaccination. Both are lower than the ACT's 92.6 per cent full vaccination rate across the territory's general population aged 12 and over.
ACT police have consistently refused to provide any information about how many officers have been infected with COVID-19 during the course of their employment, nor how many have been forced to quarantine after coming in contact with infected members of the public.
However, the city watch house has been shut down and deep cleaned on at least one occasion and the two arresting officers quarantined after an offender was processed through the underground lock-up, faced court via video link and was only found positive during a mandatory test before he entered Canberra's jail.
Corrective Services officers who took custody and transported the infected man also had to quarantine.
