Military Police contains information about military police functions in maneuver and mobility support, area security, law and order, internment/resettlement, and police intelligence operations.
Issue link: https://militarypolice.epubxp.com/i/484012
20 MILITARY POLICE . 19-15-1 By Major Megan R. Spangler W hile desertion is a problem that directly involves only a very small number of Soldiers within the U.S. Army, the distractions and inconvenience caused by deserters have a great indirect impact. Leaders at all levels should adopt a strong policy toward desertion, thereby sending the message that command accountability in dealing with desertion benefts the Army in general. The Manual for Courts-Martial, United States (2012 Edi- tion) defnes a deserter as "any member of the armed forces who—without authority, goes or remains absent from his unit, organization, or place of duty with intent to remain away therefrom permanently . . . " 1 Desertion negatively impacts the U.S. Army. Discipline through accountability is one of the primary foundations of military culture. Soldiers who fail to uphold their Army obligation by deserting are committing a disservice to their units. In addition to their failure to contribute to the mission, they force their units to invest time and resources to address their absence. There- fore, their absence erodes the discipline of the Army and runs counter to fscal conservation. While a single Soldier's absence is disruptive enough, a failure to address the trans- gression would be much worse. It would send the incorrect message to the rest of the unit that indiscipline is accept- able. Current regulations offer cting instructions for pro- cessing Soldiers in absentee or deserter status. And in 2012, the Army Audit Agency concluded that the Army did not have suffcient controls in place and that current operations did not support established policies and procedures for re- porting absentee Soldiers to the pay system to ensure that their pay was stopped. As a result of the shortcomings, Sol- diers in absentee status continued to receive pay and ben- efts. 2 A review of Army policy, followed by the revision of regulations and a streamlining of the process, would enable the Army to more effectively identify deserters and pursue the appropriate courses of action. As of spring 2014, there were about 1,500 Army desert- ers, which amounts to only 0.3 percent of the total Army population. 3 But although the percentage is low, the impact is great. The U.S. Army Offce of the Provost Marshal General (OPMG) is responsible for establishing law enforcement policies and procedures for the Absentee Deserter Ap- prehension Program. The U.S. Army Deserter Informa- tion Point maintains a complete roster of deserters. The roster is periodically reconciled among the Deserter In- formation Point; OPMG; and the Deputy Chief of Staff of Personnel (G-1), Department of the Army (DA). The Desert- er Information Point tracks reported deserters, OPMG veri- fes law enforcement reporting, and the G-1 verifes that the deserter has been administratively processed and dropped from the rolls. OPMG classifes deserters into seven categories: 4 • Top 75 Most Wanted. This category includes the top 75 most wanted individuals. In addition to desertion, these individuals are also wanted for other serious charg- es, such as drug violations and crimes against persons. The "Top 15 Most Wanted," which is a subset of this cat- egory, is the group of wanted individuals most widely dis- seminated among interagency partners and additional law enforcement agencies. Entries in the Top 75 Most Wanted category are continuously updated and evalu- ated for prioritization. • Top 200 Most Wanted. This category includes the top 200 most wanted individuals. • Possibly Deceased. About 40 of the oldest deserters (deserters who are approximately 70 years of age or old- er) may have died. OPMG has been unable to verify the deaths of these individuals with the Social Security Ad- ministration. These individuals deserted long ago; there- fore, tracking down documentation for these individuals is generally time-intensive. "While a single Soldier's absence is disruptive enough, a failure to address the transgression would be much worse. It would send the incor- rect message to the rest of the unit that indisci- pline is acceptable."