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/567773
41 Fall 2015 By First Lieutenant Bradley A. Zobal T he U.S. Army Military Police Corps needs a change. The U.S. Army needs more experienced military po- lice personnel who provide law enforcement on instal- lations. When law enforcement duties are rotated between units, individual Soldiers do not obtain the experience and confdence needed to be fully successful law enforcement agents. I believe that creating separate military occupation- al specialties (MOSs) for law enforcement military police and combat military police (much like the separate MOSs 31B and 31E for military police and internment/resettle- ment specialists) would improve military police profession- alism. Profciency in law enforcement requires a great deal of experience. Military police personnel conducting law en- forcement duties make life-changing, split-second decisions; they need to know when to pull their weapons and when to fre. Any hesitation can be life threatening, but it is easy for military police to become complacent when providing law enforcement, as opposed to working down range. They are not under the constant threat of improvised explosive de- vices or ambushes, but they can also face threats when least expected—for example, when confronted by an unstable per- son who is determined to cause injury or take a life. Expe- rienced individuals are required for these situations. More experience as law enforcement offcers ensures that military police are less likely to become complacent and are ready to handle diffcult situations. This can save their lives. Many military police units currently rotate law enforce- ment duties. A Soldier fresh out of one station unit train- ing might arrive at a military police unit during the red or amber cycle and not work law enforcement for another 6 to 9 months. Even then, he or she might only work the road for 3 months, never gaining the experience and confdence needed when making critical decisions. This experience is critical for law enforcement offcers. The designation of a military police MOS that only works law enforcement would ensure that those Soldiers gain the experience and conf- dence that civilian law enforcement offcers have. With the creation of a separate law enforcement MOS, more rigorous training like that of civilian police academies would be possible. A thorough background check should be conducted to assess the character of the individual wishing to become an Army law enforcement agent. Civilian law en- forcement offcers go through a very extensive background check, and so should Army law enforcement Soldiers. A more extensive background check would reduce the possibil- ity of misconduct within the Military Police Corps. Even if a separate MOS were not created, the Military Police Corps could take steps to make itself a more profes- sional law enforcement agency. Each installation could as- sign one military police detachment to exclusively perform law enforcement operations. Therefore, the Soldiers in that unit would have time to gain much-needed experience. These detachments could consist of hand-selected, mature individuals who have shown good conduct. Another way that the Military Police Corps could im- prove professionalism, and perhaps separate itself from oth- er branches, is to change the uniform worn by military police Soldiers performing law enforcement functions. Conducting law enforcement activities without displaying rank would separate rank from authority. This would prevent a young military police offcer from being disrespected by higher- ranking Soldiers who might confuse rank with authority. Civilian offcers working on the installation do not encounter this problem; they are viewed as authority fgures because of their uniforms. Patrols consist of a watch commander, a patrol supervisor, and patrol offcers and, for the most part, rank does not play a part. Military police performing law enforcement duties could wear military police insignia on their chests and patrol caps, or they could simply wear ex- terior black vests and black caps or other distinguishable headgear. With deployments winding down, the Military Police Corps needs to fnd its place within the Army. The Corps will be focusing more on law enforcement, but it will need to continue training for the down-range mission. By separating into different MOSs, I believe that the Military Police Corps will have a better chance of becoming more profcient in the law enforcement mission and the combat support role. First Lieutenant Zobal is a platoon leader with the 116th Military Police Battalion, Fort Riley, Kansas. He holds a bachelor's degree in political science