Military police of the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
In the United Kingdom
, the phrase military police is normally used to describe two main types of police: service police and regimental provosts. There are a number of civilian police forces whose role is to police other parts of the Defence Estate in the UK and overseas, but such forces are not correctly included in the term military police.
responsible for policing the members of the armed forces. They are comparable to the provosts
of other countries, however the term 'provost' in the UK has various uses including reference to the staff of military prison
s and senior service police officers (e.g. the Provost Marshal
). Each of the services has its own service police branch, a standalone unit responsible for policing, close protection
of VIPs and, in the case of the Royal Military Police and Royal Air Force Police; other matters such as traffic control.
s and have powers over non-service personnel in very few cases. In some areas, service police patrol alongside ordinary police officers from local territorial police forces. London's Soho
is one example of this, in addition to various military towns such as Aldershot Garrison
(where there are numerous barracks) and also in Plymouth
due to its proximity to HMNB Devonport
. During these joint patrols service police may sometimes assist territorial police officers, and may take arrested service personnel back to their respective establishment.
operated by the RNP, RMP and RAFP. Each of the service police branches has its own Special Investigation Branch
to undertake investigation of more serious crime and plain-clothes investigations.
is operated by the Military Provost Staff Corps
, an all-senior NCO corps which only recruits from serving personnel. The staff of the Military Provost Staff Corps are known as provosts, but should not be confused with regimental provosts who fulfill a different function.
s or corps
with responsibility for policing only within their own unit. Members of the Regimental Provost can be identified by the brassards they wear, which carry the letters "RP". They have the power to arrest soldiers of the same or lesser rank under the Army Act 1955. Their primary purpose is to enforce breaches of service discipline at a local level.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, the phrase military police is normally used to describe two main types of police: service police and regimental provosts. There are a number of civilian police forces whose role is to police other parts of the Defence Estate in the UK and overseas, but such forces are not correctly included in the term military police.
Service police
In the UK, Service Police is a term used to describe the sections of the British Armed ForcesBritish Armed Forces
The British Armed Forces are the armed forces of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.Also known as Her Majesty's Armed Forces and sometimes legally the Armed Forces of the Crown, the British Armed Forces encompasses three professional uniformed services, the Royal Navy, the...
responsible for policing the members of the armed forces. They are comparable to the provosts
Provost (military police)
Provosts are military police whose duties are policing solely within the Armed Forces, as opposed to Gendarmerie duties in the civilian population. However, many countries use their gendarmerie for provost duties....
of other countries, however the term 'provost' in the UK has various uses including reference to the staff of military prison
Military prison
A military prison is a prison operated by the military. Military prisons are used variously to house prisoners of war, enemy combatants, those whose freedom is deemed a national security risk by the military or national authorities, and members of the military found guilty of a serious crime...
s and senior service police officers (e.g. the Provost Marshal
Provost Marshal
The Provost Marshal is the officer in the armed forces who is in charge of the military police .There may be a Provost Marshal serving at many levels of the hierarchy and he may also be the public safety officer of a military installation, responsible for the provision of fire, gate security, and...
). Each of the services has its own service police branch, a standalone unit responsible for policing, close protection
Bodyguard
A bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...
of VIPs and, in the case of the Royal Military Police and Royal Air Force Police; other matters such as traffic control.
- The Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
is policed by the Royal Navy Police, members of which are traditionally referred to as Regulators (or Master-at-ArmsMaster-at-armsA master-at-arms may be a naval rating responsible for discipline and law enforcement, an army officer responsible for physical training, or a member of the crew of a merchant ship responsible for security and law enforcement.-Royal Navy:The master-at-arms is a ship's senior rating, comparable in...
if a Chief Petty OfficerChief Petty OfficerA chief petty officer is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards.-Canada:"Chief Petty Officer" refers to two ranks in the Canadian Navy...
or Warrant OfficerWarrant OfficerA warrant officer is an officer in a military organization who is designated an officer by a warrant, as distinguished from a commissioned officer who is designated an officer by a commission, or from non-commissioned officer who is designated an officer by virtue of seniority.The rank was first...
).- The Royal Navy Police also has Royal MarinesRoyal MarinesThe Corps of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, commonly just referred to as the Royal Marines , are the marine corps and amphibious infantry of the United Kingdom and, along with the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary, form the Naval Service...
specialising as Service Policemen. Prior to 2009 the Royal Marines PoliceRoyal Marines PoliceThe Royal Marines Police is the military police of the British Royal Marines.The RM Police is responsible for providing garrison policing services; law enforcement and crime prevention as well as general security advice to the command, and includes a Special Investigation Branch section for the...
was an independent organisation within the Corps.
- The Royal Navy Police also has Royal Marines
- The British ArmyBritish ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
is policed by the Royal Military PoliceRoyal Military PoliceThe Royal Military Police is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK, and whilst service personnel are deployed overseas on operations and exercises.Members of the RMP are generally known as...
(often known as 'Redcaps') and by Regimental Provost (often mistakenly called Regimental Police), who belong to individual regimentRegimentA regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
s or corpsCorpsA corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...
.
- The Royal Air ForceRoyal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
is policed by the Royal Air Force PoliceRoyal Air Force PoliceThe Royal Air Force Police is the Service Police branch of the Royal Air Force. It was formed on 1 April 1918, when the RAF was formed by the merger of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service . It is responsible for the policing of all service personnel much like there RN or Army...
. They are often known as 'Snowdrops' on account of their white caps as opposed to the normal Royal Air ForceRoyal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
blue caps.
Jurisdiction in respect of civilians
Service police officers are not constableConstable
A constable is a person holding a particular office, most commonly in law enforcement. The office of constable can vary significantly in different jurisdictions.-Etymology:...
s and have powers over non-service personnel in very few cases. In some areas, service police patrol alongside ordinary police officers from local territorial police forces. London's Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
is one example of this, in addition to various military towns such as Aldershot Garrison
Aldershot Garrison
Aldershot Garrison, also known as Aldershot Military Town, is a major garrison in South East England. Established in 1854, Aldershot has long been seen as the home of the British Army. The garrison was established when the war department brought a large area of land near to the village of...
(where there are numerous barracks) and also in Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
due to its proximity to HMNB Devonport
HMNB Devonport
Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...
. During these joint patrols service police may sometimes assist territorial police officers, and may take arrested service personnel back to their respective establishment.
Training
All service police receive their trade training at the Defence College of Policing and Guarding, and utilise the Service Police Crime BureauService Police Crime Bureau
The Service Police Crime Bureau is operated by the Royal Military Police, Royal Air Force Police and Royal Navy Police. It is located at the Defence College of Policing and Guarding at Southwick Park, near Portsmouth, England.The Bureau includes:...
operated by the RNP, RMP and RAFP. Each of the service police branches has its own Special Investigation Branch
Special Investigation Branch
The Special Investigation Branch is the name given to the detective branches of all three British military police arms: the Royal Navy Police, Royal Military Police and Royal Air Force Police. It is most closely associated with the Royal Military Police, which has the largest SIB. SIB members...
to undertake investigation of more serious crime and plain-clothes investigations.
Provosts
The British military prison at ColchesterColchester
Colchester is an historic town and the largest settlement within the borough of Colchester in Essex, England.At the time of the census in 2001, it had a population of 104,390. However, the population is rapidly increasing, and has been named as one of Britain's fastest growing towns. As the...
is operated by the Military Provost Staff Corps
Military Provost Staff Corps
The Military Provost Staff Corps was the corps of the British Army which ran its military prisons. As the Military Provost Staff , the corps is now administratively part of the Adjutant General's Corps. It also provides operational support and technical advice for Prisoner of War handling during...
, an all-senior NCO corps which only recruits from serving personnel. The staff of the Military Provost Staff Corps are known as provosts, but should not be confused with regimental provosts who fulfill a different function.
Regimental provosts
In addition to being policed by the Royal Military Police the British Army has Regimental Provosts, who are members of individual regimentRegiment
A regiment is a major tactical military unit, composed of variable numbers of batteries, squadrons or battalions, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant colonel...
s or corps
Corps
A corps is either a large formation, or an administrative grouping of troops within an armed force with a common function such as Artillery or Signals representing an arm of service...
with responsibility for policing only within their own unit. Members of the Regimental Provost can be identified by the brassards they wear, which carry the letters "RP". They have the power to arrest soldiers of the same or lesser rank under the Army Act 1955. Their primary purpose is to enforce breaches of service discipline at a local level.
Civilian police forces
There are several civil police forces responsible to the Ministry of Defence. They each have specific roles and are staffed by police officers who are not part of the armed forces, thus they are not military police.- The Ministry of Defence PoliceMinistry of Defence PoliceThe Ministry of Defence Police is a civilian police force which is part of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence. The force is part of the larger government agency, the Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency , together with the Ministry of Defence Guard Service...
is a branch of the Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding AgencyMinistry of Defence Police and Guarding AgencyThe Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency is an executive agency of the Ministry of Defence. The organisation was formed on 1 April 2004 by the amalgamation of the MoD Police Agency with the Ministry of Defence Guard Service, with the purpose of providing a coordinated approach to the...
which was formed by the merger of the Ministry of Defence Police and Ministry of Defence Guard ServiceMinistry of Defence Guard ServiceThe Ministry of Defence Guard Service is part of the Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency, and provides British Ministry of Defence establishments with unarmed security guard and patrol services....
on April 1, 2004. It is responsible for providing Police, Investigative and Guarding services to Ministry of Defence property, personnel, and installations throughout the United Kingdom.
- The Sovereign Base Areas PoliceSovereign Base Areas PoliceThe Sovereign Base Areas Police is the local civilian police force for the British controlled Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia in Cyprus. Established in August 1960, the force has responsibility for all 15,000 residents of the SBAs, including military personnel...
provide policing services for both the Eastern and Western Sovereign Base AreasSovereign Base AreasThe Sovereign Base Areas are military bases located on territory in which the United Kingdom is sovereign, but which are separated from the ordinary British territory....
of CyprusCyprusCyprus , officially the Republic of Cyprus , is a Eurasian island country, member of the European Union, in the Eastern Mediterranean, east of Greece, south of Turkey, west of Syria and north of Egypt. It is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.The earliest known human activity on the...
.
- The Gibraltar Defence Police provide policing services on Ministry of Defence land and waters in GibraltarGibraltarGibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
.