Military Police - United States

United States

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Each branch of the military of the United States maintains its own military police force, except for the US Coast Guard which is its own law enforcement agency; the coast guard uses its shore patrol, Reserve Investigators, and members of the Coast Guard Investigative Service to regulate its own population. Here is a list of military police forces:

  • Military Police Corps/Office of the Provost Marshal General—United States Army
  • Provost Marshal's Office—United States Marine Corps
  • Masters-at-Arms branch (occasionally aided by temporary members of the Shore Patrol)—United States Navy
  • Air Force Security Forces (formerly known as Military Police, Air Police and Security Police)—United States Air Force
  • U.S. Naval Security Forces (NSF)

Each service also maintains uniformed civilian police departments. They are referred to as Department of Defense Police (DoD Police). These police fall under each directorate they work for within the United States Department of Defense, for example: DoD Army or DoD Navy Police. The Department of the Air Force Police operate under the Air Provost Marshal. The police officers' duties are similar to those of local civilian police officers. They enforce the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), federal and state laws, and the regulations of their particular installation.

Criminal investigations in the United States Armed Forces are carried out by separate agencies:

  • United States Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID)—Army
  • Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS)—Navy and Marine Corps
  • United States Marine Corps Criminal Investigation Division (minor crimes)
  • Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI)—Air Force
  • Coast Guard Investigative Service (CGIS)—Coast Guard

The Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) is a civilian agency that answers directly to the DOD as well as the Pentagon Force Protection Agency (PFPA).

The United States Constabulary was a gendarmerie force used to secure and patrol the American Zone of West Germany immediately after World War II.

Military police are trained to provide area security, usually by vehicle patrol, which is the mission of most military police stationed in Iraq. They are also trained in dealing with prisoners of war and other detainees, with special training in restraining, searching, and transporting prisoners to detainee camps. MPs can also be used as prison guards in detainee camps, although that responsibility usually falls on Internment/Resettlement Specialists, MOS 31E (Formerly Corrections Specialists).

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