Do you feel that Military Police on your installation are Professional, Well Trained and Community Oriented?
SSG,
The big question is what type of training are you and your Soldiers getting to help fill in this gap and how long is it taking? I do know this SSG, Bliss has training that some installations will not get due to “Civilians” still being in control of the MP’s. And this needs to be changed. TASER, Monadnock ASP, the MPH-900 ALPR, patrols carrying long guns due to “Active Shooters”, responding to the latter “training” and with Fort’s Bliss, Hood, Leavenworth and Bragg (correct me if I‘m wrong on the last please), some of these are already in place. With the interaction of how the MP’s act with others, SSG Wood’s I’m sorry to say this, but the last few times I have been on Fort Riley, the MP’s have been MIA. But I do know this, my son is an MP here at Riley (from Fort Bliss, and yes SSG L, he has asked me WTFO is going on here) and he’s been asked by fellow NCO’s to “Slow down and not be so aggressive”. He does his job and will write a citation when he sees a violation. The Soldiers here are not being trained like they should be nor are they taking it seriously. Why, the Civilians that are still in control at the top that DON’T want ant change and think Civilian Police need to be in charge all the time. My response, that’s the wrong answer.
The biggest issue with the Military Police Corp is it’s attitude. Yes, I will say this due to I have seen this happen as a Watch Commander and Patrol Super Visor. The interaction between MP’s, Soldiers, Civilians and “Others” needs to be addressed on a daily basis. Patrols being visible not only on the road, in the Communities (on foot, bike making contact with the populace) the PX complex or in another Battalion/Brigades footprint does make a big impact. For example, try calling out at a Battalion just to do a walk through, log in, and let that CSM, BC know, “We’re just here to see how you’re doing and to say hi” . Along with the needed training in patrol, response, running code, and how to quell a disturbance quickly might come from a Civilian Agency. But for now, the Veteran Patrol NCO’s need to train the Soldiers the right way.
I felt the same way when I was first commissioned as a hard-charging Airborne-Ranger Infantry officer. When I was injured and "disqualified for the combat arms", I became a Military Police officer and, honestly, it is the best thing that ever happened to me. I loved the Military Police Corps and still do.
From an old school MP to the new breed, this is what you were trained for in the real world of military duties. Now as far as how competent and capable do I feel they are is a different story, I know the MPs at my final duty station had a lot of bad habits that I attempted to correct before I left, but I met with lots of roadblocks, by that I mean they had learned bad habits from the DACP officers who most were just collecting a paycheck and weren't really overly concerned about LE and community service for the installation, I worked for the installation BDE command and used to be the liaison between the CG and the training BDE, part of my duties were to screen and process the community complaints about the force and most of what I came across was the complaints of the liaise faire attitude of the DACP and it was rolling into the E5 on down road MPs as well.
The roadblocks I was dealing with was we were without a military PM for about 2 1/2 years after the last one had PCS'd, they made the civilian deputy the acting PM and created a rank that had never existed before, most of the civilian deputy's are CPTs, but this one was made a MAJ to fill the slot, well he had received 2 DUIs while in the job over the 7 years he was there, and had his connections throughout the system and was good at padding his statistics, so he made himself look invaluable so his indiscretions were overlooked, and also anyone who has dealt with the system long enough knows once a GS has been in the system long enough, they practically have to kill someone to get them fired from their jobs. He was always telling his staff to ignore my directives and OPORDs being sent down and that I didn't know how to conduct real LE operations since I hadn't been in the "saddle" for about 6 years, so that created the environment that was not conducive between the PMO and the BDE elements.
If your younger MPs are being taught some of the same bad habits that I saw on a regular basis, you will have your work cut out for you, but as an NCO, you should have your basic schooling skills to fall back on and also utilize much of your combat mental skills to also help with as well.
I truly believe we need to turn the installation back over to true military control again as it was before 9/11 and the implementation of the DACP that had the "I can do what I want mentality," as they knew their jobs were pretty secure during the dual wars. Now that we are pretty much back to full garrison duties, they can either take over the gate duties or keep on going out the gate as far as I am concerned. Just my two cents though.
And yes, I have a very low opinion of the DACP for good reasons of what I have seen over the last decade.
No problems at Bragg...you can always use more training in any job or area. I will say this however, MP's are squared away in certain areas (professionalism) and lacking in others (pursuit driving). I am currently a Sheriffs Deputy on a fairly large department (serving ~800,000 residents).
There are a few cops I work with that I wish I could trade out with a E-4 or E-5 Bragg MP.
Not to mention the Army got along with straight MP's from the 50's to the 90's just fine.
Don't have MP's at Aberdeen; they were replaced by civilian type police and guards. If you happen to show them that you are prior military or retired you get the 'treatment.'
'Treatment' as in additional searches and rude remarks as: "We have to take extra caution with you retirees, as you are more likely to be a home grown terrorist or unstable and a danger to the locals." 3/4 of the command structure is civilian, including all fire, police, guards and even the base commanders exo. 90% have never served in uniform.

Army
Professionalism
Soldiers
