Why do recruiters tell you Civilian departments won't hire military police?

The most common reason I hear is "bad habits," but generally that is untrue. Some MP's go their entire career without ever working the road. Most police departments don't care one way or the other about what you did in the Army, heck most don't even ask. The majority of large police departments simply ask on the application whether you served in the military, if you did what your discharge was, and if any negative actions were taken against you. Once you have the in person interview they may ask you what you did in the military, but even that isn't a guarantee.

Now MPs do tend to get hired less for law enforcement it seems, but that is for different reasons that really impact most military members. First, they have bad credit, it happens and this is the biggest thing that disqualifies people. Second, they have negative actions during their military time, this could include an Article 15, or similar things. Third, they just don't know how to interact with people. A bad interview and poor demeanor can torpedo an applicant real quick. However, when someone doesn't get a job they don't think it's for these reasons, instead it's easier to just say that the department must be biased against former MPs.

As for the reserves and national guard. I know plenty of MP's who are in both and the vast majority tend to also be civilian police officers, so it does vary.

Im in an MP unit. Half the MP's are city cops, state trooper, highway patrol or corrections

my last guard unit was an MP BN. at least half of the guys were civilian law enforcement. I think your recruiter is full of it.

I am also available n an MP Company and my experience is the same, a large percentage of my unit are in law enforcement, private security or corrections, including myself.

I know a good amount of ex military police that are police on the outside so I dont know abou that one. Maybe those recruiters got passed over

It is untrue for the most part, but your MOS and time in will not prepare you for the streets.

I retired from the NYPD, now to get on you need a 4 year degree or 4 years active military service. Regardless you still have to go to the NYPD academy, we had one guy in my company that was former LAPD, and he had to go thru it all over again. I was also an active Army reserve MP and than in an Air Guard Security Forces Unit, both had many civilian LE guys and girls in them. It just depends on where you live and what you want to do.

I've always been under the impression that it has to do with retraining local or state laws. It could be harder having to learn doing your job if your previous one had a different perspective. I'd say it all depends on how you interview than it does with your prior knowledge.

It seems to depend on the department. Some like to hire MPs some don't.