Royal Military Police

The Provost Marshal is a post which goes back to the 13th century and was originally an under-officer of the Earl Marshal. In 1685 the role of Provost Marshal General became a permanent post. The Military Mounted Police was formed in 1877 and the Military Foot Police was formed in 1885. On 6 April 1992 the RMP amalgamated into the Adjutant General's Corps (AGC), under whose overall command they form part of the AGC's Provost Branch alongside the also pre-existent Military Provost Staff Corps and the later-formed Military Provost Guard Service. Although they lost status as an independent corps, they were permitted to retain the Royal Military Police title, cap badge and red-topped cap/red beret. Their solid red regimental stable belt was reintroduced in 2024, having previously been replaced by the AGC stable belt. ==Role==

As well as policing service personnel whilst at home in the UK, the Royal Military Police are required to provide a capable military police presence in support of military operations overseas. In the United Kingdom and British overseas garrisons Broadly speaking, within the United Kingdom and its overseas garrisons, the Royal Military Police are responsible for policing service personnel. In garrison towns, the RMP often assist the local territorial police force in town centres at venues where service personnel are likely to frequent. Some Royal Military Police NCOs are allocated roles working on Service Family Accommodation (SFA) estates, such as Community Liaison Officers and Crime Reduction Officers. Part of this role involves visiting schools in the SFA catchment area, where the school's children come from service families. In the UK, this work is often done in conjunction with the Ministry of Defence Police. Some of the specific roles the RMP fulfill include: • Law enforcement and crime prevention, within the service community • Assistance to civilian police forces in garrison towns When deployed on operations (16 Air Assault Brigade) The Royal Military Police are required to provide tactical military police support to the British Army in military operations. When deployed, some of the roles the RMP fulfill include: ==Jurisdiction==

In the United Kingdom Royal Military Police personnel are not constables under UK law and do not have any specific police powers over the general public, only whilst dealing with service personnel. The RMP are subject to inspection by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, in the same way as UK civilian police forces. RMP personnel sometimes have powers, conferred by military lands byelaws, to give lawful directions to civilians who are on Ministry of Defence land affected by such byelaws. This may include the power to regulate vehicular and pedestrian traffic, close or restrict access, or to direct civilians to leave military land to which the byelaws apply. The particulars of these powers are highly changeable and are determined by each individual statutory instrument. A member of the Royal Military Police can arrest any individual in the UK whom they have reasonable grounds to believe to be a serving member of HM Armed Forces and to have committed a relevant civil or military law offence. RMP personnel do not have to be on Ministry of Defence land to exercise their authority over service personnel. Postings overseas Where service personnel are deployed overseas, the Royal Military Police are often called upon to provide a complete policing service. In these situations, members of the Royal Military Police can often exercise police powers in respect of civilians subject to service discipline. This includes, not exclusively, service dependents and overseas contractors sponsored by the British Army. The German civil police only normally become involved where the interests of a German national are concerned. ==Equipment==

Royal Military Police personnel undertaking general police duties are equipped with extendable batons, Hiatt speedcuffs and Airwave personal radios. The RMP also uses the Home Office Large Major Enquiry System, known as HOLMES. Image:RMP OPEL VECTRA 2.jpg|Royal Military Police Opel Vectra patrol car in Germany File:Royal Military Police Land Rover Defender.jpg|Royal Military Police Land Rover Defender File:Royal Military Police - Ford Mondeo's - 4371904179.jpg|Royal Military Police Ford Mondeos, 2010 ==Training==

RMP commissioned officers attend the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, as do all other British Army officers. Other ranks recruits undertake their phase 1, Common Military Syllabus (Recruits) training at the Army Training Regiment in Winchester. They then move onto Phase 2 which is undertaken at the Defence School of Policing and Guarding. The training syllabus includes: • Service Police Codes Of Practice (SPCOP), military legislation which shadows Police and Criminal Evidence Act 1984 (PACE) • Armed Forces Act 2006 (also Status of Forces in NATO) • Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 (SOCPA 2005) • Geneva Conventions • HAIG Rules • Personal Safety Training (PST) ==Organisation==

The regimental headquarters of the RMP moved to MOD Southwick Park - Southwick House - near Portsmouth, in February 2007. It is co-located with the triservice Defence School of Policing and Guarding. The RMP training centre moved there on 27 September 2005, from the RMP's long-standing RHQ (with effect from February, 1964) at Roussillon Barracks in Chichester, West Sussex. The Service Police Crime Bureau is also located at MOD Southwick Park, and is staffed by personnel from the Royal Military Police, Royal Air Force Police, and Royal Navy Police. The RMP Museum has also moved to MOD Southwick Park. ==Colonels Commandant of the RMP==

Colonels Commandant have included: • General Sir Miles Dempsey (1947–1957) • Field Marshal Sir James Cassels (1957–1968) • Field Marshal Sir Geoffrey Baker (1968–1971) • General Sir Cecil Blacker (1971–1976) • General Sir Peter Leng (1976–1983) • General Sir James Glover (1983–1987) • Field Marshal Lord Inge (1987–1992) • Lieutenant General Sir Christopher Wallace (1992–1999) • General Sir Richard Dannatt (1999–2005) • Lieutenant-General Sir William Rollo (2005–2008) • Lieutenant-General Gerald Berragan (2008–2011) • General Sir Nick Carter (2011–2015) ==Current RMP units==

Current RMP units include: • Belize Police Unit • Brunei Police Unit • British Army Training Unit Suffield (BATUS) Police Unit, Canada • Cyprus Joint Police Unit (CJPU) • 1 Platoon CJPU • 2 Platoon CJPU • British Contingent, Force Military Police Unit, (FMPU), United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) – Operational Deployment – not part of British Forces Cyprus. • Joint Service Police Security Unit (JSPSU), Falkland Islands (Controlled by PM(RAF)) • Joint Provost and Security Unit (JP&SU), Gibraltar (Controlled by PM(N)) • Joint Service Police Unit (JSPU), Diego Garcia, British Indian Ocean Territory • SHAPE /AFNORTH RMP – Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Belgium and Allied Forces North in the Netherlands. 1st Military Police Brigade 1st Military Police Brigade (under Regional Command), Andover • Specialist Operations Regiment, Southwick Park • Service Police Crime Bureau • Close Protection Unit, Longmoor Camp • 1 Regiment RMP • 110 Provost Company (Leuchars) • 150 Provost Company (Catterick Garrison) • 174 Provost Company (Donnington) • 116 Provost Company (Reserves) (Cannock and Manchester) • 243 Provost Company (Reserves) (Livingston and Stockton-on-Tees) • '''3 Regiment RMP • Regimental Headquarters, Berechurch Hall Camp • Military Corrective Training Centre, Colchester Garrison • Headquarters Company • SCF Company • Detention Company • No. 1 Company (Reserves) Defence Serious Crime Unit Tri-service serious crimes unit that replaced the Special Investigations Branches of the UK armed services. Headquarters based at Bulford Garrison. ==The RMP in popular culture==

, Brunei Redcap, an ABC television drama series which aired from 1964 to 1966, starred John Thaw as SIB investigator Sergeant (later Staff Sergeant) John Mann. Soldier Soldier, a television drama series about an infantry company which aired from 1991 to 1997, featured Holly Aird as Corporal (later Sergeant) Nancy Thorpe RMP. The Investigator (aired 1997) starred Helen Baxendale as an RMP Staff Sergeant. It was about life in the British forces at a time when being homosexual was banned and had serious repercussions. It was based on a true story. The Real Redcaps was a television documentary series about the Royal Military Police which aired from 2003 to 2005. It shows the RMP in the Second Gulf War, their training in (then) Chichester, Close Protection (CP) training, SIB work in Iraq, and other duties such as policing troops in Germany. It also shows the Military Provost Staff Corps Military Provost Guard Service manning MCTC Colchester. Red Cap, another television drama series, which aired in 2003 and 2004, starred Tamzin Outhwaite as Sergeant Jo McDonagh, also an SIB investigator. 7 Seconds is a 2005 direct-to-DVD film starring Wesley Snipes, that follows the actions of female Royal Military Police Sergeant Kelly Anders (Tamzin Outhwaite). When an experienced thief accidentally makes off with a valuable Van Gogh painting, his partner is kidnapped by gangsters in pursuit of the painting, forcing the thief to hatch a rescue plan, in which he joins forces with RMP Sgt Anders. In the 2014 film Edge of Tomorrow, acting as guards around the Army's command post in London, military personnel wearing a futuristic 'MP' arm band and scarlet berets are shown throughout the film. In one of the chase scenes, RMP troops pursued Major William Cage (Tom Cruise) where an RMP soldier in a mechanical suit stops Cage by destroying the front of his getaway car, leading to his capture. The Missing was a British TV Drama broadcast on the BBC which featured members of the Royal Military Police in several leading and supporting roles, including Laura Fraser as Eve Stone, a Sergeant (later Staff Sergeant) in the RMP. The Last Post is a 2017 BBC television drama series featuring the men and families of the RMP during the Aden Emergency. Strike is a Cinemax/BBC television drama series, from the novels by Robert Galbraith. The main character, Cormoran Blue ("C.B.") Strike is a veteran SIB Sergeant who becomes a private investigator in London after being severely injured by a roadside IED in Afghanistan. The character is played by Tom Burke. ==See also==