Regimental Police

Regimental Policeman of the Australian Army's 9th Royal Queensland Regiment, holding an F88 5.56mm rifle, manning a security check point during exercise Crocodile '99 in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area, Queensland, Australia.

Regimental Police or Regimental Provost (RP) are soldiers responsible for regimental discipline enforcement and unit custody[1][2] in the British Army, some other Commonwealth armies and some armed forces structured in the British tradition. They belong to the regiment or corps in which they enforce discipline rather than the Royal Military Police or its equivalent.

United Kingdom

Properly called Regimental Provost Staff in the United Kingdom,[3] most Army battalions and regiments and the Royal Marines Commandos[4] have an RP section, usually headed by the Regimental Provost Sergeant,[5] who operates under the authority of the Regimental Sergeant Major (RSM). They are normally responsible for the maintenance of good order and military discipline, with all criminal offences being passed to the specialists of the Royal Military Police.

Members of a regiment's Provost Section can be identified by the brassards they wear, which carry the letters "RP".[6] Unlike Service Police, RPs carry no warrant card and have no powers of arrest greater than those of citizen's arrest. They are not police officers and serve no policing function.

Singapore

The roles of the Regimental Policemen (RP) in the Singapore Armed Forces are similar, in that they too enforce discipline and are responsible for the security of the base they are assigned to. The Regimental Policemen that once used to protect all camps and bases have been progressively replaced by Security Troopers. In April 2011, all Regimental Policemen have been replaced by Security Troopers. These Security Troopers are better trained than the original RPs. Security Troopers are Operational Combat Soldiers with special Security Training. They are usually Full-time National Servicemen.

All Security Troopers are centrally trained and qualified by 8th Battalion, Singapore Infantry Regiment before being posted to the Army, Air Force, Navy and other units. Army and Air Force Security Troopers (ST) maintain the name Security Troopers. However, Security Troopers posted to the Navy are called Sea Soldiers to reflect the role they perform. At the core, whether they are posted to the Army, Air Force or Navy, all these soldiers are Security Troopers. All Security Troopers undergo eleven weeks of training before they are qualified as Security Troopers. It may be of interest to note that Regimental Police used to be trained at the Military Police Training School (MPTS) & 2 PDF Training Centre before 8 SIR took on the role to raise Security Troopers for the SAF.

The working hours vary depending to operational requirements. They are easily identified by a black brassard with 'SECURITY TROOPER' in orange wording worn on their right arm.

Air Force RPs were once called Field Defence Troopers and Navy RPs, now Security Troopers, are still called Sea Soldiers. They are organized at the squadron level. After completing the RP training, they would proceed to a twelve weeks Field Defence Course (FDC), which includes rigorous physical and mental training, as well as teaching advanced security and fighting techniques before they were replaced by Security Troopers. They were trained in small arms, less-lethal weaponry and crew-served weapons. In the final theory exam in FDC, trainees must pass the Military Security Knowledge Exam (MSKE) in order to pass out. FD Squadrons are organized at the battalion level during wartime, and normally field reinforced company-sized units. This has all changed since the Security Troopers have replaced all RP. 8SIR now performs all the training mentioned less the context specific training and qualifies all Security Troopers for Army, Navy and Air Force.

Security Troopers work alongside Military Policemen from 8SIR. MPs have greater powers of arrest and detention. These MPs operate in a manner dependent on the local base security, carrying out normal duties within the unit according to their rank, or deployed solely to perform access control into the base at key entry points.

Indonesia

Although not a part of the Commonwealth, in the Indonesian National Armed Forces, the regimental police are known as "provosts" or in Bahasa Indonesia provos and have the duties of internal policing, security, supervision, and maintaining discipline in a battalion or a regiment. They are specifically different from the military police because and do not have the authority to arrest and enforce law outside of their specified unit base. Provosts are usually posted at the entrances of a military base and are identifiable by their dark blue brassards bearing the word "PROV" worn on their upper left sleeve.

The Indonesian National Police also has provosts, who are the internal affairs division known as "PROPAM". This unit supervises and maintains discipline internally. Personnel of this unit are identifiable by their blue berets and also wear dark blue brassards with the word "PROV".

Hong Kong

The Regimental Police (traditional Chinese:軍團警察) in the Royal Hong Kong Regiment was an internal policing force to provide security and law and order within the regiment.

Belgium

Most units at battalion level have a small Regimental Police detachment. In the Belgian forces, duties tend to be limited to providing access control and ensuring general base security during normal working hours, with special security teams taking over out of hours. Belgian Regimental Police belong to the unit that they police and wear a black brassard bearing the red letters 'RP' on the left upper arm together with a white webbing belt.

References

  1. ↑ Role of the MPS
  2. ↑ British Army discipline
  3. ↑ "The Deepcut Report" (PDF). I cannot remember whether it was Sergeant [B] or an RP [Regimental Provost] that punched him...Regimental Provost is also sometimes referred to as 'Regimental Police' but are concerned with provost and security duties within the Regiment and are not to be confused with the RMP.
  4. ↑ "42 Cdo Provost Section". MoD.
  5. ↑ "Army 'cannot detain drunk troops'". BBC. 2004-11-03. Retrieved 2010-01-04. Regimental Provost Sergeant Carl Veti said that since the Human Rights Act, the army could not detain a drunken soldier unless he committed an offence.
  6. ↑ "THE HOUSEHOLD CAVALRY - ORDERS OF DRESS FOR SOLDIERS OF THE ARMOURED REGIMENT". Regimental Provost Staff Are to wear Combat Order - see Combat/Working Order (Winter), and Combat/Working Order (Summer) earlier - with a Regimental pattern RP armband on the right arm.

See also

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