For a military police corps

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Part of Philippine Armed Forces Journal

Title: For a military police corps
Language: English
Source: Philippine Armed Forces Journal Volume IX (No. 6) July 1956
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Fulltext: P HilJPPINES ARMED FORCES J OURNAL Not everyone can become a polieeman. We have yet to see a policeman who is loved by all. A law enforcement man in a military organization definitely must possess certain quali- · ties of personal and moral courage, a detective's instinct, and a predisposition to deal with all sorts of people under all sorts of tight situations For A Military Police Corps By Colonel Demetrio Camua, GSC llnfl I LONG with the development \·a\ue and usefulnf'ss appreciated in of the major components all the services. But there is still and services of the Armed something Jacking, or rather many Forces, the Military Police things, about which one cannot rest ought by now, in a manner of speak· with a peace of mind that can be ing, to assume a personality of its achieved only when the numerous own, in order that it may attain ma. problems have been studied and eveximum efficiency and effectiveness, ry avenue to perfection e;cploited. in keeping with the increasing com- Most of these are possible to. be acplicated organization and mission of complished only if the Militar y (Air, the AF P. Navy) Police were organized as a As new doctrines and concepts branch of service with an organiza. have developed along with the tasks tion, personality and cohesiveness of with which the Military (Air, Navy) its own. Police have been charged, their role Historieal Background 1s fast becoming well defined, theil The need fo1· military police was recognized from the very beginning with apprehending deserters: arrestof military history. The Office of ing disloyal persons, inquiring into the Provost Marshal has been traced and reporting treasonable practices, back to the time of the Norman con· seizing stolen government property quest of England in the eleventh and detecting spies. To enable them century. The Provost (ptOnounced to discharge their duties efficiently "Provo" the "st" silent) was ap- they were "authorized to call on any pointed personally by the king to available military force within their maintain peace, safeguard the royal respective district, or else to employ interests, and handle disciplinary the assistance of citizens, constables, matters. In time, his office as- sheriffs or police officers ... " sumed more duties of a disciplin- By 1866, however, the office of the ary nat~re within the army, until Provost Marshal General was aboby the sixteenth century he had be- lished and military police work was come a permanent member of the given to unit commanders. This military establishment. He was also situation, a far-from-satisfactory one, provided with assistant Provost Mar. existed until the entry of the United sha\s and government-paid troops, States into World War I. which by the time of Henry Vlll The arrival of American Expedi. were referred to as Provost compa- tionary Forces in France in 1917, mes. brought to sharp realization the nee· Growth of American 1\filitary Police essity for military police supervision In the American colonies, as early and control of the troops. A proas 1611, a provost marshal was set-v- vost marshal was appointed to Gening in the colony of Virginia, under era\ Pershing's staff in July 1917, a martial code drawn up by the De- as advisor on provost marshal and puty Governor. military police matters. In 20 SepThe US colonial Army during the tember 1918, Brig. General Harry American revolution adopted with Hill Bandholtz became Provost Marlittle change the forms, titles and ad. shal General, AEF. The establish. ministrative procedures of the Bri- ment of a military police corps for tish army. A Provost Martial ac- the duration of the emergency was cordingly was appointed to the ar- approved by the War Department on my of the United Colonies by his 15 October 1918, only a month be· Excellency George Washington in fore the signing of the Armistice. January 1776. A Provost Corps was Up to this time, military police du. established by Congressional resolu- ties had been performed by all types tion two years later. In September of units, hastily activated as the of 1862, the first Provost Marshal necessity arose without special suGeneral of the US Army "as ap- pervision or technical training. Sepointed. His main function was re. rious defects in organization, unsuitlated • to the draft laws then in ability of personnel, lack of train· force, but his subordinates stationed ing, and absence of approved docall over the country were charged trine were apparent, but the early Military Police Development In the AFP In the AFP, a provost marshal general was first designated sometime in 1936 in the person of Maj. Gen. Jose de los Reyes when the Constabulary becmne a division of the Philippine Army, although the former continued to discharge its normal police duties. This designation was changed when the Constabulary was Ma1 Gen JOSE DE lOS RfYI'S separated from the PA by Virtue of Firol p,.,,0,r Mar1hol Gene•"' Commonwealth Act No. 343 of 2S end of hostilities prevented many June 1938. needed reforms. The first officer to have ever been General Bandholtz, whose long ex· given the title of Provost Marshal perience as commander of the Phil- General was Brig. Gen. Oboza as head ippine Constabulary made him emi· of the Military Police Command under nently fitted for evaluating the tne- the USAFFE, AFWESPAC and Ia. rits and faults of the organization, tcr the AFPAC. But the Military summed up a repo1·t he submitted in Police Command was essentially a 1919 as follows: post-liberation version of the Phil"Maintenance of a specially or- ippine Constabulary, whose timeganized Military Police Corps, in honored name was still sullied by our peacetime militaTy establish· its unfortunate association with the ment with units that may be ac. Japanese Bureau of Consta:bulary. tively engaged in Military Police Trained under military police trainduties, particularly during maneu- ing programs, the main mission of vers and field training, whose per- the MPC was the same as that of the sonnet shall be carefully selected pre-war Constabulary with stress on and highly trained, having such its jurisdiction over the civilian po Esprit de Corps and intelligent ap- pulace, although its missions included preciation of their functions, as the enforcement of military orders will enable the individual Military and regulations. As it was, the MPC Police to perform his often deli· did not really support military units, cate duties with assurance and cer- beeause by late 1945 and Hi46, after tainty, yet without offense or em- the surrender of Japan, these MPC harassment. Then in case of war units existed in most places in the we will have the nucleus to sup- islands as the only existing units of ply instructors for needed expan- the AFP, most others having been sion, and trained units to be the deactivated. first troops to report at any train- In Luzon four MP Battalions were ing area." activated from the PA about that time and trained as MP units dis tinct from the MPC. After training these were att:rched to US Army installations and bases. Then Major Cabal, now Chief, PC, commanded the 2nd MP Bn, Major Santiano, the 1st MP Bn, while Major Merritt, now DPMG commanded the 3rd MP Bn. The inactivation of the MPC simultaneous with the activation of the PC on 31 December 1947 brought to an end the designa1ion of its Chief as Prowst Marshal General. Col. Florentino V. Cardenas, Inf. (GSC) was the first Provost Marshal General of the AFP. He was designated as such on 19 Feb. 1953 with the activation of the Provost Marshal General Section, GHQ as a unit of AFP under T/0 19-7 dtd 22 Jan. 53. The unit was organized as a special staff section. This section was then alloted three officers and five EM with the mission to: (a) Coordinate activities of military police units (to include PAF and PN) of the AFP. (b) ExeN:ise operational control over Military Police Units (to in. elude PAF and PN), AFP not assigned or attached to subordinate units. Prior to the activation of the PMGS, however, three companies of Air Police at each of the three PAF Air bases, the 202d MP Co. of the Philippine Army Training Command and the Area MP Companies of 1st and 2nd Military Areas had been organized and there was existing as early liS 1949 the 30Sd MP Co., and in 1950 the MP Section, both of HSG, GHQ AFP, Camp Murphy, a Mililorr Policemon, Army PHIUPPINES ARMED fORCES JOURNAL total of eight MP units, all without upper level guidance, uncoordinated in t-heir activities, and hampered by lack of d~trine and by serious personnel problems. Subsequently, three new units were organized, the MP Cos. of the 3rd Military Area (7 July '53) and the 4th Military Area (1 March '54) and the SP Det., PN (19 Oct. '54). Still in the process of organization, is an MP unit of the PC to serve HPC. On 16 October 1954 the 3o3d MP Co. was relieved from HSG, GHQ and assigned to the Office of the Provost Marshal General. The transfer included personnel, equipment and records. From solely a member of the Special Staff, GHQ AFP the PMG became also a commander of troops. The 303d MP Co. was given the jurisdiction of the Manila Area, the MP units of the major services were thereafter limited in their activities to the posts of the units they served. Defects of Present Set-1lp This is the present set-up of the Military Police. The PMG exercises staff supervision over units assigned with the various commands, in this case, all units mentioned above except the 303d MP Co. But this is a-s far as it goes. Funds for travel are limited, so that not much could be done in the way of supervision and inspections. Personnet' turnover is so fast, that as has often happened, a PM has not learned much of his job when he is again relieved. In one area the situation was such that no PM was ton duty, because the area commander did not have the officer to spare. In anJULY 1951 other area, a company c:omrnande•· complained that many of his rcpla'Cements were EM awaiting retirement! Advantages as a Branch of Servict' What advantages can be gained from making the military police a branch of &ervice? Fort:most among them is in the field of personnel selection. Military police work is a highly specialized job - almost equal to the speciali:ta· tion required in the Judge Advocate and the Signal Services. One cannot just pick up any soldier and eJtpect him to do the work efficiently and correctly, if at all. Personnel must be selected for certain desirable basic qualities and then trained well. Th{' officers must be handpicked, and likewise trained. Not everyone can be. come a policeman, one is tempted to say that with proper training, any· one can be a Signal man, a Quarterma-ster, a Dental technician or even a passable lawyer. But a law enforcement. man in a military organi:tation definitely must possess certain qualitie:> of personal and moral courage, a detective's instinct, a predisposition to dealing with all ~'<Orb of people un. der all sorts of tight situations and a few other necessary qualities. Incidentally, there ts an MP ROTC (Lyceum) but no means by which officer material are assured of com· missions in the military police. And for several years since 1945 officers have been sent to the Provost Mar. shal School in the US, but their tt·aining have been wasted in assign ments which did not call for the knowfedge they thus acquired. A classic example is that of an office• who took a ~pedal course on the poly' graph but who on arrival was as- litary police trainin2" will be, as now, signed in the Adjutant General's Of hll'phazard. irregular and never uni fice of a major command. An MP form. Doctrines, which develop best service will provide the means for in the searching explorations of the selection of enlisted personnel, group service school conducted by experiunder its wing those officers whose enced officers under the right atmoRtraining and aptitudes fit them for phere and surroundings to think them police work and thus provide the out, will be up.dated, and continuous. needed nucleus of highly trained ly restudied. Doctrines are developed men that will he a strong base for ex· in schools and staff rooms. Seldom pansion in case of t>mergency. if ever, are they hatched and grown The1·e is one personnel aspect little in the field. Under the present loose appreciated but very essential in relations between MP units, a ~er. honest and effective police work. and vice school cannot be justified nor that is security in office as long as would it be practicable. the jub is done right. This is no sup. All the possible advanta~rcs that position. It has actually happened one can think of eventually lead to that 1m apprehension has brought the main aim of higher efficiency and down on the head of a military po. maximum effectiveness. This of !iceman all the wrath and the pres· course is the final yardstick. And if sure for his relief to "Huklandia or we attain for our military police or Jolo.'' Now, there's nothing wrong ganization, perhaps we will have few. with an assi!Znment in those places, er of those offenses which, commitbut there's something fundamentally ted in small, imperceptablr doses, are wi"Onll: if a police officer is relieved poisoning the public mind against the on pressure because he stuck to the AFP. Perhaps, even, the singular rules and did his job. But of course AFP phenomenom of an officer in dewe have yet to see a policemwn who sertion being promoted while absent, is loved by all. The idea at any rate, will disappear from our list of admin· is to protect a military policeman in istrative blunders, when our apprehis job from an influential or pseudo- hension program has developed to influential violator. A service with perfection. We need a highly effici high moraiP and esprit de corp.~ will Pnt military police to slut with. afford this protection and assurance. In this connection it mil)' be mention ed that, surprisingly, no enforcement problem of this kind has been Pncoun tered among ranking office1·s. It is among company grade officers that embarassing incidents have taken place. Then there is tho matter of im proved training, and the development of doctrines. Without a service, mi Co! Oemettlo Comuo, GSC, lnl