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COMMUNITY PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE

Whether providing soldiers a safe environment in which to train, providing commanders a means to promote order and discipline, or providing military suspects fair and impartial investigations, MP protect and assist the military community.

The MP purview for implementing law and order in the military community affects more than just commanders and their troops. The military community includes family members of military personnel. It sometimes includes DA civilian employees. And it can sometimes include installation visitors and the surrounding civilian populace.

MP on patrol work for positive community relations. Public cooperation and understanding benefit both the community and the MP. The handling of incidents requires observation, approach, and tactful corrective action or assistance by MP.

MP behavior is professional while on duty. MP follow proper procedures for handling incidents. Their behavior is impartial, not judgmental. Minor violations are usually interpreted as noncriminal and require only a warning or on-the-spot corrective action. Taking a subject into custody is only done as a last resort when compliance cannot be achieved by other means.

MP often are called on to assist persons unable to help themselves. Military personnel may require assistance either for their own protection or because they are unable to care for themselves properly. They may be intoxicated, ill, confused, or in shock; they may be without funds or transportation for return to their units; or they may, if not properly assisted, become the victims of various offenses such as robbery, assault, or rape. Such persons are not apprehended or taken into custody, although it may be necessary to take them to the MP station for return to their units.

MP also protect juveniles. Most MP contact with juveniles occurs when patrols investigate minor offenses like disturbing the peace. Sometimes contact is made when juveniles are seen committing acts that could be harmful to people or property. Usually, MP stop the misconduct and, when needed, refer the incident to the parents. Or, for those juveniles who have committed minor offenses, a verbal warning by the MP or making the child's parents aware of the situation may correct their actions. Investigation into the causes of the misconduct and the collection of background data are limited to essential information. But MP may extend their investigation to include the conduct of the child's military sponsors if that conduct is dangerous or harmful to the child.

MP on patrol respond to reports of crime. The initial action by MP at a crime scene is to look for victims and, if there are signs of life, render first aid. Everything else is secondary to the welfare of the injured person. Only when death of the person is established, do MP next take action to protect the crime scene. MP patrols also protect the community by enabling military investigators to pursue their inquiries expeditiously.

The first MP to arrive at a crime scene have the critical task of securing the scene. They preserve its physical aspects so that it can be examined in detail by crime scene investigators and/or lab examiners. (See FM 19-20.) The patrol prevents unauthorized intrusions and protects the scene from change until an investigator arrives. The MP prevent unneeded movement of physical evidence, which can render the evidence useless. They rope off entrances and exits and routes possibly used by the suspect. They post guards to control spectators near zones likely to yield physical evidence. If needed, they reroute traffic. They cover fragile evidence and areas that could be affected by rain, snow, wind, smoke, or direct sun rays. And when investigators arrive, the MP make all of their information immediately available. Knowing that details are important, the MP who arrive and secure the scene provide their observations on any changes.

PATROL METHODS AND MEANS

MP patrol activities are coordinated by the MP officer or MPDO in charge of the MP station. Patrol personnel report for duty to a designated officer or noncommissioned officer. The relief is formed and is reported to the desk sergeant. The desk sergeant gives all personnel their specific duty assignments. Personnel and equipment are inspected. Personnel are briefed by the duty officer, the desk sergeant, or the patrol supervisor. MP assigned to traffic control posts, gate duties, and foot and motor patrols are briefed on the information they are authorized and expected to furnish. Maps and informational material to enable them to answer questions not covered in their briefing are helpful.

MP patrols are dispatched by the desk sergeant, desk clerk, or radio operator. The patrol supervisors then take charge of dispatched patrol personnel. When two or more patrol supervisors are directed to operate in unison, the desk sergeant designates a leader for the operation. The desk sergeant keeps patrol supervisors advised of adjacent patrol operations and foot patrol areas. This permits reinforcement of any areas if it becomes necessary.

There are many different ways to patrol. The method or combination of methods is based on statistical analysis conducted by the PM office.

When setting patrol areas and routes, consideration must be given to--

• Mission of the patrol and directives and policies to be enforced.
• Billeting, transient, and resident population centers.
• Hours of operation of theaters, service clubs, and community clubs.
• General information on any recent criminal or mischievous activity.
• Traffic patterns and frequent accident sites.
• Post size and population density.
• Total mileage to be covered by the patrol.
• Location of adjacent military and civil police patrols.
• Location of nearest medical facility, police station, and fire station.
• Communications capabilities and limits.
• Personnel available for patrol.
• Including patrol orders in patrol notebooks at the time of briefing.

The means of patrolling usually depends on operational needs and environmental conditions. For example, MP can patrol using mopeds, snowmobiles, or boats. Foot patrols provide intensive law enforcement in potential or high crime areas such as--

• Warehouses.
• Family member quarters.
• Commercial establishments.

Foot patrols check doors and windows for security and signs of attempted or forced entry. Foot patrols enhance community relations by providing assistance to people on a personalized basis. Use of foot patrols to enforce off-limits policies enables the MP to monitor trouble spots and prevent offenses from occurring. (See FM 19-4 for specific procedures for conducting combat foot patrols.)

Motor patrols provide highly mobile MP who can respond to a wide variety of law enforcement and emergency situations. Motor patrols operating in defined areas provide planned continuity of operations and enhance the more intense coverage provided by foot patrols. Motor patrols are also used for traffic control and enforcement of traffic regulations. Motor patrols must maintain constant communication with the MP base station. (See FM 19-4 for specific procedures for conducting combat patrols.)

The type of patrol visibility required is based on each activity's vulnerability to crime. Visibility objectives should be established and "coded."

The kind of check each activity receives is based on its code patrol checks. A feedback form, completed by each activity manager and provided to MP operations, permits adjustment of patrols and patrol areas.

Motor patrol personnel must know how to respond to emergencies that require immediate and knowledgeable action. Knowledge of how to request aeromedical assistance, emergency medical treatment assistance, backup assistance and procedures on proper defensive tactics until help arrives is important.

Unmarked vehicles may be used if needed to provide limited warning of MP presence. The most effective use of unmarked vehicles is during surveillance operations.

Aircraft patrols can be used when MP are required to cover large, sparsely populated areas where motor patrols are inefficient or ineffective. Helicopters are normally used in performing aircraft patrols.

MP patrols may be supplemented by courtesy or unit patrols provided by commanders of units other than MP. These courtesy/unit patrols consist of NCOs who may wear brassards for identification. Courtesy/unit patrols must rely on regular MP in securing crime scenes and questioning suspects. Courtesy/unit patrols must not interfere or attempt to prevent apprehension of personnel who have committed an offense. The MP duty officer will brief and debrief courtesy/unit patrols. Briefings will emphasize procedures for obtaining MP support, limits of authority, and any pertinent information concerning the town area. Emphasis must be placed on the procedure that courtesy/unit patrols deal only with personnel from their unit; however, information concerning personnel from other units may be provided to the MP.

CONUS OFF-POST PATROLS

In CONUS off-post patrols will normally not be employed. Where off-post patrols have been established, the desk sergeant will brief patrol personnel on--

• Coordination of requirements with armed forces police detachments.
• Limitations of the Posse Comitatus Act as it applies to local laws.
• All policies governing off-post law enforcement.
• Published off-limits areas and establishments as determined by the Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board. (See AR 190-24.)
• Apprehension of personnel not on official business who are present in off-limits establishments.
• Enforcement of curfews when established.
• Trouble spots based on post data.

OCONUS OFF-POST PATROLS

In overseas commands it is necessary that MP have a working knowledge of SOFAs and pertinent international laws as well as local laws, agreements, and customs. All working agreements with host nations must be reviewed by the SJA prior to implementation. Due to the language barrier it may be advisable to have an interpreter fluent in the host nation language to assist in interrogations, investigations, and other operations. Due to host nation restrictions the jurisdiction and authority change from locale to locale.

PATROL DISTRIBUTION

Efficient use of manpower and other resources is critical for effective patrol operations. Essential to the success of patrol operations is appropriate distribution of manpower. Supervisors must develop a distribution plan addressing both available manpower and the need for enforcement.

Military working dogs can be an effective means of patrolling while reducing manpower requirements. (See Chapter 11 for more information on military working dogs.) One-man patrols conserve manpower. They are useful for emergency traffic control. And a one-man patrol can respond to complaints if chance of contact with a criminal is minimal. But careful consideration must be made based on the types of crime occurring on the installation. Consideration must also be given to backup requirements and the experience level of assigned MP.

How many work hours of patrol time are available to the PM in a 24-hour period? How should these hours be distributed for the most effective patrol coverage? These are two of the questions that can be answered using compiled data.

Patrol distribution equalizes the work load among patrol units. If the work load is unbalanced, one unit may spend its entire shift responding to calls and completing reports, while another is underemployed. Unequal work loads can also adversely affect MP morale. Equal patrol areas allow personnel to spend roughly equal percentages of their time between responding to service calls and preventive patrol.

Standards for distribution will vary. On one installation it may be the number of crimes or accidents, while on another it may be the number of buildings to be checked. The geography of the installation will affect distribution plans. Railroads, bridges, and rivers must all be considered so that no area is denied protection.

Response time is another factor to consider. Response time in most patrol areas should be minimal and about equal to other areas. The larger and more diverse the area, the more difficult it will be to equalize the patrol areas.

Distribution plans consider the varying numbers of patrol units available for duty on any one shift, depending on the number of units on each shift, adjustments are made in patrol area responsibilities.

DISTRIBUTION POLICY DECISIONS

Policies must be developed to adequately distribute patrol force coverage. Which services will be handled by telephone and which will require a unit to be dispatched? Which calls will be referred to more appropriate agencies, such as Army Community Service or the unit commander? There must be a clear policy on the degree to which patrol personnel handle crime investigations. Do they gather witnesses as well as secure the crime scene? The extent that patrol vehicles will become involved in traffic control, investigation, and enforcement must be decided. The building security tasks that will be accomplished by patrol units must be set. The time period that patrol personnel can be separated from their vehicle to accomplish these tasks must be set. The reporting responsibilities of patrol personnel must be delegated. Personnel must know what information and details must appear in their reports. Even who will review and type the reports and if the reports will be written in the station or at the scene must be decided. And certainly, the priorities for assigning service call precedence if insufficient patrol units are available must be known.

PATROL DISTRIBUTION DATA

The PM has most of the data he or she needs to make a careful analysis of the past events occurring within a jurisdictional area. Data that can be used to project future as well as current police needs are often a part of the normal receipt of complaints and the dispatching of patrols.

The number of complaints received per month varies markedly during the course of a year. The complaints range from a high of 251 in August to a low of 124 in January. The monthly average of offenses is 167.17. For the following January, a conservative prediction would be that the number of offenses would fall in the 124-251 offense range, further defined by historical data for the month of January and the previous year's average. Caution must be exercised in such predictions to consider any changes that might affect the rate of offenses, such as unit transfers or increased troop strengths.

A PM, knowing only dates and times that crimes or complaints have occurred, has limited information concerning the number of offenses or work load to be affected in can be made if it is known how the offenses varied by day of the week and hour of the day over the past year. The PM may want to give additional "weight" to certain offenses, such as assaults and robberies, compared to lesser offenses, such as curfew violations. Any patrol distribution plan must reflect the logical requests for police service in the area.

A 24-hour day, 7-day week is used to develop a frequency distribution table. The resulting data shows that a large percentage of crime/complaints occurs on Friday and Saturday. The pattern shows a low on Sunday of 10 percent and a high on Saturday of 18.2 percent of all reported crimes/offenses. Friday and Saturday accounted for 35.4 percent of all weekly offenses, Wednesday through Saturday for upcoming months. More precise projections 65.6 percent.

Once the high offense days of the week are known, the high offense hours of the day should be determined. The assumption is made that prior patterns of offenses should occur in the future, subject to any uncontrollable variations such as weather or troop strengths. With this basic data, the distribution of the patrol force by shifts and days of the week becomes meaningful.

COMPUTATION OF PATROL HOURS

This section describes a simplified patrol distribution plan. For illustrative purposes it will be assumed that the PM has 35 personnel available for patrol duty per 24-hour day, or 1,400 work hours of available patrol service per week. This figure is obtained by multiplying the number of personnel by the number of hours worked per week (35 times 40 equals 1,400 work hours).

In this sample plan, days off, holidays, and so forth are not considered. Each of the 35 personnel work an eight-hour day and a five-day week. It may be desirable for the purposes of a particular PM office to project into work hours available the leave time or other factors that reduce manpower availability.

The traditional 0001 to 0800, 0800 to 1600, and 1600 to 2400 hours shifts were selected for this distribution plan. Local considerations may dictate different shift hours.

The following information describes the manner in which the patrol distribution plan should be developed:

• Take the percentages of complaints by day from the table that was developed to show complaint levels by day and hour. Place these daily percentages at the bottom of columns for each day of the week, Sunday through Saturday, in a new table for showing projected patrol distribution.
• Construct columns showing the total number of military police available and the work hours available, and enter the appropriate figures.
• Determine the shift design to be used. Place the shift hours to be used in the far left column. Using the table showing complaint levels by day and hour, determine the percentage of complaints occurring during the different shifts, and place these complaint subtotals in a column immediately to the right of the shift column, matching the percentage subtotals to the corresponding shifts. For example, 20.4 percent of all complaints occurred from 0001 to 0800 hours. This percentage is obtained by dividing 410 complaints by 2,006 total complaints.
• Disperse the total number of work hours of patrol service available by multiplying work hours available by the percentage of complaints received per shift. Enter the results in a column showing average work hours (1,400 multiplied by 20.4 percent of complaints equals 286 work hours). Work hours should be rounded to whole work hour weeks. In this example 286 work hours is rounded to 280 work hours. Divide this figure (280 work hours) by the 40-hour work week of each MP. The result is the number of MP required for the 0001 to 0800 shift per week (seven MP in this example). Repeat this procedure for the remaining two shifts. Enter this data in the columns titled average work hours and personnel available, opposite the corresponding shifts.
• The work hours are then distributed based on the percentage of complaints received per day of the week for each eight-hour shift. That is, the average work hours of patrol service available is multiplied by the percentage of complaints to obtain the work hours of patrol service required. These computations are also made for the other two shifts. Any numbers that must be rounded are rounded up when the decimal place is 0.5 or greater.

• Having constructed a projected patrol distribution table, the data are now used to develop a table showing the actual patrol distribution based on eight-hour increments. The computed work hours of patrol service must be converted into working personnel. Increments of eight are used because each person works an eight-hour day.
• In the example for projected patrol distribution below, note that 28 work hours have been assigned to Sunday on the 0001-0800 shift. As this converts to 3.5 personnel (28 work hours divided by 8-hour day), a decision will have to be made on whether three or four personnel will be assigned to the shift. In this instance, three persons were assigned duty (3 MP times 8 hours equals 24 hours). Four of the 28 work hours must be transferred to another day on the 0001 to 0800 shift. Work hours are not moved from shift to shift, only from day to day on the same shift.
• This procedure is done for all remaining days and shifts. At this point, the number of patrol personnel per shift on each day of the seven-day workweek has been determined. Thirty-three personnel have been scheduled for duty. The remaining two personnel will be used to replace personnel who are on TDY or leave or in the hospital. Or they will be used in selective enforcement operations.

PATROL SHIFT DESIGN

The shift arrangement worked by patrol personnel determines to a large measure the level of their morale, job satisfaction, and effectiveness. Poorly designed rotational shifts create confusion, fatigue, and turmoil. The number of shift patterns is infinite, so a satisfactory one can be designed for every installation. The shift pattern should be responsive to MP operations. MP assets must be available when needed. Squad and platoon integrity should be maintained, if possible, under the same supervisory personnel. Patrol personnel should be fully utilized. Nonoperational tasks such as painting, unit training, and maintenance are time-consuming, and, if not properly distributed, can overwork personnel.

The methods used to design shifts are detailed. The shift design process must take into account--

• Analysis of the existing work schedule to determine its effectiveness.
• Determination of the MP and security force staffing requirements.
• Allocation of personnel based on crime and/or other analysis.
• Determination of the type of work schedule that would best suit the needs of the PM operation.

Regardless of which shift schedule is designed, when possible, consideration must be given to shift preference of personnel. For further information on how to design a shift, see the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Work Schedule Design Handbook: Methods for Assigning Employees' Work Shifts and Days Off.

SHIFT PREFERENCE PLAN

Shift assignments can do much to motivate patrol personnel. Although some shift patterns are based on squad integrity, incoming and assigned personnel can be rotated between squads. Personnel who attend schools, who have family problems, or who prefer working odd-hour shifts can have their work preferences considered. However, such a plan can be implemented only in a stabilized patrol shift environment.

In establishing a shift preference plan, all personnel should initially identify the shift they want. Based on rank, time-in-grade, and efficiency of operations, the shifts are established. Guidelines must then be set to consider future requests for transfer to other shifts. Merit, seniority, length of time on a, particular shift, and discipline are some standards that have been used to govern transfers in units using this plan. For the most desirable shifts, a standing transfer list may have to be established.

SPECIAL SHIFTS

Occasionally it is necessary to temporarily increase the number of MP patrols for special events, for special operations, or for selective enforcement. If the on-duty squad cannot meet the added commitments, it must be augmented. In doing so, one objective should always be to minimize the loss of off-duty time if possible.

On-duty hours for regularly scheduled shifts can be increased so that they will overlap with the on-coming shifts for special situations. For example, on New Year's Eve if the midnight shift reports for duty at 2200 hours and the evening shift is retained until 0200 hours, the number of patrols can be approximately doubled during the most troublesome period.

An extra fourth shift can be formed to overlap two regular shifts. This fourth shift does not have to be organized as a regular squad but can be of whatever size the PM feels is necessary. It would be subordinate to regular shift supervisors. As an example, the PM desires to apply a selective enforcement campaign against drunk drivers. Most of these offenses occur from 1800-0200 hours. He could employ a fourth shift of six MP organized into three patrols, working under the regular shift supervisor. This extra shift would not have regular patrol areas but would concentrate on gates, roads, and other areas frequented by drunk drivers.