A little bit off-topic but the culture in the military with regards to MPs needs to change. If you're an MP, or USAF SF(Security Forces) performing LE duties, you need to have the same requirements as civilian law enforcement. I was a USAF SF performing LE duties and we were never given handguns to take home. We had to come into work, head to the armory and then get our M9 and M4. I know it's the same way in the Army because my cousin was an MP at Fort Hood. How are you supposed to respond to crimes in progress if you have to go to your armory and get your weapon first?
What sense would that make for a civilian cop? None at all.
If we're going to entrust MP with the protection of a base then they need to have a take home weapon, they need to get actual badges and police identification, and they need to get waivers from Congress to allow them to carry said weapons off-base if they so happen to live off-base.
A little bit off-topic but the culture in the military with regards to MPs needs to change. If you're an MP, or USAF SF(Security Forces) performing LE duties, you need to have the same requirements as civilian law enforcement. I was a USAF SF performing LE duties and we were never given handguns to take home. We had to come into work, head to the armory and then get our M9 and M4. I know it's the same way in the Army because my cousin was an MP at Fort Hood. How are you supposed to respond to crimes in progress if you have to go to your armory and get your weapon first?
What sense would that make for a civilian cop? None at all.
If we're going to entrust MP with the protection of a base then they need to have a take home weapon, they need to get actual badges and police identification, and they need to get waivers from Congress to allow them to carry said weapons off-base if they so happen to live off-base.
It's a good idea, but you know that isn't going to happen anytime soon if the 2009 Fort Hood shooting wasn't enough to make it happen. The fact that I would have to put my weapons in my unit arms room if I was in base housing is one of the biggest reasons I rather live off-base.
@airshocker: The major issue with that is that average military law enforcement personnel (on the Army side, at least) are not nearly as well trained or experienced as their civilian counterparts when it comes to law and order missions.
I fully agree that green suit LEOs should be afforded similar rights and privileges as a civilian doing a comparable job, but it's not as simple as letting Joe carry his weapon back to the barracks.
I would disagree. Going through USAF security forces technical school(which is fundamentally the same thing as MP school)was the same thing I went through when I had to go to the police academy.
Either way, it's nothing that MORE training can't rectify.
According to this, the shooter was a servicemember who was suffering from PTSD and he killed three people before shooting himself. According to records he served in Iraq for four months but didn't see any action. I guess more will come out as time passes by.
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