Registered Charity No. 1139247
The Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) is a civilian police force which is part of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence. The force is part of the larger government agency, the Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency (MDPGA), together with the Ministry of Defence Guard Service. The MDPGA was formed in 2004 by bringing the two organisations together under a single administrative headquarters. The MDP are not Military Police and should not be confused with the Royal Military Police or any other Service Police organisation. The MDP has an established strength of 3,440 police officers, based at 86 locations across the United Kingdom.
The force was originally formed in 1971 by the merger of three separate service constabularies: the Air Force Department Constabulary, the Army Department Constabulary, and the Admiralty Constabulary. The force, which consists of five divisions, is headquartered at MDPGA Wethersfield, Essex.
Although superficially similar to other UK police forces, the MDP is significantly different in role, function and accountability. The MDP's primary responsibility is to provide armed security and counter terrorism, as well as uniformed policing and investigative services to Ministry of Defence property, personnel, and installations throughout the United Kingdom. MDP officers are attested as constables under the Ministry of Defence Police Act 1987. All MDP officers are trained to use firearms and 75% of those on duty are armed at any given time.
The force has a number of specialised departments and also provides officers for international policing secondments; including the active policing of conflict areas overseas and training of resident police forces in these areas. These overseas missions are carried out under the mandates of the United Nations, NATO, or the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
The MDP is poised for significant restructuring between 2011 and 2014 as part of the coalition government's post 2010 austerity measures, and the Strategic Defence and Security Review. It is expected to lose 20% of its manpower and stations; to concentrate on high end tasks such as nuclear weapons security, mobile armed policing of the defence estate.[3]
The Ministry of Defence Police was formed in 1971 by the merger of three civil constabularies, the Air Force Department Constabulary (previously under the control of theAir Ministry), the Army Department Constabulary (previously under the control of the War Office), and the Admiralty Constabulary (previously under the control of theAdmiralty).[4]
These earlier constabularies were formed as a result of the Special Constables Act 1923, although their histories can be traced back much further as watchmen.[4] Their powers came from different legislative sources. In 1984, the House of Commons Defence Select Committee recognised the difficulties under which the Ministry of Defence Police were operating; the committee's recommendations led to the passing of the Ministry of Defence Police Act 1987.[4]