true blue in wake county's blog

department of the army police: lonely are the brave

 abuse

Who are they? For one, very well disciplined, highly trained professionals.  They are federal officers who are charged with the performance of law enforcement upon military reservations.  On large scale bases, such as Hood, Bragg, Lewis, Campbell, they are intermixed within the Military Police's Provost Marshall's Office - or more commonly known as "MP's." 

However, they are NOT ACU/BDU green ID card carrying Military Police.  They do enforce violations of General Orders, Post Policy, Army Regulations, UCMJ, and state statutes under Title 18, Sect 13 of the Assimilative Crimes Act (enforcing state laws on military bases). 

Most if not all are ex-military, some with an MP background.  They are federally sworn General Schedule (GS) civilians, but unfortunately, not recognized as eligible for LEO federal retirement.  That is, among a host of issues, they are not interchangeable between the other federal law enforcement agencies within the Department of Justice and other federal agencies that have thier own law enforcement program (Foresty, ICE, Agriculture, Etc) if they are over the age of 35 for most agencies.  ICE raised theirs to 40 last year. 

Its a "control" thing that Department of the Army whined about when the DA Police program transitioned from the Department of Defense Police.  The DA Police are managed by the Provost Marshalls Branch at HQ, Department of the Army.  They recieve thier initial training under the auspice of the US Army Military Police School at either Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona or at the school headquarters at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. 

One thing is for certain.  They wear a uniform, they enforce law, and most importantly above all others - they protect and save lives. 

THEY ARE NOT "RENT-A-COPS." 

Whether Kim Munley is a member of the Defense Department, state, city, or county - she is my sister in arms.  I salute you Kim. 

Munley was trained in "active first responder."  In short, tactical training with EMS/Crisis overtones when responding to a catastrophic event.  Bear in mind this is NOT SWAT or as the military likes to call it "SRT."  Her training enabled her to quickly and rapidly take control of a situation and neutralize it - effectively,thus saving countless more lives. 

I read alot of blogs recently in reference to why after 4 rounds is the dirtbag still breathing, etc, etc etc.  The difference between her training and standard civilian police training is a multitude of things. 

for one, we carry either the Glock 22/Sig P226 .40 caliber with hollowpoint ammunition - a very devastating bullet.  Under current NATO and Geneva rulings, the DA Police are unfortunately required to carry the Beretta 9mm standard Ball round.  I've seen the standard ball literally bounce off windshields before.  Way to go Army when you took away the Colt.....

All police live weapons training stresses "center mass of target."  No doubt that she employed that concept, however, most gunbattles involving LEO's are very quick, rapid, and from less than 25 ft away.  At no time is it ever stressed "shoot to kill" or "shoot to wound." The doctrine is "shoot to neutralize the threat."  I assure you that her only concern was stopping this nutbag as rapidly as she could.  She did just that.

Today, Kim is the ultimate in law enforcement. 

"I live a good life ... a hard one, but I go to sleep peacefully @ night knowing that I may have made a difference in someone's life."

Speedy recovery Kim....We love you

TRU

Filed under: Crime