Romanian Military Police
Encyclopedia
The Romanian Military Police (Poliţia Militară) is the military police
Military police
Military police are police organisations connected with, or part of, the military of a state. The word can have different meanings in different countries, and may refer to:...

 of the Romanian Armed Forces
Romanian Armed Forces
The Land Forces, Air Force and Naval Forces of Romania are collectively known as the Romanian Armed Forces...

. It was formed in 1990, immediately after the 1989 Romanian Revolution, although the Romanian Gendarmerie (also re-established in 1990) performed military police duties between 1850 and 1949.

Mission

The duties of the Military Police are:
  • Controls the military personnel and documents
  • Controls and maintains discipline in places/crowded areas frequented by military personnel and eliminates any conflicts between military personnel or military personnel and civilian
    Civilian
    A civilian under international humanitarian law is a person who is not a member of his or her country's armed forces or other militia. Civilians are distinct from combatants. They are afforded a degree of legal protection from the effects of war and military occupation...

    s
  • Maintains the security during military exercises/parades
  • Prevents the illegal introduction of devices/materials/substances into the military units/bases
  • Maintains the safety and discipline at military tribunals
  • Apprehends deserters in cooperation with the Police
    Romanian Police
    The Romanian Police is the national police force and main civil law enforcement agency in Romania. It is subordinated to the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform.-Duties:The Romanian Police are responsible for:...

    , Gendarmerie, Romanian Intelligence Service
    Serviciul Român de Informatii
    The Romanian Intelligence Service is the Romanian domestic intelligence service. It is considered the descendant of the former Departamentul Securităţii Statului , of the Socialist Republic of Romania. The official decree The Romanian Intelligence Service (', SRI) is the Romanian domestic...

     and other agencies
  • Prevents, independently or in cooperation with other forces, the stealing of military equipment, ammunition, armament and any other devices from military base
    Military base
    A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. In general, a military base provides accommodations for one or more units, but it may also be used as a...

    s
  • Maintains, when ordered, the security of the military detainees
  • May undertake search and rescue
    Search and rescue
    Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations...

    /evacuation
    Emergency evacuation
    Emergency evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hazard. Examples range from the small scale evacuation of a building due to a bomb threat or fire to the large scale evacuation of a district because of a flood, bombardment or...

     missions, together with the Romanian Inspectorate for Emergency Situations
    Romanian Inspectorate for Emergency Situations
    The Romanian General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations is a structure of the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform created on December 15, 2004, by merging the Civil Defense Command with the General Inspectorate of the Military Firefighters Corps .-External links:*...

    /Gendarmerie/other Romanian Ministry of Interior forces, of civilian/military persons, in case of earthquakes, floods, or other disasters, and takes measures to limit/eliminate their causes (when possible) and their consequences.

Beginnings

The history of the Romanian Military Police is close related to the history of the Romanian Gendarmerie, because the provost policing was a task of the Gendarmerie since its inception.

It should also be noticed that at first the Gendarmerie was placed under the command of the Ministry of War. The archaic term of "troops' police" could be found starting with 1850 in the structure of the armed forces, but the day when the military police was established in its modern form was 5 November 1893. On that day King Carol I
Carol I of Romania
Carol I , born Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was reigning prince and then King of Romania from 1866 to 1914. He was elected prince of Romania on 20 April 1866 following the overthrow of Alexandru Ioan Cuza by a palace coup...

 promulgated the Law of Rural Gendarmerie. As a part of this corps, the Military Police branch was tasked with the following duties:
  • to act as judiciary police
  • to search and arrest AWOLs and disobedient troops
  • to arrest military personnel without proper documents while on leave
  • to arrest/annihilate dangerous armed gangs
  • to repel the attacks against guards
  • to repel the attempts of prisoners to escape
  • to search for illegal caches of weapons and ammunition
  • to inform the population about mobilisation


In 1908, 1911 and 1913, new laws and regulations regarding the activity of military police forces were issued in order to increase its efficiency. To avoid any confusions, the new Law of Gendarmerie promulgated on March 24, 1908, mentioned the following:
  • Art.6: The Gendarmerie corps is a part of the Army. The dispositions of military rules and orders are applicable except some specific situations because of its mixed organisation – both civilian and military - and specific tasks.
  • Art.7: The officers will be recruited from the army's personnel. The nominated persons will be assigned to the Gendarmerie troops by King's order, who will issue a High Royal decree.


The same law stated that: "During military operation
Military operation
Military operation is the coordinated military actions of a state in response to a developing situation. These actions are designed as a military plan to resolve the situation in the state's favor. Operations may be of combat or non-combat types, and are referred to by a code name for the purpose...

s the Gendarmerie will act as Military Police in order to manage accurately the military traffic, the escort of prisoners and to assure the security of main objectives and installations".

In 1913–1916, some modifications regarding the MP organisation and strength were made and the corps was tasked with new duties, especially related to the security of some important economical areas (oil fields) and factories (mainly those factories who were producing military equipment and machinery).

World War I

During World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 the Military Police corps performed all its specific tasks, including combat missions, and provided assistance to the civilian population. The evolution of the events placed the Gendarmerie alternatively under the command of Ministry of War and Ministry of Interior.

In 1917 the Gendarmerie was reassigned to the Ministry of War. Therefore Gendarmerie detachments were assigned to the General Staff headquarters as well. These detachments were led by infantry
Infantry
Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

 officers and their strength consisted of 27 gendarmes.

During the interwar period, the Gendarmerie was placed again under Ministry of Interior command, until 12 September 1940.

World War II

In World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 starting on 22 June 1941, as part of Axis troops, the Gendarmerie/military police performed following main activities:
  • preventing terrorist activities
  • guarding civilian and military installations
  • law enforcement
  • repel the attacks of airborne enemy troops
  • surveillance of political opponents


The Law 264 from 22 April 1943 stipulated that: "The Gendarmerie is a military corps. The main mission is to perform the activity of civilian and military police across the country. It is subordinated to Ministry of War but may perform other activities when required by the Minister of Interior".

On 23 August 1944, the Romanian Government decided to leave the Axis and join the Allies
Allies
In everyday English usage, allies are people, groups, or nations that have joined together in an association for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out between them...

, with the main objective to regain Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania is a region of Transylvania, situated within the territory of Romania. The population is largely composed of both ethnic Romanians and Hungarians, and the region has been part of Romania since 1918 . During World War II, as a consequence of the territorial agreement known as...

 and liberate Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

 and Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia
Czechoslovakia or Czecho-Slovakia was a sovereign state in Central Europe which existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until 1992...

.

Main mission accomplished by MP structures/units were:
  • to identify enemy troops, disarm and neutralise them
  • to block/restrict the enemy movements along MSR
    MSR
    MSR has several meanings:*MSR Studios, a New York recording studio*Machine state register, is a feature in Intel X86 and X86-64 processors*Magnetic Stripe Reader, to read Magnetic stripe cards, for example Credit Cards...

    s and ASR
    ASR
    ASR may refer to:* Asr, the daily afternoon prayer in Islam* ASR Records, a record label* Academy at Swift River, a coeducational therapeutic boarding school for teenagers...

    s
  • to arrest/annihilate enemy airborne
    Airborne forces
    Airborne forces are military units, usually light infantry, set up to be moved by aircraft and 'dropped' into battle. Thus they can be placed behind enemy lines, and have an ability to deploy almost anywhere with little warning...

     troops
  • to identify, occupy and guard enemy depots
  • to arrest or annihilate the enemy troops or partisans behind the front
  • to find and destroy pro-Nazi or Hungarian
    Hungary
    Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...

     propaganda


Meanwhile, other Gendarmerie/MP units acted as light infantry, performing specific activities or fighting in close combat.

After the war, the military police was disbanded along with the Gendarmerie and its personnel was purged and/or reassigned to other structures.

The communist regime

Starting with 1947, the communist regime
Communist Romania
Communist Romania was the period in Romanian history when that country was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc, with the dominant role of Romanian Communist Party enshrined in its successive constitutions...

 established some separate branches as parts of the Ministry of Defense to deal with military police matters. As a result to this, Law and Discipline, Guide and Control of Military Traffic, Military Justice
Military law
Military justice is the body of laws and procedures governing members of the armed forces. Many states have separate and distinct bodies of law that govern the conduct of members of their armed forces. Some states use special judicial and other arrangements to enforce those laws, while others use...

 and Military Jail branches were set up. Each branch was assigned to different departments, breaking the chain of command - and making them quite inefficient.

Current state

In 1990, after the 1989 Romanian Revolution, the Ministry of National Defence decided to unify all the former MP-type branches into a single structure called "Military Police". On 12 March 1990, the Minister of National Defence issued an order to establish MP units/subunits all over Romania. Starting on 15 May 1990, the 265 MP Battalion, the 286, 282, 295 and 302 companies were established under the Land Forces' command.

The 265th Military Police Battalion (Batalionul 265 Poliţie Militară) is the largest and most important MP unit. It was formed in 1993 and its headquarters are located in Bucharest
Bucharest
Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

. The battalion is often deployed to Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

 on peacekeeping
Peacekeeping
Peacekeeping is an activity that aims to create the conditions for lasting peace. It is distinguished from both peacebuilding and peacemaking....

 missions. In December 2006, the unit received modernized Humvees that replaced the ARO's
ARO
ARO was a Romanian off-road vehicle manufacturer located in Câmpulung-Muscel. The first ARO vehicles were produced in 1957, and the last in 2003. For a short while, Daihatsu-powered AROs were produced in Spain and Portugal under the brands Hisparo and Portaro, respectively...

 still in service.

Due to the reorganisation of the Romanian Land Forces, starting with 1999 some MP Companies were transformed into MP platoons and squads and some of them were reassigned to logistic
Military logistics
Military logistics is the discipline of planning and carrying out the movement and maintenance of military forces. In its most comprehensive sense, it is those aspects or military operations that deal with:...

 or combat support units.

Starting with 2006, four Military Police-Guard Battalions were established. Their main mission is to guard military headquarters and installations. The total strength of these battalions is about 3000 personnel.

International missions

Bosnia and Herzegovina (2000–2004)

A Romanian MP platoon
Platoon
A platoon is a military unit typically composed of two to four sections or squads and containing 16 to 50 soldiers. Platoons are organized into a company, which typically consists of three, four or five platoons. A platoon is typically the smallest military unit led by a commissioned officer—the...

 (23 members) was detached to Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

 in July 2000, as part of the SFOR
SFOR
The Stabilisation Force was a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force in Bosnia and Herzegovina which was tasked with upholding the Dayton Agreement. It replaced the previous force IFOR...

 (until December 2004), as well as part of the EUFOR (since December 2004). Their main missions were to patrol with the local police and to maintain public order.

Iraq (2003–2006)

Subunits of the 265th Military Police Battalion were detached in July 2003, in Nasiriyah
Nasiriyah
Nasiriyah is a city in Iraq. It is on the Euphrates about 225 miles southeast of Baghdad, near the ruins of the ancient city of Ur. It is the capital of the province of Dhi Qar...

, Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....

, under the operational command of the Italian Army
Italian Army
The Italian Army is the ground defence force of the Italian Armed Forces. It is all-volunteer force of active-duty personnel, numbering 108,355 in 2010. Its best-known combat vehicles are the Dardo infantry fighting vehicle, the Centauro tank destroyer and the Ariete tank, and among its aircraft...

 in Iraq. They took mostly on reconnaissance
Reconnaissance
Reconnaissance is the military term for exploring beyond the area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about enemy forces or features of the environment....

missions, as well as VIP protection and traffic control duties. The assignment ended in August 2006.
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