Military Police, United States

Forensic science is not the exclusive domain of civilian law enforcement agencies. Various branches of the military also undertake investigations into accidents and deaths and must utilize the same forensic techniques and skills as those used by local, state, and federal police. Military police are also concerned with crimes and accidents that call for forensic analyses, albeit of a more specialized nature than their civilian counterparts.

The United States military police, whose establishment dates back to the early twentieth century, are the law enforcement corps within each of the major services. The Army has the Military Police Corps (the largest of the armed forces police services), the Navy has the Shore Patrol, the Air Force has the Air Force Security Police, and the Marine Corps has the Military Police. These forces are staffed almost entirely by military personnel, and are responsible for all the ordinary civilian-analogous functions of a police force, as well as additional military duties.

Military police personnel are involved in law enforcement operations ranging from protecting school crossings and writing parking tickets to murder investigations and undercover drug stings. Personnel at U.S. bases around the country and the world provide temporary confinement of service members charged under the uniform code of military justice (UCMJ). Assuming the individual is found guilty after trial in a military court, where he or she is represented by a member of the judge advocate general (JAG) corps, if the sentence warrants, the convicted will serve time at a federal facility such as Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

In addition to the regular military police activities, several branches have special undercover contingents—for example, the forensically-relevant Army Central Investigation Division (CID)—as well as corrections officers.