I issued my first arrest warrant Saturday...

Time/Benefit.

My unit is in a place called 'Yerington', about 45 minutes from Carson City, where the AWOL soldier lived. The MPs are in Reno, about 40 minutes the other side of Carson. For the MPs to go pick him up would have been an hour and a half each way, and since they're also reservists, that's three hours' plus worth of training out of their one-weekend-a-month which they won't be able to get back. CCPD would have been out and back in an hour and a half flat, performing a duty assigned to it by the legislature.

NTM

At that point I would have politely told you to haul yourself into the station and issue your 'command' in person!

The word is taken straight from the statutes. If the man has exception to this, he can take it up with the legislature.

Corcioch wrote: »

Seems like a poor misuse of Police Resources imo . . . .

The police weren't complaining about it, they were just very surprised by the entire concept. And why is it a poor use of resources? They were the most efficient method of picking the guy up, in an operation specifically entered in the statutes for that purpose. Warrants are routinely served on behalf of outside organisations in other jurisdictions, why should a a military organisation be treated any differently?

Would you not consider the best training to be to actually do the job you are training to do?

Most MPs in the US Army are 'battlefield MPs', they run around in the rear areas conducting security missions, convoy control, and so on. The nearest 'garrison' MPs are eight hours' drive away.

NTM

Corcioch wrote: »

Its not like he's committed any crime and or offence against the community.

It is a crime, and it's punishable by (given the amount of time he was AWOL), up to 6 months imprisonment, and a fine of 2/3 of his pay.

And it is also an offence against the community. It cost over $100,000 of the taxpayer's money to train the man, are you suggesting that the taxpayer should just write off the expense instead of spending the $500 or so to go pick him up?

Next, I'll lay bets that the repeat absenteeism rate in my unit is about to drop notably. The image of being dragged out by civilian law enforcement which is far more pervasive than MPs is going to have a much sharper impact. Again, resulting in efficiencies for the taxpayer.

Finally, the warrant isn't just to 'go to his house', though it's the first and most obvious thing to do. It gets entered into the national computer system, so if he gets pulled over for speeding two years from now while on his summer holidays in Florida, the cuffs go on him. MPs do not routinely patrol the streets, they tend to stay predominantly in military places which soldiers who are AWOL tend to avoid. Most AWOLs are picked up by civilian agencies in such a manner.

And since the legislature saw fit to specifically include provisions on civilian authorities serving military warrants, they don't seem to have thought it a misuse either.

NTM

Maybe if you didn't look at it as 'posessively?' Instead of "Police Business" and "Army Business" look at it as "The Taxpayers' Business" or "Government Business."

NTM

foreign wrote: »

Maybe ask the taxpayer what they would want their police doing. Patrolling their streets or going off for a couple of hours looking for an AWOL reserve when there are other reserve forces who's actual job this is.

You might be surprised at the answer. The military is held in high regard here, no other profession, possibly excepting firefighting, is given the same level of respect from the population. From random strangers buying you meals through upgrades to First Class on the airplane, the population have an expectation that the service and the people in it have performed honourably and selflessly. The flip side is that they also expect people to carry out the service that they gain that respect for and those who fail to carry it out are held in great disregard.

You also have the difference in opinion over 'whose actual job this is'.
By legal description, it is the police's job to do so: It's in the Statutes.
By practical reality, the MPs job is, when not actually fighting a war, training to fight that war. Driving a couple of hours to pick up an AWOL is not part of that job.

I have no idea what the point of this topic is

Hey, look at me i can get a man arrested with a phonecall to the cops.

Actually, the current disparity in opinion was part of it. I wasn't expecting the 'job' thread diversion, as much as commentary on the flexibility of the police service. When I first made the call, I was expecting a lot more procedural resistance than I actually encountered, the police proved to be very accomodating. Though I presume there is no direct analogy in the Irish system to my particular case, I also presume that on occasion even the Gardai have to deal with some unusual conditions which come out of left field, I was hoping to spark a little discussion on individual discretion on the part of 'line leadership.'

He is only a flippin reserve!!! . . .an awol reserve . . . .lmfao . . . . .gets better and better

Yes, a reserve. If you've not noticed, we reserves are earning our pay, I've personally done both Iraq and Afghanistan. If we're going to be used like regular forces, we need to be treated like regular forces, to include internal discipline. It also costs just as much to send a reservist to training as it does a regular soldier, the taxpayer has plenty invested in him. Plus he's carrying out national policy when deployed, another item the taxpayer should be concerned about.

Let them police their own people and leave the civil police to their own work, unless it's a major crime.

Does this distinction work the other way? If a local police force was overwhelmed by an incident, and the local Sheriff calls for a favour of a dozen soldiers to help for traffic control, under your logic, should the post commander tell the Sheriff to instead call in police from other jurisdictions under the Mutual Aid Pacts because it's not the Army's job to help the police? What's wrong with a little professional inter-service courtesy? We're all part of the same community, after all. How about when California's police agencies are overwhelmed during natural disasters such as wildfires, should CHP have, instead of calling in the National Guard to police the streets, gone to the hassle and expense of calling in Nevada State Troopers under Mutual Aid? After all, it's a policing job, let the police do it.

NTM