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Swedish Military Police (Swedish: Militärpolisen) is the corps of the Swedish Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in Sweden and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operations and exercises.
Militärpolisens huvudsakliga funktionär att upprätthålla den allmänna ordningen och säkerheten inom Försvarsmakten, bland annat genom ordningstjänst samt utrednings- och personskyddsförmåga.[1]
History
editOlder times
editIn earlier times in the Swedish Armed Forces, police duties were carried out by provosts, who had the task of monitoring the order of camps and quarters, prosecution of military crimes and monitoring the execution of military punishments. The senior among the provosts was the Provost General (Generalprofossen), later called the Generalgevaldiger.[2] The Provost General, who later, during the 17th and 18th centuries, was called the Generalgevaldiger, had the highest supervision of the order in camps and quarters and was prosecutor in court-martial.[3] From 1798, the prosecutor's tasks were transferred to the public court-martial prosecutors (krigsfiskaler).[4] Subordinate to the Provost General or the Generalgevaldigern, where the regimental provosts and company provosts or faneprofosser. When a Swedish army was in the field, there was a fältgevaldiger in the headquarters and in each army division quarters, who reported to the commandant.[5] The provost position later lost its importance, and had the task of enforcing corporal punishment and supervising those who were arrested. In the 19th century, the latter task changed over to the väblarna.
Väbel existed as early as the 16th century as the name of the non-commissioned officer who oversaw the order of the fänika.[6] In the 17th century, the fänika's were merged into regiments, and then the regiment staff was assigned a regimental väbel, which had the task of being a public prosecutor within the regiment and to ensure that the adjudged punishments were executed. Usually, this position was only added during a war, and was then called fältväbel, but not when the regiment was placed on the roten. After the death of Charles XII in 1718, the väbel position was terminated and reintroduced several times, but was reintroduced for a long time in 1833. The regementsväbeln, usually only called the väbel, had in the twentieth century as its task to act as a police officer in the area of the regiment and to supervise that regulations in force were complied with, and to ensure that holders of canteens and stores complied with current regulations. In addition, the väbel managed the regimental jail. Therefore, during the 1800s and early 1900s, the väbel had tasks similar to those of the provost in earlier times.[2]
1900–1939
editIn 1914, the first war police regulations came to light, but the possibility of establishing a military police force was not utilized. No direct preparations were made to do so either. However, military personnel could be requested by the civil police as reinforcement. Since no military units received any training for this, the value of this opportunity was quite small. In rapidly emerging situations even the result could be catastrophic, as was showed in the 1931 Ådalen shootings. The Swedish Navy got a similar regulation in 1927.[7]
1940–2009
editDuring World War II, Swedish field police units were trained after a field police regulation was introduced in 1940. The training during the war took place in a secret location. The first field police company consisted of military personnel with background in the police.[7] After the end of the war in 1945, the field police training was initially transferred to three regiments: the Svea Life Guards (I 1) in Stockholm, the Life Regiment of Horse (Livregementet till häst, K 1) in Stockholm and the Life Regiment Hussars (K 3) in Skövde. A few years later, all training was gathered at the Svea Life Guards, with final exercises in Rommehed.[7] In 1955, the Fältpolisskolan was formed as a unit in Svea Life Guards, but in the late 1950s the training was gradually moved to the Life Regiment Hussars in Skövde. In 1960, the training activities had been completely transferred to the Life Regiment Hussars, where a field police company of 145 men was trained annually.[7]
In 1964, fältpolis ("field police") was changed to the internationally accepted term militärpolis ("military police").[7] In 1975, military police training was moved from the Life Regiment Hussars to the Life Guard Dragoons (K 1) in Stockholm.[7] During the 1980s, military police operations were divided into two parts with different unit types: military police companies focused on ordningstjänst and military police squadrons focused on security services, which mainly meant protection against sabotage activities, and thus an activity meant more like ranger units. For a period of time, training at the Life Regiment Hussars in Karlsborg was again carried out, except at the Life Guard Dragoons. The annual training volume when all training again was done at the Life Guard Dragoons was approximately 300 military police per year,[7] corresponding to two companies or squadrons. Military police operations also continued after the Life Guard Dragoons was amalgamated into the Life Guards.
Between 1998 and 1999, regular military police activities were established within the Swedish Navy, in the Älvsborg Coastal Artillery Regiment (KA 4) in Gothenburg.[7] In 2001, the military police training of companies started according to the MP04 concept. In 2002, recruitment and training began for the first MP emergency response unit, the MP01. From 1 January 2003, there was a standing MP company in readiness for international service that could be deployed within 30 days. In 2004, the Swedish Military Police Rangers (Militärpolisjägarna, MPJ) changed their name to MP-säk and were included in the Swedish Armed Forces Security Battalion (Försvarmaktens säkerhetsbataljon) together with similar units from the Swedish Navy (säkjakt) and the Swedish Air Force (the Swedish Air Force Rangers). MP-säk was trained to track down and arrest, disturb or defeat sabotage units. Dogs were included in the military police ranger platoon.[7] During the same year, parts of the new international MP company was used for international service. Individuals were deployed to existing missions and one section was sent to Afghanistan for service with British forces. As a result, the recruitment to the third batch of a international MP unit was canceled.[7]
2010–present
editIn 2010, the conscription in Sweden was suspended. This meant that two new military police companies were formed in the Life Guards; the 14th Military Police Company (14. militärpoliskompaniet), which was a temporary employment unit which is mainly focused on international service; the 15th Military Police Company (15. militärpoliskompaniet) was a continuously employed unit with both full-time soldiers and officers. The 13th Security Battalion (13. säkerhetsbataljonen), which also sorts under the Life Guards, also has military police activities within its operating framework. The ceremonial parts that the then military police squadrons had has now been assigned to the newly formed Life Guards' Life Battalion (Livgardets Livbataljon).[8]
In 2016, the 11th Military Police Battalion (11. militärpolisbataljon, 11. mpbat) was raised, which is a stand-alone battalion. The battalion, which sorts under the Life Guards, consists of, among other things, of the 114th Military Police Company, 115th Military Police Company, an investigation team, a personal protection unit and a battalion staff. The 13th Security Battalion is continuing military police service.[9]
Idag finns även en övergripande chefsfunktion, Swedish Armed Forces Military Police Unit (Försvarsmaktens Militärpolisenhet, FM MPE). Denna funktion är grupperad på Livgardets kavallerikasern i Stockholm och har helhetsansvaret för militärpolisverksamheten inom Försvarsmakten. Militärpoliserna på Försvarsmaktens övriga garnisoner blir allt fler i takt med att fler militärpoliser utbildas. Idag grundutbildas militärpoliser genom Polisutbildningen vid Linnéuniversitetet i Växjö. Utbildningen motsvarar cirka 15 högskolepoäng. All repetitionsutbildning av militärpoliser genomförs av såväl Försvarsmaktens Militärpolisenhet, som på de lokala förbanden ute i landet. Militärpolisförbundet genomför också repetitionsutbildning av militärpoliser.[10]
Tasks
editToday, the tasks and special powers of the Swedish military police are regulated in SFS 1980:123, Förordning (1980:123) med reglemente för militärpolisen ("Legislation 1980:123 with regulations for the military police"). 1§ of this constitution contains supplementary regulations to the legislation (1980:123) with regulations for the military police. Its first paragraph reads:[11]
The military police shall maintain public order and security within the Swedish Armed Forces and during such exercises that the Swedish Armed Forces carry out together with other authorities.
Then the military police tasked specifically to:[11]
- prevent crime and prevent disorder and security from being disrupted by crime or otherwise
- detect crime and take the necessary measures when order and security are disturbed other than by crime
otherwise provide personnel serving in the Swedish Armed Forces with information and other assistance (SFS 1994:392).[11]
Commanding officer
editAccording to the 7 § of the FFS 2011:1, inom Försvarsmakten ska det finnas en militärpolischef. Han eller hon lyder under Chief of Training and Development (Produktionschefen). Militärpolischefen ska vara militärpolisman. Militärpolischefen utses av överbefälhavaren på förslag från personaldirektören. Militärpolischefen är chef för Swedish Armed Forces Military Police Unit (Försvarsmaktens Militärpolisenhet, FM MPE).[12]
References
editNotes
edit- ^ "ARMÉNS UTVECKLINGSPLAN (AUP) 2014 – 2023: Sammanfattning" (PDF) (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. 2013-08-28. p. 25. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 May 2019. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
- ^ a b Westrin, Berg & Söderberg 1915, p. 336
- ^ Westrin 1908, p. 905
- ^ Westrin 1911, pp. 1298–1299
- ^ Westrin 1908, p. 226
- ^ Westrin 1921, p. 1302
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Den svenska militärpolisens historia". www.militarpolis.org (in Swedish). Swedish Military Police Association. Archived from the original on 15 July 2013. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
- ^ http://militarpolisforbundet.militarpolis.org/?page_id=267
- ^ http://militarpolisforbundet.militarpolis.org/?page_id=267
- ^ http://militarpolisforbundet.militarpolis.org/?page_id=267
- ^ a b c "FÖRSVARSMAKTENS MILITÄRPOLISENHET" (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
- ^ "Försvarsmaktens föreskrifter om militärpolisen, FFS 2011:1" (PDF). Försvarets författningssamling (in Swedish). Swedish Armed Forces. 2011-01-17. ISSN 0347-7576. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
- ^ a b Mellblom 2018, p. 10
- Mellblom, Göran (2018). "Försvarsmaktens militärpolisenhet" (PDF). Livgardisten (in Swedish) (2). Livgardets kamratförening. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
- Westrin, Theodor, ed. (1908). Nordisk familjebok: konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi (in Swedish). Vol. 9 (Ny, rev. och rikt ill. uppl. ed.). Stockholm: Nordisk familjeboks förl. SELIBR 8072220.
- Westrin, Theodor, ed. (1911). Nordisk familjebok: konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi (in Swedish). Vol. 14 (Ny, rev. och rikt ill. uppl. ed.). Stockholm: Nordisk familjeboks förl. SELIBR 8072220.
- Westrin, Theodor; Berg, Ruben G:son; Söderberg, Verner, eds. (1915). Nordisk familjebok: konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi (in Swedish). Vol. 22 (Ny, rev. och rikt ill. uppl. ed.). Stockholm: Nordisk familjeboks förl. SELIBR 8072220.
- Westrin, Theodor, ed. (1921). Nordisk familjebok: konversationslexikon och realencyklopedi (in Swedish). Vol. 32 (Ny, rev. och rikt ill. uppl. ed.). Stockholm: Nordisk familjeboks förl. SELIBR 8072220.
Externa links
edit- Swedish Armed Forces Military Police Unit (in Swedish)
Category:Military police Police, Military Category:Law enforcement in Sweden Swede