Royal Marine Police Explained

Type:	Department
Agency Name:	Royal Marine Police
Jurisdiction:	Government of the United Kingdom
Headquarters:	Admiralty Building Whitehall London
Formed:	1934
Dissolved:	1949
Superseding:	Ministry of Defence Police
Chief1 Name:	Chief Constable, Royal Marine Police
Parent Agency:	Admiralty Navy Department (Ministry of Defence)

The Royal Marine Police (RMP) was a police force in the United Kingdom formed under the Special Constables Act 1923 which existed from 1934 to 1949.^[1]

History

The Constabulary can trace its history back to 1686 when the Royal Navy needed an organisation to prevent dockyard crime. So the Secretary to the Admiralty - Samuel Pepys, the diarist - formed a force of 'porters, rounders, warders and watchmen' to guard the Naval Yards. Porters identified and escorted visitors, rounders patrolled the yard, warders were responsible for the keys and backed up the porters at the gates, and the part-time watchmen guarded buildings and areas by night.^[2]

In 1834 this force became the first dockyard police, with full police powers within the dockyards, and acting as policemen over offences committed by employees and Naval personnel within a radius of five miles of the yard. Rewards for obtaining convictions quickly led to corruption, so the force was 'cleaned up' and then abolished. In 1860 dockyard divisions of the Metropolitan Police took over and senior Naval officers became magistrates. From 1923 onwards the Metropolitan Police presence began to be replaced by Royal Marines appointed as special constables under the Special Constables Act 1923. No. 3 (Devonport) Division was the last of these six divisions to be pulled out, leaving in 1934, the year which also saw the formal formation of the Royal Marine Police.

Ranks

Royal Marine Police	Relative rank ^[3]	Admiralty Civil Police New rank titles from 1942^[4]
Chief Constable	Colonel, R.M.	n/a
Superintendent	Major, R.M	n/a
Chief Inspector	Captain, R.M	n/a
Sub-Divisional Inspector	Warrant Officer, R.M	n/a
Station Sergeant	n/a	Station Sergeant
Sergeant	n/a	Sergeant
Constable	n/a	Constable
^[5] ^[6]

Sources

• Button, Mark (2012). Private Policing. Oxford, England: Routledge. .
• Focus on the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP), QuestOnline
• Hind, Bob (24 April 2016). "In days when the Admiralty ran its own police force". The News.
• Ministry of Defence Police Bill [Lords] (Hansard, 27 January 1987)". hansard.millbanksystems.com. Hansard, vol 109 cc276-85. Retrieved 13 March 2018.

See also

• Law enforcement in the United Kingdom
• List of defunct law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom
• Department of Defense Police

Notes and References

1. News: Hind. Bob. In days when the Admiralty ran its own police force. 13 March 2018. The News. 24 April 2016. en.
2. Web site: Ministry of Defence Police Bill [Lords] (Hansard, 27 January 1987)]. Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Hansard, vol 109 cc276-85.. 13 March 2018.
3. Appendix to the Navy List, June 1944. London: HMSO, 1944, p. 115.
4. Admiralty Fleet Orders 3335—3469/42: 3463.—Admiralty Civil Police—New Titles and Revised Rates of Pay.
5. The Navy List (February 1944), pp. 1035–1036.
6. "Royal Marine Police." Hansard 20 March 1947, vol 435, c109W.