Romanian Military Police

The history of the Romanian Military Police is closely 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 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 operations 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).

During World War I 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 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.

With Romania's entry in World War II 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. Its 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, during King Michael's Coup, the Romanian Government decided to leave the Axis and join the Allies, with the main objective to regain Northern Transylvania and liberate Hungary and Czechoslovakia.

The main missions accomplished by MP structures/units were:

• to identify enemy troops, disarm and neutralise them
• to block/restrict the enemy movements along main supply routes (MSRs) and alternate supply routes (ASRs)
• to arrest/annihilate enemy airborne 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 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.

Starting with 1947, the communist regime 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 and Military Jail branches were set up. Each branch was assigned to different departments, breaking the chain of command – and making them quite inefficient.

Romanian Military Policemen, member of MSU, in Iraq

1990, Saudi Arabia, Desert Storm – MPs were Guarding # 100 ROU Field Hospital. 1993–1995, Somalia UNOSOM- 1 ROU MP Coy 1995–1999, Angola UNAVEM – 1 ROU MP Coy 1997, Albania, AFMP – MP personnel acting as part of ROUDET 2001, FYROM* – NHQ Skopje MP personnel 2001–2006, Kosovo – 1 ROU MP Platon as part of GRE 34 TCC Coy, acting at Kosovo/FYROM (Djeneral Jankovic- Blace) border, and the Deputy Provost Marshal, KFOR HQ, Film City, Pristina

2000 -2004, Bosnia and Herzegovina A Romanian MP platoon (23 members) was detached to Bosnia and Herzegovina in July 2000, as part of the Multinational Specialized Unit (MSU) (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.[2]

2002 – continuing, Afghanistan, different subordination, different MP structures 2003 – 2006, Irak, An Nasiryiah, 1 MP Coy mostly made of subunits of the 265th Military Police Battalion (but not only) were detached in July 2003, in Nasiriyah, Iraq, under the operational command of the Italian Carabinieri – in Multinational Specialized Unit in Iraq. They took mostly on reconnaissance missions, as well as VIP protection, recce, presence patrols, traffic control duties. The assignment ended in August 2006.[3]