MIZZOU trains MEB’s MPs

Photo By Staff Sgt. Kelly Carlton | Military police with 463rd MP Company, 92nd MP Battalion, 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, begin a 100-question test on constitutional law during a three day seminar held at Maglin Hall on Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., hosted by University of Missouri Law Enforcement Training Institute, March 16-18. The LETI training was geared to expose MPs to current civilian policing operations and fulfill part of the “Phoenix” battalion commander’s initiative Phoenix Professionalizing the Professionals Program.  

FORT LEONARD WOOD, MO, UNITED STATES

03.20.2015

Story by Staff Sgt. Kelly Carlton 

4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade

FORT LEONARD WOOD, Mo. – Soldiers with the 463rd Military Police Company received professional development training from the University of Missouri Law Enforcement Training Institute, or LETI, March 16-18.

The 463rd MP Co. is part of the 92nd MP Battalion, 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, 1st Infantry Division.

Capt. Michael Howard, commander of the 463rd MP Co., described the LETI seminar as part of the battalion’s newly instituted Phoenix Professionalizing the Professionals Program which primarily focuses on garrison policing operations. Howard said his company’s Soldiers are currently on cycle to complete this program.

“Often times during our training cycles, our training is focused on combat operations and our combat mission, but rarely do we get a chance to focus on garrison policing operations that are going to impact our community,” Howard said.

Topics covered by the three LETI instructors included ethics and professionalism, terrorism, extremism, fair and impartial policing.

“We are getting ready to take the road sometime next month, so it is interesting, talking about ethics and what’s the right thing to do when you are working on the road,” said Pfc. Erickson Brenner, an MP with the 463rd MP Co. “When I first worked the road, I was nervous; I was quiet. Everyone is different and most of the stuff comes with experience, so classes like this are definitely a confidence booster.”

The final day included an exam on constitutional law, which Travis Witt, instructor and seminar coordinator for University of Missouri LETI, said is important because MPs take the same oath to uphold and defend the constitution as civilian law enforcement officers.

“We could come in and spend days and days talking about constitutional law. In the academy, its multiple days’ worth of information,” Witt said. “Anytime we have interaction as a peace officer, or as a military police officer, with somebody else it is affecting their civil rights. If we don’t have a complete understanding of the constitutional law and of the civil rights then we could very well violate their rights - unknowingly, negligently, or even willingly, if we’re not operating within the confines of ethical boundaries.”

Instructor and academy coordinator Adam Duncan, shared with the class that he was recently named Missouri’s subject matter expert in crime prevention, emphasized to the MPs how the use of interpersonal communication skills will enhance performing their job.

“Our job is to create an environment so everybody else can do their job,” Duncan said. “Use verbal skills to diffuse and make a perpetrator compliant – it saves a lot of paperwork, plus I have never had to go to the hospital to get stitched up for talking to someone.”

Bill Stephens, an assistant professor with the university’s LETI, administered a 100-question test to the Phoenix Soldiers before he covered any instruction on constitutional law. Stephens said the constitutional law coursework at the academy is 32 hours which is too much for this program.

“I treat the test as a pretest then I give it back and use the test as the instructional objective review,” Stephens said. “I have talking points for each question, but the questions where 60 percent of the group missed it or 90 percent missed it, those are the ones we have got to talk about. Constitutional law is constitutional law is constitutional law. It is not different between the military and civilian policing. It’s the law of the land.”

Leaders with the 463rd MP Co. said professional development is gained and those MPs who pursue civilian law enforcement will be better prepared police officers.

“It’s all about professionalism of law enforcement, not who is getting the credit,” Stephens said of what LETI offers. “The whole idea is to have great policing everywhere, not just somewhere.”

• Date Taken: 03.20.2015
• Date Posted: 04.07.2015 12:06
• Story ID: 159300
• Location: FORT LEONARD WOOD, MO, US