Investigations by civilian police
Primacy in handling such cases rests with the
Home Department police forces. However, the jurisdiction to investigation
may be waived, on the authority of the Chief Constable. In practice
the service police deal with offences committed by soldiers against
soldiers and those which can be tried summarily by a Commanding
Officer or at Courts Martial. Chief Constables (together with
legal precedent and case law) recognise that it is in the Armed
Forces' interest that such cases are dealt with by the military
criminal justice system as there is no general public interest
that requires the civil police to retain jurisdiction.
However, there is particular public interest
in the more serious cases and consequently jurisdiction rests
wholly with the civil police where the offence is one of treason,
murder, manslaughter, treason-felony, rape, genocide, aiding,
abetting, counselling or procuring suicide, an offence under sl
of the Biological Weapons Act 1974, an offence under Sections
2 or 11 of the Chemical Weapons Act 1996 or an offence under Section
1 of the Nuclear Explosions (Prohibition and Inspections) Act
1998.
Rapes committed in the UK are always dealt with
by the civil police or Ministry of Defence Police because this
offence cannot be tried at Courts Martial in the UK. Rapes committed
overseas however, where the civil police have no primacy or jurisdiction,
can be—and are—tried at Courts Martial.
Army Standing Orders (in addition to The Queen's
Regulations for the Army, Chapter 7 Part 1) requires a Commanding
Officer to report to the civil police, at the earliest possible
moment, the following cases where the offence is alleged to have
been committed by a member of the Armed Forces:
1. Any case of death or serious injury likely
to lead to death justifying a charge of manslaughter.
2. Any serious sexual assault which might
afford grounds for a charge of rape.
3. Any other case where civilians are involved
and the MDP are not readily available or on site.
4. Any traffic offence occurring on roads
to which the public has access or in public places where the roads
are either outside the boundaries of MOD property, or inside those
boundaries but the MDP are not on site or readily available; or
5. Any other offence which may require to
be dealt with by the civilian authorities by virtue of public
policy or otherwise ie it is a category of offence of importance
to the community either locally or nationally.
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