I received a call form the local Police Department asking for assistance concerning an incident that took place at a bar in town the night before. I drove into town to the Police Station wondering what happened. When I was escorted into the "sanctuary" of the Detective's section, the room looked like a scene from a COP show on T.V. The room was an open room with desks placed like little islands in the ocean. At some of the desks sat Detectives on the telephone or doing paperwork. Their desks looked like mine back at the office. I call it "Controlled Chaos." The desk looks like a disaster area, but I know were everything is. Kinda like my side of the bedroom. The Detective who called me motioned me to a conference room. There he explained what was going on. He opened a file that looked very familiar. The file was set up the way We set up our files back at the office. That took me by surprise for I was expecting each agency to do their thing differently. It just amazed me how similar two separate agencies were. He told me that the other night at the "Meat Market Bar" some one had thrown in a couple of CS (tear gas) grenades (military stock) through the back door. Unfortunately it cleared out the bar. Fortunately one did not explode and here it is. Yes it was a military bouncy CS grenade. I took possession of it. The Detective asked if I would help him find the "Party or Parties" responsible for this incident. I told him I would be more that happy to. I then returned to the office with the grenade in hand.
When I arrived at my desk I started to examine the grenade. On the grenade was a serial number. I then called E.O.D., Explosive and Ordinance Disposal, to relieve me of this grenade. I then put the grenade in my to left hand drawer. I then called the Post Ordinance Supply Depot to find out to what unit the ordinance was issued to. They gave me the Battalion that signed it out. I contacted the person in the Battalion who signed it out and found out which Company he signed out the ordinance. I contacted the Company who received the ordinance and determined what platoon received the ordinance. From there who laid out the ordinance and who retrieved it. The CS grenades were to be used as gas booby traps for the Opposing Forces (OpFor).
Low and behold I find the culprit who tossed the grenade into the Bar. During the interrogation I asked him why he and some buddies of his did it. He told me he was mad at the Bar and wanted to get back at them. I told him that the Town's Police Detective wanted to discuss the matter with him. I asked him if he wanted to discuss the matter with him. There is this little thing called The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878. I could not really help the locale law enforcement in their investigation. So I had to be very discrete on how I handle this. Really, the civilian law enforcement was not supposed to ask me for help and if asked, I wasn't supposed to give it. So I was like Peter, walking on water and could sink instantly at any moment. That is why I asked him if he would like to go into town and discuss the incident with the local authorities. He said yes that he would discuss the matter with the locals, so I drove him into town. I never read him his rights or hand cuffed him because if I did then I would have assertively violated Federal Law. By the way, my superiors did not know what I was doing. Nor would I let them know. I just kept busy, like I was handling one of the cases I received that day or prior to that day. We were never under pressure from micro-management.
I introduced the Soldier to the Detective and bid my farewell to them both and took my leave. I don't know what happened after that, nor do I want to know. My reasoning for doing what I did was, I don't like the idea of Soldiers committing crimes then hiding under the skirt of the military to avoid prosecution. As military Police at the time our jurisdiction ended at the front gate. If a Soldier committed an offense off post, the local authorities had to come to the post and request the soldier. If the Commander refused then the locals could not even talk to the Soldier. Another case on point.
One of our Investigators became involved in a high speed chase with a female dependent, this is a spouse or child of a Soldier, all over post. The chase then took it self to the main drag that leads to the front gate. By this time the adrenalin rush caused by the chase and the desire not to let this one get away he followed that vehicle everywhere it went. Even when the evader went off post. So he follows the vehicle off post and all over the main highway in front of the installation. To make the longest story short, the next day at the morning briefing he told us the story. After we all had a good laugh, which also woke us up, he got a little talking to about going hot pursuit off post. A year after this occurrence, the U.S Congress passed a law allowing Military Police Investigators to investigate any crime or incident that involves any military member or dependent of a military member off post.
Yet for the sake of justice, which is what law enforcement stands for, I was willing to find a loop hole in the law by being innovative in how I handle helping my civilian brothers fight crime. My superiors could not see what I was doing. ...... and justice for all.
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