Jurisdiction
MDP officers are attested as constables in one of the three jurisdictions of the UK: England & Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, but can exercise their powers on Ministry of Defence estate throughout the United Kingdom and additionally in the circumstances described below. MDP officers' jurisdiction relates to subject rather than geographic area and is set out in section 2 of the Ministry of Defence Police Act 1987, which was amended by the Anti Terrorism Crime and Security Act 2001. Officers are based throughout the UK and exercise their jurisdiction over matters relating to the Defence Estate; there is no requirement for them to be on Ministry of Defence land when doing so.
The MDP is classified by the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005 as a special police force. This gives it conditional allowance to exercise the powers available to a constable of a territorial police force; if an offence or incident is encountered outwith their natural jurisdiction. Additionally the MDP is able to provide officers and specialist units to territorial police forces on a mutual assistance basis.
MDP officers are also able to take on the powers of constables of territorial police forces or other special police forces (such as British Transport Police) in certain situations, as set out in the Ministry of Defence Police Act (as amended). This is known as 'extended jurisdiction'. The protocol that governs this states that MDP officers should only seek to use these extended powers if they come across a situation outside their natural jurisdiction, during the course of their MDP duties. Whenever MDP officers exercise police powers under this 'extended jurisdiction', the Chief Constable MDP has a responsibility to ensure the local Chief Constable is notified as soon as possible.
Read more about this topic: Ministry Of Defence Police
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