The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK, and whilst service personnel are deployed overseas on operations and exercises.
Members of the RMP are generally known as Red Caps because they wear instantly identifiable scarlet coloured red-topped peaked caps or scarlet coloured red berets.
The RMP's origins can be traced back to the 13th Century but it was not until 1877 that a regular corps of military police was formed, with the creation of the Military Mounted Police (MMP). This was followed by the Military Foot Police (MFP) in 1885. The Military Mounted Police first engaged in combat in 1882 at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir. Although technically two independent corps, the two effectively functioned as a single organisation. In 1926 they were fully amalgamated to form the Corps of Military Police (CMP). In recognition of their service in the Second World War, they became the Corps of Royal Military Police (RMP) on 28 November 1946 under Army Order 167.
The RMP and their forbears have been deployed to most significant conflicts of the 20th Century, and more recently have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in support of the British commitment in those countries.
Non-commissioned members of the RMP receive their basic training as soldiers, at the Army Training Centre at Pirbright in Surrey. They then receive further training at the Defence College of Policing and Guarding. RMP commissioned officers are trained at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, as are all other British Army officers.
The regimental march of the RMP is "The Watchtower" or "Hoch Heidecksburg" originally a German Army marching tune from 1912 by Rudolf Herzer. The RMP motto is Exemplo Ducemus, Latin for "By example, shall we lead".
Read more about Royal Military Police: Role, History, Organisation, Training, Senior Officers, Operation Telic Casualties, Operation Herrick Casualties, The RMP in Popular Culture
Famous quotes containing the words royal, military and/or police:
“Vanessa wanted to be a ballerina. Dad had such hopes for her.... Corin was the academically brilliant one, and a fencer of Olympic standard. Everything was expected of them, and they fulfilled all expectations. But I was the one of whom nothing was expected. I remember a game the three of us played. Vanessa was the President of the United States, Corin was the British Prime Minister—and I was the royal dog.”
—Lynn Redgrave (b. 1943)
“In all sincerity, we offer to the loved ones of all innocent victims over the past 25 years, abject and true remorse. No words of ours will compensate for the intolerable suffering they have undergone during the conflict.”
—Combined Loyalist Military Command. New York Times, p. A12 (October 14, l994)
“Consider the islands bearing the names of all the saints, bristling with forts like chestnut-burs, or Echinidæ, yet the police will not let a couple of Irishmen have a private sparring- match on one of them, as it is a government monopoly; all the great seaports are in a boxing attitude, and you must sail prudently between two tiers of stony knuckles before you come to feel the warmth of their breasts.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)