First Post  

Haha, but you sound like an expert:).

Thanks for taking the time to answer my question nick.

@Freezer271 So, in America, Civilian Law Enforcement and Military Law Enforcement have separate jurisdictions. If a Soldier commits a crime off post, let's say a DUI. Then he his detained by Civilian Officers and the post he belongs to (Often in the same local area) is called and Military Police come to collect him. He is processed, then released to his military unit for persecution or punishment under the federal law because they are federal troops. However, if Civilians are on post and commit a crime, Military Police make the arrest and are prosecuted according to the State law (Whichever State the post or base resides in) and are not necessarily handed over to civilian law enforcement off post because we have Civilians working within the Military Police that can handle that. As MPs, we enforce the State law on post and regularly give tickets to, write citations for, and arrest both civilian and military persons alike while they are on post just like our civilian Law Enforcement counterparts do off post. Now a Soldier cannot be tried both under federal and state laws, it's one or the other. Most often it's under the Federal UCMJ. (Uniformed Code of Military Justice)

I hope that answers your questions, let me know if you have more!

@Glitch , are you a law enforcement officer or military of any kind?

While it may be a common belief that the 5th Amendment protects individuals, civilian and military, from being tried twice for the same crime, it only protects them from being tried twice within the same jurisdiction. Though it's rare (the civilian Department of Justice has a policy -- though not a mandate -- to not charge someone again if a state's pursuit of justice has been sufficient; presumably military and state authorities generally exercise similar restraint), it can happen -- and has. For example, the case of MSgt Timothy Hennis who was charged by North Carolina for triple homicide and acquitted on appeal, only to later be arrested, court-martialed, convicted and sentenced to death by the Army for the same crimes.

@Cannon003, Yes I am a Military Police Officer. What about you?

@deliberative_nick, I just took a look at MSG Hennis' case, that is pretty extreme and I can see why they chose not to show restraint.