o Individual MPs may take action or assist a civilian officer in such a way to violate the
Posse Comitatus Act.
o MP effectiveness is limited when military personnel wear civilian clothes.
o Improper attitudes and actions by MPs may damage community relations.
o Town patrols add additional expenses such as fuel and vehicle wear.
g. Shift Design
The shift pattern should be responsive to military police operations. MP assets must be available when
needed. Squad and platoon integrity should be maintained under the same supervisory personnel.
Patrol personnel should be fully used. Nonoperational tasks such as painting, unit training, and
maintenance are time consuming. Unless properly distributed, these tasks can overwork personnel.
To illustrate the various shift designs we will use a continental United States (CONUS) post MP
platoon. There are 40 persons including supervisory personnel. They are available for shift work,
working 40 hours per week. Excluding supervisors, the following requirements have been established:
o Seven MPs - midnight shift (0001-0800).
o Twelve MPs - day shift (0800-1600).
o Sixteen MPs - evening shift (1600-2400).
At 100 percent strength, the unit may be organized into four squads of ten MPs each. The normal shift
is nine days on and three days off. See Figure 1-6. On this shift, personnel work 42 hours a seven-day
week. This excludes any nonoperational duties such as maintenance. Rotation occurs every three
days.
This shift is turbulent because frequent rotations produce fatigue, rearrange sleeping and eating
schedules, and change duty rosters.
The six day-on and two day-off shift shown in Figure 1-7 has the advantage of offering personnel six
days on the same shift with a two day break. Desirable features are--
o Stabilized schedules.
o More normal working patterns.
o Allows operations sergeant to plan for long-range operations.
MP2000
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