Joining forces with the Forces

As forces look for cost effective ways to deliver the training officers need to tackle modern crime, they may find an ally in the Royal Military Police. The Defence College of Policing and Guarding in Portsmouth is reaching out to forces to let them know about their affordable, cutting edge training facility at Southwick Park. Police Professional Editor Steven DeVries spent a day there getting schooled.

Standing in the drawing room of Southwick House – the elegant manor at the centre of the Defence College of Policing and Guarding (DCPG) in Portsmouth – a chill goes up one’s spine when the history of the place is brought to life.

College Commandant, Col Stephen Boyd, stands in front of the blue and green plywood map that takes up the entire back wall, the original map used to plan Operation Overlord – D-Day, the invasion of Normandy, June 6, 1944. He points to where General Dwight D Eisenhower paced the lawn at 3am, labouring over the decision to invade despite unfavourable weather conditions, and he makes it clear that the Supreme Allied Commander gave the go ahead in this very room.

An estimated 2,500 to 3,000 Allied troops died storming the beaches of Normandy in the greatest maritime military invasion the world has ever seen. And it was masterminded and run from Southwick House.

Col Boyd often tells the story to visitors – a pleasure for a man who takes so much pride in the facility’s history… and in planning its future.

Under his leadership Southwick Park has become a purpose-built police training and conference facility, where the Royal Navy Police (RNP), Royal Military Police (RMP) and the Royal Air Force Police (RAFP) learn under a common curriculum. And Home Office forces will soon be able to gain cost-effective, cutting-edge training at the site.

“We are training our service’s police men and women here to the best Home Office police standards, but in a military operational context – and British police training, both civil and military, is the best in the world,” said Col Boyd. “We are building on that solid foundation to ensure that our officers are fully prepared for current and future military operations. They are well-trained and motivated professionals who can contribute fully to meeting the challenging demands of the national policing and security environment, both in the services and, when they eventually leave the military, in civil constabularies.”

He said the Ministry of Defence invested in excess of £5 million in police-specific training facilities in what was already a good quality training estate at Southwick Park. And investment is only going to continue.

“I retire in a year,” said Col Boyd. “My aim by then is to have Southwick Park recognised both nationally and internationally as a centre of excellence for delivery of police training, both military and civilian.”

In just a short time he’s made great strides.

The college opened in 2005, providing post-basic Phase 2 training and advanced training. The RNP, RMP and RAFP trainees all take their lessons side by side, though their single service operational effectiveness and environmental skills are maintained.

“All three services wanted joint training and had the common aim of ensuring that the civilian justice system recognised this training as genuine and relevant,” said Col Boyd. “We are not training Army policemen to operate on ships or Navy policemen to direct tanks,” said Col Boyd. “When people return for Phase 3 (advanced) training, there is more opportunity for them to share their expertise with the other services.”

The colonel sees defence policing as a “growth industry” and explained that there’s considerable national and international interest in the way they do things at Southwick Park.

“We routinely train military police officers from many nations here, recent examples being, in no particular order, Israel, Bahrain, and Sierra Leone,” said Col Boyd. “We also host liaison visits from many NATO nations and agencies, most recently the US Ar