CAMP MURRAY, Wash. – For the Citizen-Soldiers of the 506th Military Police Detachment, this year’s annual training was a chance to return to collective unit training and develop new Soldiers' skills.
“As a large percentage of the formation is comprised of new Soldiers, we utilized the first week of annual training to conduct training centered on the fundamentals of police and patrol work,” said Capt. Daniel Lamothe, commander, 506th Military Police Detachment. “We have a wide range of experience in both the military and civilian sectors. We utilized this experience to conduct a comprehensive, week-long training.”
During the first week, classroom instruction focused on the elements of a crime, report writing, search and seizure, patrol tactics and use of force policy. The unit also trained on fundamentals through demonstrations and applied skills practice stations centered around compliant and high-risk suspect contact, traffic stops and structure clearing.
“Applied skills practice stations are designed to provide Soldiers with multiple repetitions on basic yet crucial fundamental skills and are limited in scope so that Soldiers focus on one piece of the larger task per station,” said Lamothe.
The unit then began a two-day law enforcement exercise simulating a patrol shift. Scenarios were designed to test a Soldier’s ability to solve problems and think critically while identifying and responding to calls for service.
“The focus of this training was to immerse Soldiers into thinking and responding as military police officers,” said Lamothe.
After the training week, the 506th moved to Joint Base Lewis McChord and conducted law enforcement operations with the base directorate of emergency services. Soldiers worked alongside active-duty military police from the 42nd Military Police Brigade on 24-hour patrol and worked in their specialty areas, shadowing Soldiers processing reports, documentation and investigations.
“Our Soldiers performed exemplary during this time period, conducting traffic enforcement emphasis, responding to domestic violence calls and assaults and multiple other calls for service,” said Lamothe.