Is it right that military police search for a missing child?

[RichardCoulter]

After admitting that they did a bad job of searching for a missing toddler 36 years ago, British military police are searching a German site:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...-blunders.html

I'm happy to be corrected if i'm wrong, but my assumption is that the military police are more used to dealing with drunken soldiers, deserters etc.

Surely it would be better to delegate this to a police force more experienced in an incident of this nature. I remember when the child abuse scandal in Jersey was being investigated, the local police said that they were too inexperienced to deal with a crime of this magnitude, so the task was delegated to a more experienced force from the mainland.

Shouldn't this be done in this case?

Some final questions, if anyone knows. Do the MP cover all the forces or does each one have it's own? Are they trained to the same standards and subject to the same background checks as a mainstream police officer?

I ask the last question because the brother of a friend was a MP in the army (or so he says) and I wouldn't trust him at all after the things he's done since coming out of the army, he doesn't come across as very intelligent either.

[Taf]

If it's on MOD lad (even overseas) MPs get involved. As do SIB (Special Investigation Branch) or the RAF Police.

They can be invited by local police to assist.

As for police training, I don't think they get it anywhere as involved as a regular copper.

[richard s]

Good on the military police... lets hope there is a happy outcome.

When it's a missing child I don't care who gets involved if it increases the chances of a positive outcome.

[RichardCoulter]

I know what you mean, but the MP aren't simply helping, they are doing the search for forensic evidence or the remains of the missing child.

I think that those with more experience should be doing this task.

What do you want them to do.Give up again?Also I doubt that any British police force has enough officers and resources to police for cold cases here in the UK let alone in Germany. Plus as the Armed Forces are moving back to the UK lock stock and barrel I suspect that they are just trying to finish off tasks that need finishing before they do so and have to hand back the bases that they were using.

[tweetiepooh]

I think there are some areas in the UK where MP's may fulfil some roles of regular police where there is a military presence and geography mean there is little or no regular police cover. I do state some roles. This is based on scuttlebutt from locals rather than definitive information.

[RichardCoulter]

That's true, there have been massive police cuts since the Jersey case, which is bound to have an impact on what the mainstream police can do.

Maybe looking for remains is now no longer a priority as she will either be dead or a woman in her thirties.