Beyond the use of commissars to maintain discipline in the field, is there such a thing as a military police for the ig?
I'm trying to make a connection for the Sinedie 40k rpg I'm doing, particularly of interest, would be any sort of arm that would track down deserters/criminals (not the arbites).

I'd be grateful for any info, thanks!

Well, I think commissars are the only "overall" disciplinary force. But if you were using a regiment of your own devising, there is nothing to stop you from saying that they use a slightly different organisation from the "norm." I know that imperial navy ships maintain troopers who will act like military police, especially when there are guard regiments aboard them.

Fluffwise, off the top of my head I can't think of any specifically stated. I wouldn't have thought it would be arbites though, they're the civilian police/enforcement body.

I do know that the original RT book had Space Marine Military Police in it (there's a colour page detailing the chapters & there are some specialists on the left of the double page spread IIRC - I'm at work so no access to the books). IIRC it was a black uniform with 2 read helmet stripes (but I'm reaching there!). That might give you some inspiration.

As to tracking down deserters - there must have been a serious breakdown iby the commisars for that to have happened. Given the links between the commisars and stormtroopers (commissars are trained through stormtrooper school) I would have thought they'd be perfect for the job. Also stormtroopers are not part of the regiment, so would have no allegience to the deserters & would likely shoot them without compunction.

Hope that helps.

EDIT - commisars do not belong to the commissariat! See estoril's/my posts below.

Commisariat? Why would a breakdown in army supply these problems? Unless the Commissars are too busy sorting that out to notice ordinary guardsmen sneaking off?

Commissars in WW2 had NKVD Police secions with them, so maybe just an ebil acronym is all you need...

The only mention I can think of is in The Killing Ground, the latest Uriel Ventris/Ultramarines book, where one of the main characters is an Enforcer who was previously in the guard force but has taken over running the civilian "police". I'll skim through again and check to see if he's given any title other than Enforcer.

The term you are looking for is Provost.

They have been mentioned in the 40k universe, more often on starships (read Execution Hour or Shadow Point for examples) than battlefields (though see the Blueblood Provosts who are guarding the courtroom in Necropolis) but a Provost sqaud works under the commisar to enforce order.
If one is not available then the Commissar has to draw men from the regiment. This is one of the weaknesses in the system as soldiers very rarely want to hunt down and kill their own comrades. They tend to have to be threatened into it and such leads to more desertions and/or friendly fire incidents for the Commissar

estarriol wrote:Commisariat? Why would a breakdown in army supply these problems? Unless the Commissars are too busy sorting that out to notice ordinary guardsmen sneaking off?

My bad - you learn something new everyday! I'd just assumed that the Commisars were members of the Commissariat.

That said, it's too cool a word for a governmental department, so in my 40k head, I'm still gonna use it! Real world head has been adjusted...

Cheers guys!
I am thinking of a kind of soviet nkvd type of group.
I do seem to remember "white sheilds" commissar training squads...maybe I could co-opt those.

Maybe they could be responsible for minor breaches of order.

But, I am after a police type that would drag rowdy guardsmen on leave away in (a repressor???) black mariahs, before the arbites got to them.
Possibly an investigative arm set up to stop black marketeering/sale of military goods to undesirables etc.
The anti- Bilko squad?

I wonder what the latin, oooh, I mean gothic is for provost.

the rogue trader space marine is labelled as 'field police'
his uniform is black, red helmet with black / yellow hazard stripe and a red and yellow shoulder symbol.
There is also a black and white drawing of two marines with a gang member up against a graffiti strewn wall. The caption mentions '.....bringing the lost worlds the brutal order of the imperium' One of these 'lost worlds' is Logans world, which is the one detailed in the pictures, and is one of the many imperial planets 'deep within the eye of terror'

Thats all the info in the book.

I use The adeptus arbites in my guard army for background reasons, and a use for the models. They where 'recruited' (by the Emperors divine will...) by my Ordos Xenos inquisitor to curb some of the gang fighters more criminally inclined behaviour and to keep them focused on the job in hand.

ruffian4 wrote:I wonder what the latin, oooh, I mean gothic is for provost.

In Latin it is vigerius or prepositus

There's no direct word for police in Gothic, but there's in-brannjan, which means "put in the fire, burn". In police jargon, to write someone a ticket (citation) for a violation of law is referred to as "burning" them.

I like to idea of a military police detachment. In many armies, the MPs wear the same uniform as the regular troops with the addition of an armband or other insignia denoting their assignment. They can be called in as regular troops when the need arises.

TW