Opinion ID: 2640649
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Army Military Police Corps

Text: Having construed what the term law enforcement agency means as it is used in section 16-10-103(1)(k), we turn to the specifics of this case and consider two questions: first, whether the Army Military Police Corps is an agency; and second, if so, whether it is a law enforcement agency. As to the first question, the court of appeals determined that the Army Military Police Corps is not an agency in and of itself. Ma, 104 P.3d at 277-78. Because of this determination, the court of appeals did not analyze whether the Army Military Police Corps is a law enforcement agency, but instead analyzed whether the Department of Defense, which oversees the Army, is one. Id. Contrary to the court of appeals, we see no reason why the Army Military Police Corps should not be considered an agency in and of itself. It is true that the Army Military Police Corps is a subdivision of the Army, which is overseen by the Department of Defense. See Dep't of the Army, Pamphlet 10-1, Organization of the U.S. Army 2, Fig. 1-1 (1994). And, it appears that the court of appeals correctly concluded that the Department of Defense is not a law enforcement agency. See Urrutia, 893 P.2d at 1345-46; Ma, 104 P.3d at 277-78 (adopting the conclusion and reasoning of Urrutia ). However, the common definition of the word agency is not bound by bureaucratic happenstance, and we should not construe the word so as to undermine the rationale behind section 16-10-103(1)(k). See Guenther, 740 P.2d at 975. An agency is a division of government, and a subdivision of government is, practically speaking, also a division of government. Thus, a subdivision of government is an agency for the purpose of section 16-10-103(1)(k), especially, in our view, when that subdivision is the law enforcement arm of a larger agency. In addition to being a subdivision of government, the Army Military Police Corps is the law enforcement branch of the Army. See Organization of the U.S. Army, supra, App. H: Branches of the Army, at 50. Hence, we conclude that the Army Military Police Corps is an agency. As to the second question of whether the Army Military Police Corps is a law enforcement agency, the purpose of the Army Military Police Corps is to maintain law and order on Army military bases and installations by enforcing Army regulations and the Uniform Code of Military Justice. See Dep't of the Army, Pamphlet 600-3-31, Branch Code 31  Military Police (1987); Dep't of the Army, Field Manual No. 19-10, Military Police: Law and Order Operations (1987). To carry out that purpose, military police officers  including reservists  are trained and authorized to arrest suspected criminals, to investigate crimes, and to detain prisoners. See id. Like civilian police officers, military police officers wear police uniforms, are armed with weapons, and patrol in marked police cars. See id. Because the duties and responsibilities of a military police officer are analogous to those of a civilian police officer, whose job it is to detect and punish violations of the criminal law, we conclude that the Army Military Police Corps, just like a civilian police department, embodies the common understanding of the phrase law enforcement. Therefore, we hold that the Army Military Police Corps is a law enforcement agency for the purpose of section 16-10-103(1)(k) and that an Army military police reservist is a compensated employee of a public law enforcement agency.