Statements on whether the military police have the power to investigate criminal offences

Summary of the decision: The Parliamentary Ombudsmen carried out a review on its own initiative into whether there is a legal basis for the military police to conduct or otherwise take part in criminal investigations. The principle of legality, according to which all exercise of public power must be based on a law or other regulation, requires there to be statutory grounds for this.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman’s conclusion is that there is no statutory basis for the military police to investigate criminal offences. Neither is there a basis for a military police officer to be considered to be a police officer for the purposes of criminal investigation provisions, for example, in the Code of Judicial Procedure. This means that a military police officer does not have the power to take investigative measures in a preliminary investigation.

The Parliamentary Ombudsman further notes that the Government regulates who is authorised to act as a police officer in an ordinance. In the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s view, provisions on who is authorised to be a police officer are of a nature that only the Parliament should be able to decide upon them. It should therefore be regulated directly by law. The Parliamentary Ombudsman is therefore raising the issue of such statutory regulation with the Government.