By: fedweekThe Marine Corps is hiring more than 1,500 civilian law enforcement officers to serve at Marine bases in the United States. This will alleviate Fleet Assistance Programs whereby operational units must provide Marines to base provost marshals’ offices for MP duty. The civilian force will have the same responsibilities as Marine military police, will bear the same arms, and will have arrest authority. Applicants must have clean criminal records and must successfully complete an eight-week Marine Corps law enforcement course similar to the basic military police course. Their paygrades upon acceptance will range from GS-7, beginning at $31,740, to GS-13, starting at $66,951. Pays can be higher, based upon locality and prior experience. Hiring, which may begin immediately, will be carried out by each base, and is expected to be complete by 2011. Civilian MPs will wear uniforms similar to other professional civilian police officers.
