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Lawful Wartime Military Support — Rules of Engagement (ROE) & Use of Force SOP

Purpose: Enable competent, controlled military support to civilian law enforcement during wartime to suppress organized criminal activity and protect civilians and critical infrastructure — while ensuring legality, accountability and effectiveness.

1. Governing principles

• Legality: All actions must comply with the Constitution, applicable national law, wartime law (including the Geneva Conventions when applicable), and international human-rights law.
• Civilian primacy: Civilian law enforcement retains primary responsibility for policing. Military support is subsidiary, requested by competent civil authority, and documented.
• Necessity, proportionality, and humanity: Force only when necessary, proportionate to the threat, and minimized for harm.
• Accountability and oversight: Clear chains of command, real-time reporting, judicial oversight for detentions and asset seizure, and independent review of incidents involving serious injury or death.

2. Authorization and activation

• Trigger conditions: Military support may be authorized only when: (a) civilian forces are overwhelmed or incapacitated by wartime conditions, (b) criminal actors threaten national security or civilian life at scale, and (c) a written request is made by a senior civil authority (Minister of Interior, Chief of Police) and approved by the authorized military commander and legal advisor.
• Written mandate: A signed activation order must specify mission objectives, timeframe (sunset clause), geographic area, legal basis, and oversight mechanisms.
• Legal brief: Before deployment, a legal advisor must provide written ROE and use-of-force guidance and brief all commanders.

3. Command, control and liaison

• Joint command post: Establish a Joint Civil-Military Operations Center with civilian representation (police/prosecutors), military commander, and legal officer.
• Single point of contact: Each military unit has a civilian police liaison officer (embedded) to coordinate tasks and evidence handling.
• Rules dissemination: ROE and escalation-of-force procedures must be issued in writing and read aloud during pre-deployment briefs.

4. Use of force — escalation model

• Verbal commands / warnings: First step when safe and feasible. Use clear, loud commands in the local language.
• Control and non-lethal force: Hands-on restraint, batons, pepper spray, shields, tasers, and area containment to effect arrest or disperse.
• Intermediate force: Less-lethal munitions (beanbag rounds, rubber bullets) and area denial when necessary and lawful. Clear exclusion zones and medical response plan required.
• Lethal force (only when lawful): Authorized only to stop an imminent and otherwise unavoidable threat to life or serious bodily harm to civilians, military or police personnel (e.g., an attacker actively using a firearm or explosive device with intent and capability to kill). Lethal force must be the last resort and proportionate to the threat.

5. Specific restrictions on lethal force

• No standing “shoot to kill” orders. Blanket orders to kill suspects or to use lethal force merely to suppress crime are forbidden.
• No use against non-combatants: Lethal force is prohibited against peaceful protesters, unarmed civilians, detained persons, medical personnel, journalists, or where effective alternative means exist.
• No summary executions or extrajudicial killings. Any use of lethal force that results in death must be presumptively investigated.
• Warning shots: Prohibited except where explicitly authorized and safe; they are unreliable for de-escalation.
• High-risk arrests and raids: Must be planned with civilian prosecutors and police. Use specialized units trained in dynamic entry, evidence preservation, and minimal force. Military sharpshooters are permitted only for hostage rescue or to neutralize an imminent lethal threat to hostages or bystanders — and under judicially accountable rules.

6. Detention, handling and evidence

• Detention authority: Military may detain suspects only under a formal transfer arrangement with civilian police or pursuant to wartime detention law. Detainees must be processed promptly, given access to legal counsel, and handed to civilian authorities within legally specified timeframes.
• Evidence chain of custody: Military personnel collecting evidence must follow police procedures to preserve admissibility. Liaison officers ensure transfer to prosecutors.
• Prohibition on property seizure without order: Confiscation or seizure of assets requires a court order or legally mandated administrative procedure; military cannot unilaterally seize wealth for redistribution.

7. Intelligence and targeting

• Intelligence-led operations: Use vetted intelligence, corroboration, and judicial warrants for searches/arrests. Avoid reliance on anonymous tips without corroboration.
• Target validation: Targets must be vetted by prosecutors and legal counsel to minimize wrongful harm.
• Minimize civilian harm: Operations timed and planned to reduce exposure of civilians and collateral damage.

8. Medical care and post-incident procedures

• Immediate medical aid: Any wounded person (civilian, suspect, or security personnel) receives urgent medical care. Units must carry trained medics and evacuation plans.
• After-action reporting: Any incident involving use of force that causes serious injury or death triggers an immediate independent investigation and public reporting within a defined timeframe.
• Family notification: Families of those killed or detained must be notified promptly and humanely.

9. Training, equipment & force composition

• Specialized units: Deploy well-trained units with experience in policing support, de-escalation, and human-rights compliance — not standard frontline combat troops unless trained and legally authorized.
• Mandatory training: All personnel receive instruction on ROE, proportionality, detainee rights, evidence handling, and cultural awareness. Certification required prior to deployment.
• Less-lethal priority: Equip units with effective less-lethal options and protective gear for both forces and civilians.

10. Oversight, transparency & remedies

• Independent oversight body: Parliamentary committee + ombudsman + judicial review to audit operations and handle complaints.
• Public reporting: Regular, transparent reporting on arrests, prosecutions, detentions, asset seizures (with legal basis), and human-rights impacts.
• Remedies for abuse: Clear legal avenues for victims to seek redress; disciplinary and criminal consequences for personnel who violate ROE.

11. Special provisions for wartime exigencies

• Temporary measures only: Any exceptional measures must be strictly time-limited and subject to renewal only by civilian authority and legal review.
• Preserve civil liberties where possible: Essential services, movement for humanitarian reasons, and protected groups (medical, humanitarian, judiciary) maintain access.
• International coordination: Notify relevant international bodies where obligations apply (e.g., for displaced persons, cross-border operations).

12. Metrics & mission completion

• Success metrics: Reduction in violent incidents, increase in prosecutable cases referred to courts, assets frozen/forfeited by court order, improved public safety indicators, and community satisfaction.
• Exit criteria: Clear conditions for withdrawal of military support and return to full civilian policing: restored capacity, credible prosecutions, and functioning rule of law.

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Why this is the better approach

• It enables decisive action against violent criminal networks while protecting civilians and ensuring prosecutions will hold up in court.
• It prevents abuses that create more disorder and erode legitimacy — the same harms that “shoot to kill” orders produce.
• It makes operations defensible domestically and internationally, reduces the risk of sanctions or legal challenge, and improves long-term governance.

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