Public Order Forces (UGB)

The Public Order Forces of the Unified Governorates of Benacia derive their authority from Chapter One, Article Three of Document of Governance for the Unified Governorates of Benacia, which mandates the The "Governor" of Public Instruction and Safety to establish organs responsible for performing the functions of State Security, the Territorial Command, Public Order Troops, Aviation Police, and the Coast Guard.

Depiction of Public Order Troops in the aftermath of a bandit hunting action in the Governorate of Upper Lywall, 1716 AN.

Where responsibility for State Security and the Territorial Command rests with the Bureau of Coordination and Harmonisation, the functions of the Public Order Troops, Aviation Police, and the Coast Guard are brought together under the umbrella of the Public Order Forces.

Organisation

As per the directive of 25.XV.1720 AN, each bailiwick of the UGB is to receive a demi-regiment of public order troops, with the nominal established strength of each demi-regiment amounting to six hundred men under arms. In addition there are a further eight demi-regiments garrisoned at Merensk as an Operational Reserve Grouping of the Territorial Command (ORGTC).

This amounts to fifty-three demi-regiments of public order troops or 31,800 men under arms. This may not, at first glance, seem a sufficient force, but they serve as a territorial reinforcement for local law enforcement and as a means by which the authority of the Civil Executive can be imposed upon the lower tiers of government within the realm of the UGB, down to the bailiwick level.

Uniform

The uniform provided to serving members of the Public Order Forces consists of locally manufactured variants of the Pattern M1717 Service Uniform of the BUDF, normally produced in bulk and of inferior quantity. Officers are also entitled to receive BUDF surplus stahlhelms and flakjackets for personal protection. Officers are expected to wear brown leather riding boots, although they must purchase these on their own account. Other ranks are provided with puttees and foot-wraps at the public expense along with regulation black ammunition boots provided in job lots by the Guilds of Benacia. Of the footwear provided, it is sometimes said that it is easier to break in the foot than the boot.