US Forces offending in DPP area 206/2026

FOI Reference: 206/2026

Request:

The 1952 Visiting Forces Act makes provision for dealing with offences committed by members of visiting military forces (ie naval, army and air forces) from certain foreign countries by their own military prosecutors and courts rather than UK prosecutors and courts.

I have attached the act for your convenience https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Geo6and1Eliz2/15-16/67

My request only applies to the military service personnel of the United States of America.

I understand that under this act, the government of the United States of America in certain cases will have the primary right to exercise jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute a member of the US military for an offence that is alleged to have occurred in the United Kingdom (ie asserting primacy over the UK authorities).

This process has, for example, been set out in this policy paper published by the Norfolk and Suffolk constabularies.

https://www.norfolk.police.uk/SysSiteAssets/foi-media/norfolk/policies/visiting-forces-policy.pdf

Under the act, I would like to ask how many times since January 1 2018 has the government of the United States of America asserted the primary right to exercise jurisdiction (ie primacy) over your force with regard to an offence that is alleged to have been committed by a member of the US visiting forces within your area.

For each occasion, I would like to ask :

1. What was the alleged offence;
2. Where did the alleged offence occur;
3. On what date did the alleged offence occur;
4. Which base or facility was the member of the US visiting force attached to or working at;
5. On what date was the primary right to exercise jurisdiction asserted by the United States of America government;
6. Did the United States of America authorities then investigate the case, or did your force investigate the case.

I understand that if the UK authorities and the government of the United States of America are unable to agree on who should have jurisdiction, the case is referred to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Under the act, I would like to ask - since January 1 2018 - on how many occasions have such cases been referred to the Crown Prosecution Service by your force.

For each occasion, I would like to ask

1. What was the alleged offence;
2. Where did the alleged offence occur;
3. On what date did the alleged offence occur;
4. Which base or facility was the member of the US visiting force attached to or working at;
5. On what date was the case referred to the Crown Prosecution Service;
6. What was the decision with respect to whether your force or the United States of America authorities should have jurisdiction.

Response:

I can confirm that there is no information held by Dyfed-Powys Police due to the fact that there are zero (0) instances recorded by Dyfed-Powys Police.                                              

It should also be noted that Police forces in the United Kingdom are routinely required to provide crime statistics to government bodies and the recording criteria is set nationally. However, the systems used for recording these figures are not generic, nor are the procedures used locally in capturing the crime data. It should be noted that for these reasons this force's response to your questions should not be used for comparison purposes with any other response you may receive.

(This is a response under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and disclosed on 12/03/2026)