Editing Provost marshal (section)

{{Short description|Title for a leader of military police}}
{{About|military usage of the term ''provost''|other uses|Provost (disambiguation)}}

[[File:Lt. Col. James P. Smith, Jr. of Ipswich, Massachusetts, Provost Marshall of the Berlin District, left, and Major... - NARA - 198976.jpg|300px|thumb|[[Lieutenant Colonel]] James P. Smith, Jr., provost marshal of the Berlin District, left, and [[Major (rank)|Major]] William J. E. Keish, [[commanding officer]], 713th Military Police Battalion, check pass lists for the [[Potsdam Conference]] area in [[Potsdam, Germany]] on July 14, 1945]]

'''Provost marshal''' is a title given to a person in charge of a group of [[military police|Military Police (MP)]]. The title originated with an older term for MPs, ''[[provost (military police)|provosts]]'', from the Old French {{Lang|fro|prévost}} (Modern French {{Lang|fr|prévôt}}). While a provost marshal is now usually a senior [[commissioned officer]], they may be a person of any rank who commands any number of MPs; historically, the title was sometimes applied to [[civil servant|civilian officials]], especially under conditions of [[martial law]], or when a military force had day-to-day responsibility for some or all aspects of civilian [[law enforcement]] (such as some [[British colonies]]). A provost marshal may also oversee [[security agency|security services]], [[imprisonment]], [[fire brigade|fire]]/[[emergency services]] and [[ambulance]]s.