U.S. military police detain a service member during a joint patrol of Gate 2 Street in Okinawa city, Okinawa, Sept. 27, 2025. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes)
OKINAWA CITY, Okinawa — U.S. military police detained at least five service members during their most recent joint patrol of a nightlife hotspot on Okinawa, part of a crackdown on off-duty misconduct that began in April.
The patrols on and around Gate 2 Street outside Kadena Air Base alongside Japanese authorities are meant to enforce a ban on off-base drinking by U.S. service members between 1 and 5 a.m. They seem to be having the intended effect, military police leaders with the Air Force and Marine Corps said Saturday on Okinawa city’s streets.
Maj. Donald Kidd, acting Marine Corps provost marshal on Okinawa, compared Saturday to an earlier patrol, saying the improvement in behavior was “night and day.”
“The service members understand,” he told Stars and Stripes at Kadena’s Gate 2. “Even when we catch them in the act, they know. Everybody’s informed and the message is out there.”
Air Force Lt. Col. Brad Robinson of the 18th Security Forces Squadron led roughly 35 military police personnel from all services on the patrol from midnight to 2 a.m.
They were joined by 26 Japanese police and community members, an Okinawa city spokesman said by phone Monday. Some Japanese government officials speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.
“We’re trying to create a safe enough environment where the community starts to trust us … so we can get rid of the liberty order,” Robinson told police personnel before the patrol began. “Our actions tonight will help build that environment.”
Members of the 18th Security Forces Squadron walk a detained service member to Kadena Air Base during a joint patrol in Okinawa city, Okinawa, Sept. 27, 2025. (Brian McElhiney/Stars and Stripes)
Police began checking service members’ IDs at 1 a.m. and detained an airman shortly after. Master Sgt. John Haines of Kadena’s security forces told the airman he would be charged under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for disobeying a lawful order.
He declined to say whether the airman was arrested or detained and directed questions to the 18th Wing’s public affairs office, which acknowledged but did not immediately respond to email and phone inquiries Monday.
The patrol detained at least four other service members. All were brought to Gate 2 to be processed by their respective service branches.
One service member ran from police and patrol groups were radioed to be on the lookout. He was apprehended in a parking lot just off Gate 2 Street.
“The ones that we do end up processing, it’s usually [because] they’re really belligerent in their actions and the things that they committed,” Kidd said.
Kidd said he led a Sept. 13 patrol solely by U.S. military police. That was the first time U.S. military police patrolled the city on their own, Wesley Hayes, spokesman for Marine Corps Installations Pacific, said by email Monday.
Two service members were arrested Sept. 13 for violations of the UCMJ, U.S. Forces Japan spokesman Col. John Severns wrote in an email Monday. He did not have more information.
During an Aug. 16 patrol, three Marines were arrested and another six were detained, the service said at the time.
After Saturday’s patrol, Robinson said no violent incidents with service members occurred.
“The safety of the Okinawan community is really what we want,” he said. “We want this place to be safe, so that’s a good sign.”
Stars and Stripes reporter Keishi Koja contributed to this report.
AloJapan.com