Police ranks of the United States

Ranks

• Chief of police/commissioner of police/superintendent/sheriff/Public Safety Director: The title commissioner of police is used mainly by large metropolitan departments, while chief of police is associated with small and medium-sized municipalities; both are typically appointed by a mayor or selected by the city council or commission. In some cities, a "commissioner" is a member of the board of officials in charge of the department, while a "chief" is the top uniformed officer answering to the commissioner or commission. In very large departments, such as the New York City Police Department, there may be several non-police officer deputies and assistant commissioners, some of whom outrank the chief of department and others on par with the uniformed chief. There may be a chief of operations who is second in command to the top-ranking chief. In contrast, sheriffs in the United States are usually elected officials, one in each county, who head the sheriff's department.
• Assistant chief of police/Undersheriff/assistant commissioner/assistant superintendent: Only seen in some departments. In New York City, assistant chiefs head borough commands.
• Deputy chief of police/deputy commissioner/deputy superintendent/chief deputy/Assistant Sheriff: The top subordinate of the chief of police, commissioner, superintendent, or sheriff; may or may not have a specific area of responsibility. In some places the undersheriff is the warden of the county jail. The New York City Sheriff's Office has five undersheriffs: each one is responsible for a borough of New York City, with the Sheriff of the City of New York overseeing all of them. In some Sheriff's Offices, the rank of Assistant Sheriff exists, below the Undersheriff, but still above Commander and other ranks.
• Inspector/commander: Sometimes have an insignia of a single star, analogous to brigadier generals, but in other areas wear a gold or silver eagle, similar to a colonel. "Inspector" is also used as a term for "detective" in the San Francisco Police Department but is two ranks above captain in the NYPD and the Philadelphia Police Department. In the NYPD, inspectors command divisions, which may be groups of precincts within a borough or specialized branches of the police service.
• Colonel or lieutenant colonel: A majority of state police as well as some municipal agencies use "colonel" or "lieutenant colonel" as their senior executive rank, often jointly with a civilian title such as "superintendent, deputy superintendent", "commissioner, deputy commissioner" or "director, deputy director", "Chief, Deputy Chief", etc. Conversely, the colonel or lieutenant colonel rank is rarely employed by other agencies, though it is used by the Baltimore Police Department and other Maryland agencies as either an executive or commander-like rank. Colonels generally wear the gold or silver eagle of a military colonel, and lieutenant colonels have the oak leaf of a Military lieutenant colonel, from the U.S. armed forces. Many sheriffs also wear the eagle insignia, and use colonel as an official rank.
• Major/deputy inspector: Sometimes Majors/Deputy Inspectors have the insignia of a gold or silver oak leaf, similar to a major or lieutenant colonel in the armed forces. In the Baltimore Police Department and Atlanta Police Department, majors supervise police stations.
• Captain: Two gold or silver bars. A Captain often supervises a police station but can supervise another division or unit in smaller departments and only certain sections of a police station in larger departments. In the NYPD, captains are the normal commanders of precincts.
• Lieutenant: Wearing a single gold or silver bar, a lieutenant supervises two to three or more sergeants. Lieutenants can supervise an entire watch shift in a police station or detective squad in larger police departments, entire barracks in state police departments, and entire precincts in smaller police departments.
• Sergeant: Three chevrons, a police officer who supervises an entire watch shift in smaller departments and areas of a precinct and individual detective squads in larger departments. Some agencies, such as the New Jersey State Police, use a para-militaristic range of sergeant ranks, such as staff sergeant and sergeant first class, in addition to the basic sergeant rank.
• Detective/inspector/investigator: An inspector/detective/investigator usually works in plain clothes. This may be in several classes that correspond to higher supervisory and pay grades. In the NYPD, the detective rank is technically a designation: detectives do not actually outrank police officers although they are in charge of cases and are often senior in years of service, and so have a certain degree of authority beyond police officers in specific situations. Detectives also perform undercover duties for some of their cases.
• Officer/deputy/trooper/corporal/Public Safety Officer: A regular officer or deputy wears no rank insignia, and there may be several pay grades. Corporals, who may be senior officers or acting watch commanders, wear two chevrons. A police corporal is generally employed as an officer as an entry level supervisor position. These duties may include one or more of the following roles:
• * Detective
• * Division supervisor
• * Field training officer .

Variations