i understand military ranks because i was in the marine corps. i understand by T.O. a sargeant leads..........

Question

a squad and a corporal leads a fire team. but in reality a corporal leads a squad the majority of the time and lance corporals lead fire teams in most cases. my question is, what is the responsibilities of a police corporal, a police sargeant? is a police lieutenant considered a "commissioned" officer like in the military? please enlighten me

Answer 1

None of the police departments in my area use the rank of corporal. Our state police used to have corporals until the early '70's I believe, then they abolished that rank & promoted all the corporals to sergeant.

It varies with the size of the department, but a sergeant usually supervises a team of officers who are assigned to a certain geographic area within their jurisdiction. In smaller departments, they may be in charge of the entire shift.

The Lieutenants are generally the shift commanders, or in a large dept like NY or Chicago, they are in charge of the precinct.

Captains may also be a precinct commander or in a smaller dept may be in charge of all uniformed road patrol, while another Captain may be over investigative services (detectives) and support services (records management).

Lieutenants, Captains, etc are not "commissioned" officers in the military sense. All law enforcement officers are "sworn" (take an oath) when they are hired. The ranks are mainly to delineate the chain of command. Police departments are considered "para-military" organizations. When I started working for my department, having just come from the military, I kept calling the Lieutenant "sir". He finally took me aside & told me that while he appreciated the respect, calling him "Lieutenant" or "L.T." was just fine. I still call the Chief "sir", but he IS the Chief.....

Although you didn't ask about insignia, if you watch TV press conferences involving a Chief of Police, some of them wear a "bird" (Colonel), others have a single star, some Chiefs of very large departments may have 4 stars!

Answer 2

I work with several Police Departments, and I agree with the answers above.
Some do not have the rank of Corporal, some do.
Most have a Sergeant, Lieutenant, and Captain rank, but this is not always the case.
It generally depends on the size of the Department, but can also depend on the consensus between other Departments in the same area. Some departments even have Majors, when they keep their rank structure very close to military style.
I have noticed that around the Lieutenant rank, usually, there is a change from Union represented to Management (as a function of the supervisory rank)...though again, this is a generalization.

Answer 3

Usually the ranks are depended on the department. If they are structured like the military, then the ranks usually have the same responsibilies..Should the Lt. or Sgt, be off shift, then the corporal will be in charge of the shift, just as in the military. A Lt. is in charge of the shift. He has come up through the ranks. Taken department tests. Educaion may be required to move up through the ranks, but as far as being a commissioned officer..the answer is no. The guidelines going from the enlisted ranks to Officer ranks differ in the Military, as compared to the Police Departments.

Answer 4

Corp is senior Patrol Officer, Sargent is responsible for certain number of men attached the the shift, and the Lt, is responsible for all on the shift