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A chief of police (COP) is the title given to an appointed official or an elected one in the chain of command of a police department, particularly in North America. A chief of police may also be known as a police chief or sometimes just a chief, while some countries favour other titles such as commissioner or chief constable. A police chief is appointed by and answerable to a state or local government.
The precise role of a chief of police varies by country and sometimes within a country. The larger a police force or department, the more likely that some duties will be delegated to mid-ranked officers. The following list is a general sense of the actions and responsibilities held by any chief of police.
Police chiefs are usually sworn police officers, and therefore wear police uniforms and have the power of arrest, though there are exceptions. In practice, their work is administrative in all but the smallest police departments. The rare occasions when police chiefs make arrests have drawn media coverage. In 2014, Bernard Hogan-Howe chased a group of fare evaders and made an arrest. A taxi driver had approached Hogan-Howe for help, unaware that he was London's police commissioner. [3] [4] In 2017, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck arrested a police officer on suspicion of a sexual offence. [5]
"Chief of police" (French: directeur) is the most common title for the highest-ranked officer in a Canadian police service. The exceptions are: the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (commissioner), Ontario Provincial Police (commissioner), South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority Police Service (chief officer), Vancouver Police Department (chief constable), West Vancouver Police Department (chief constable), Nelson Police Department (chief constable), Quebec City (director) and the Sûreté du Québec (director general).
In the province of Ontario, a chief of police must be a sworn police officer and therefore have completed training at the Ontario Police College or have served a probationary period with another recognized police force (such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's academy known as "Depot"). This requirement is legislated in the Police Services Act of Ontario. The legislation states in section two that a chief of police is a police officer. Section 44.2 of the PSA defines the training requirements. There was a case in the police department of Guelph, Ontario, where a human resource manager was promoted to the position of deputy chief but was required to complete training at the OPC. The candidate is selected by a police services board.
Ranks below the chief are stylized as deputy chief, deputy chief constable (BC) and deputy commissioner or associate director (Quebec).
In Germany, the police are structured at the state level. As a result, every State Police Department has its Chief of Police, and the titles for these chiefs vary from one state to another.
| State | Titel | Incumbent |
|---|---|---|
| Baden-Württemberg | Landespolizeipräsidentin [6] | Dr. Stefanie Hintz [6] |
| Bayern (Bavaria) | Landespolizeipräsident [7] | Michael Schwald [7] |
| Berlin | Polizeipräsidentin in Berlin [8] | Dr. Barbara Slowik [8] |
| Brandenburg | Polizeipräsident [9] | Oliver Stepien [9] |
| Bremen | Polizeipräsident [10] | Dirk Fasse [10] |
| Hamburg | Polizeipräsident [11] | Falk Schnabel [11] |
| Hessen (Hesse) | Landespolizeipräsident | Robert Schäfer |
| Mecklenburg-Vorpommern | Inspekteur der Polizei [12] | Nils Hoffmann-Ritterbusch [12] |
| Niedersachsen (Lower Saxony) | Präsident des Landespolizeipräsidiums [13] | Axel Brockmann [13] |
| Nordrhein-Westfalen (Northrhine-Westphalia) | Inspekteur der Polizei [14] | Michael Schemke [14] |
| Rheinland-Pfalz (Rhineland-Palatinate) | Inspekteur der Polizei [15] | Friedel Durben [15] |
| Saarland | Landespolizeipräsident [16] | Norbert Rupp [16] |
| Sachsen (Saxony) | Landespolizeipräsident [17] | Jörg Kubiessa [17] |
| Sachsen-Anhalt | Landespolizeidirektor [18] | Mario Schwan [19] |
| Schleswig-Holstein | Landespolizeidirektor [20] | Michael Wilksen [20] |
| Thüringen (Thuringia) | Präsident der Polizei Thüringen [21] | Michel Schwarz [21] |
In India, the police are structured at the state level. As a result, every State Police Department has its Chief of Police, and the titles for these chiefs vary from one state to another. The Chief of Kerala Police has the title of "State Police Chief".
Most Indian state police departments generally has more than one officer with the rank of Director General (DG), because of which one of the officers with the rank of Director General is appointed to the position of the Director General of Police. The other common titles includes, Director General of Police, Director General and Inspector General of Police.
The Chiefs of Municipal Police Force has the title of Commissioner of Police (CP).
In Indonesia, the chief of the National Police of Indonesia is often colloquially dubbed: "Kapolri", an acronym of "Kepala Kepolisian Negara Republik Indonesia" meaning "Head of the National Police of the Republic of Indonesia".The National Police Chiefs are four-star ranking officers in the national police. The National Police Chief is appointed to the position by the President of Indonesia after the nomination of a candidate is approved in House of Representatives and is directly responsible to the president. Since Indonesia adopts the system of a unified "national police", the chief of the Indonesian National Police holds strong responsibility in policing authorities nationally across Indonesia. The police chief usually conducts strong relations and work together with the Commander of the National Armed Forces. In line with the general features of unified structure of local governments, all chiefs of the Indonesian police, at district level ("kapolsek", kepala kepolisian sektor"), municipal level ("kapolres", kepala kepolisian resor"), and provincial level ("kapolda", kepala kepolisian daerah) in Indonesia, are subordinates of Kapolri, the national police chief.
In the Philippines, the chief of police was the head of small city and municipal police.
In the United Kingdom, the chief police officer for 43 of the 45 territorial police forces and the three special police forces holds the rank of chief constable. The exceptions are the Metropolitan Police Service and City of London Police, where the chief police officer instead holds the rank of commissioner. The umbrella term for the chief constables and commissioners is "chief police officer". The term "chief officer", by contrast, includes the chief police officers and their deputies and assistants. The National Police Chiefs Council is the association for chief officers.
The rank of commissioner should not be confused with the police and crime commissioners. They are elected officials who oversee a police force and how its funds are spent, rather than being police officers.
Chief of police is the most common title for the head of a police department of a city. The highest-ranking officers of boroughs and parishes are also known as police chiefs. In large urban areas, some departments are led by an overseer who is not a sworn officer, usually referred to as a commissioner. In these departments, the police chief is the highest-ranking police officer of the agency but not the department head. The New York City Police Department is one such case where the commissioner is the head of the NYPD. The resources available to the head of a police department vary greatly; the chief of a small town may be the only paid employee of the police department with volunteer officers at his disposal only on certain occasions. On the other hand, the chief of a major city may have thousands or in the case of very large cities such as New York tens of thousands of sworn officers. Such a department may have thousands of employees other than police officers, including operators, secretaries, and unsworn peace officers. Alternative titles for a chief of police include police commissioner, colonel, police superintendent, police president or police director.
A sheriff is the chief of a county law enforcement agency. Although sheriffs are not usually counted as police chiefs, their agencies usually have the powers and role of a police department (although in some rare cases, the role of a sheriff's agency is limited to non-policing matters such as courtroom security). The usual difference between a sheriff and a police chief is that sheriffs are elected (except in New York City, Rhode Island and Hawaii) and responsible for a county [22] whereas a police chief manages law enforcement in a city or town and is appointed by its local government. Many state constitutions require every county to have a sheriff; some make no provision for this position to be eliminated even in the case of the formation of a consolidated city–county or "metropolitan government" because of which a decision on the division the powers between the county sheriff and the city chief of police is made. The usual compromise allows the chief of police to exercise law enforcement jurisdiction and to give the sheriff and his deputies authority over jails and the serving of civil papers. An alternative and lesser-used solution is to make the office of sheriff a purely ceremonial one. One other solution, an example of which is seen in the case of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, is to provide for the sheriff to simultaneously serve as the chief of police, thus remaining as the chief law enforcement officer (CLEO) of the county. Other titles for the executives of Sheriff's Departments include colonel, superintendent, and director.
The fraternal organization International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) is an organization that many chiefs of police are associated with.
The extent to how much a police a police department is overtly influenced by politics is also an important topic and varies greatly from one jurisdiction to another. Increasingly, all U.S. law enforcement officers including small-town police chiefs and their charges are being required to meet at least minimum levels of professional training.
The rank insignia for the chief of a large or medium-sized department most often consists of three or four gold stars, similar to the insignia of a lieutenant general or general in the army. Smaller departments and state agencies most often consists of silver or gold eagles similar to colonel in the army.
Commander is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countries this naval rank is termed frigate captain.
Marshal is a term used in several official titles in various branches of society. As marshals became trusted members of the courts of Medieval Europe, the title grew in reputation. During the last few centuries, it has been used for elevated offices, such as in military rank and civilian law enforcement.
Chief Constable is the rank used by the chief police officer of every territorial police force in the United Kingdom except for the City of London Police and the Metropolitan Police, as well as the chief officers of the three 'special' national police forces, the British Transport Police, Ministry of Defence Police, and Civil Nuclear Constabulary. The title is also held by the chief officers of the principal Crown Dependency police forces and the Sovereign Base Areas Police in Cyprus. The title was also held, ex officio, by the president of the Association of Chief Police Officers under the Police Reform Act 2002. It was also the title of the chief officer of the Royal Parks Constabulary until this agency was disbanded in 2004.
Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it.
Police commissioner is a senior rank in many police forces of the world. In other jurisdictions, it is the title of a member of an oversight board.
A law enforcement officer (LEO), or peace officer in North American English, is a public-sector or private-sector employee whose duties primarily involve the enforcement of laws, protecting life & property, keeping the peace, and other public safety related duties. Law enforcement officers are designated certain powers & authority by law to allow them to carry out their responsibilities.
The Los Angeles Airport Police is the airport police division of Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA), the city department that owns and operates two airports in Los Angeles: Los Angeles International Airport and Van Nuys Airport. It has more than 1,100 officers, security, and staff. Though it works very closely with the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), LAXPD is a separate entity, primarily due to the airport police having specialized training and funding resources.
The St. Louis County Police Department (SLCPD) is the primary and largest law enforcement agency serving St. Louis County in the U.S. state of Missouri. The current Chief of Police is Colonel Kenneth Gregory. According to the Charter of St. Louis County, the county police chief has all of the criminal law enforcement duties of the sheriff of St. Louis County, except for the operation of the St. Louis County Jail, which is handled by the St. Louis County Department of Justice Services (civilian), court bailiff and service of civil process. Court bailiff/civil process duties are provided by a court-appointed sheriff and his employees, none of whom have law enforcement powers.
In the United States, a sheriff is the chief of law enforcement of a county. Sheriffs are usually either elected by the populace or appointed by an elected body.
Gazetted officers include all the Indian Police Service officers which are Class I officers of the cadre and all State Police Services officers of and above the rank of Deputy Superintendent of Police. All are arranged in a hierarchical order.
The Indonesian National Police is the national law enforcement and police force of the Republic of Indonesia. Founded on 1 July 1946, it was formerly a part of the country's military since 1962. The police were formally separated from the armed forces on 1 April 1999 in a process which was formally completed on 1 July 1999.
The United States police-rank model is generally quasi-military in structure. A uniform system of insignia based on that of the US Army and Marine Corps is used to help identify an officer's seniority.
Chief Deputy is a rank/title used in American/Canadian law enforcement. The position of chief deputy is primarily found within sheriff's offices throughout the United States, and also exists for marshals’ police departments as well as constables’ departments. A chief deputy may serve as the senior ranking officer below the sheriff, or below an undersheriff if that rank/title exists within an agency. Chief deputies may also be above undersheriffs depending on the sheriff's department, and in some cases the titles are synonymously used to describe the same individual.
The Kerala Police is the law enforcement agency for the Indian state of Kerala. Kerala Police has its headquarters in Thiruvananthapuram, the state capital. The motto of the force is "Mridhu Bhave Dhrida Kruthye" which means "Soft in Temperament, Firm in Action" in Sanskrit. It operates under the Department of Home Affairs, Government of Kerala. The force is headed by the State Police Chief, and the incumbent chief is Shaikh Darvesh Sahib, IPS.
In the United States, there is no consistent use of the office of constable throughout the states; use may vary within a state. A constable may be an official responsible for service of process: such as summonses and subpoenas for people to appear in court in criminal and/or civil matters. They can also be fully empowered law enforcement officers. Constables may have additional specialized duties unique to the office. In some states the constable is an elected or appointed position at the state or local level of local government. Their jurisdiction can vary from statewide to county/parish and local township boundaries based on the state's laws.
The police in Canada's ranks differ according to the different police forces and depend on different laws at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels.
Saxony State Police is a state law-enforcement agency in Saxony, Germany. It is subordinate to the Saxony State Interior Ministry. The Chief of State Police (Landespolizeipräsident) is Horst Kretzschmar and the political head is the Minister for the Interior in Saxony Roland Wöller (CDU).
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