Thread: Police Ranks And Their Roles

Hi, me and my girlfriend are writing seperate novels and need some more help. We tried Wikipedia and it didn't help.

My girlfriend needs to know all the English police ranks and their roles, such as constable and so on.

I, on the other hand, need help on American police ranks and their roles. If it is different in each state, then I will help by saying that I am basing my story on LA.

Thanks in advance.

If "LA" is the City of Los Angeles, see ranks and roles of the LAPD at —
http://www.lapdonline.org/join_the_t...asic_view/9127

If "LA" is the State of Louisiana, it may follow the usual ranks. The State highways and Interstate roads would be patrolled by State Police, divided into Troops; Parishes (equivalent of Counties) would probably have a police department, especially in any smaller jurisdictions (cities, towns, villages, unincorporated areas) which might or might not. Cities might be divided into Precincts.
Louisiana State Police: http://www.lsp.org/who_super.html
Some departments around New Orleans: http://nopdonline.com/lelinks.htm

Typical US police ranks: Commissioner (City or County), Chief (Town or Village), Deputy Chief, Captain, Lieutenant, Sergeant (Sarge to his men), Patrolman (generally addressed by the public as Officer). The Detectives might have parallel ranks at the bottom: Det. Lieutenant, Det. Sergeant, and Detective.

In Amerglish (if there is such a word), they might be cops, police or policemen, but not bobbies or coppers.

Uniform colors vary: blue, dark blue, brown, gray, etc. Try Google Images Advanced Search to find photos for particular jurisdictions and ranks.

Central database used by police to check IDs, license plates, etc:
http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fbi/is/ncic.htm

And here are the Police ranks in Britain:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_police_ranks

Thank you for your help. Also who would a British detective confirm all the infomation to like in America it would be a luitenant

Sorry but is noone able to help my girlfriend?

I honestly don't know Lanex, but an idea would be to call a local police station and ask. I'm sure if you explain why you're asking, then they'll be happy to help you.

Cheers Banzai.

Nice idea friend.., i appreciate your effort. The history and developement of police policy and the role of police in american society are traced through this collection of 95 primary documents. Law Enforcement in the United States is one of three major components of the criminal justice system, along with courts and corrections. Policing in the united states is conducted by numoures types of agency at many different levels. Every state has their own nomenclature for agencies, and their powers, responsibilities and funding varies state to state. In America lot of different rank structure. Some agencies might have senior patrolman, corporal and various sergeant ranks. Majors and colonels tend to be found in state police or highway patrol agencies.