# US Police Ranks



## OurJud (Jul 21, 2013)

Just a quickie that I could do with a few guidelines on.

I've reached a point in my story now where the special (fictitious) homicide branch is playing more of a part, and I got to thinking about police ranks - who is answerable to whom, etc.

I've given my main character a generic 'inspector' rank, but I don't really know what that means. At the start of the story he introduces himself as Detective Inspector Earl Goodwin, but I since discovered the role of a detective is way down in the ranking process, so I dropped it in favour of Inspector Earl Goodwin.

What I need to know is:



Where would that put him in my department? I want him to be very involved with the cases, but also the man in charge. Does Inspector sound about the right rank?
Can you have more than one inspector at the same department?
If it's not normal to have more than one Inspector, who would be the Inspectors right-hand man?
Who would an inspector be answerable to?

With my department being a fictitious one - one that deals solely with the Time Reversal cases - I have considered creating a new ranking system, but that would mean coming up with authentic sounding rank titles, which just sounds like more (probably) unnecessary work.

Anyway, for now, any pointers and guidelines regarding police ranks would be useful. I specifically want to know if a department could/would have two Inspectors working on the same case.


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## Sam (Jul 21, 2013)

U.S. police ranks are quasimilitary. They are as follows:

Top: Chief of Police, Commissioner, Superintendent, Sheriff

Deputy Chief of Police, Deputy Commissioner, Superintendent, Undersheriff

Inspector, Commander, Colonel 

Major, Deputy Inspector

Captain

Lieutenant

Sergeant

Detective, Investigator

Bottom: Officer, Deputy Sheriff, Trooper


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## OurJud (Jul 21, 2013)

Thanks, Sam, but I was hoping my bullet points could be addressed directly. I know I asked for anything regarding the ranking order, but as a Brit, what you've told me doesn't answer any of my bullet points, apart from maybe the last about who he'd be answerable to.


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## Sam (Jul 21, 2013)

Where would that put him in my department? I want him to be very involved with the cases, but also the man in charge. Does Inspector sound about the right rank?

It would put him near the top, behind the Deputy Chief of Police/Deputy Commissioner and the Chief of Police/Commissioner. He would be the man in charge because those four ranks are invariably political and involve lots of meetings and discussions about the precinct. They would never be out in the field, but an inspector would. 




Can you have more than one inspector at the same department?

Of course. 




If it's not normal to have more than one Inspector, who would be the Inspectors right-hand man?

Deputy Inspector. 




Who would an inspector be answerable to?

Chain of command is very simple: You answer to the person who ranks directly above you. In this case, Deputy Chief of Police/Deputy Commissioner (some precincts have a Chief of Police, others a Commissioner, but they are exactly the same position and rank).


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## OurJud (Jul 21, 2013)

Thanks, Sam. 'Out in the field' was what I was looking for.

And I'm sorry to go on about the two inspectors at the same department thing, but when you say this does happen, do you mean on the same case?

The reason I'm asking this is because my main character's closest friend also works in the same department and I'm wondering what rank this friend needs to be so that it makes sense that they discuss cases and work together in a way, let's say, an inspector and an officer wouldn't.


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## Sandy (Jul 21, 2013)

OurJud, the ranks and relationships can vary widely with the size of the police force.  Big cities rank from commissioner on down to patrolman, but smaller cities and towns often have a chief at the top. County police services rank from sheriff on down, while state police more closely parallel military ranks (colonel, major, etc).  Larger municipal police forces have detectives who are commonly ranked as sergeants or lieutenants, but these ranks also apply in an administrative sense.  State police have specialized investigative units and a variety of enforcement roles depending on the state, but county police can really vary a lot - in some states, they do very little police work in the usual sense, while in others they act as law enforcement for areas that are not covered by municipal police.  Each state is different!

If you have a particular place as a model for your story, you might investigate via the web for the particulars on how the department in that locality is organized.  Generally speaking though, a mid-sized city and up would have _detectives_ (often working in teams, with collaboration so close that rank doesn't matter very much) who are most likely _sergeants_ or _lieutenants_. Some cities use inspectors and deputy inspectors -- might be a good idea to check the table of organization.  Detectives will most certainly report to a _chief of detectives, _often with the rank of captain, on large forces; in smaller cities, they will report to the _chief of police._  The bigger the city, the more teams (and even specialized, i.e., homicide, robbery, sex crimes) there may be.  Patrolmen (officers) are going to be supervised by (administrative) sergeants, lieutenants and/or captains, and those officers would assign patrolmen to support detectives when necessary -- but usually only in relatively minor roles.  A patrolman will likely be first on the scene of a crime; when detectives arrive, they take over.


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## Lewdog (Jul 21, 2013)

Now do you want this to be detective work?  Or more like CSI (Crime Scene Investigation)?  It really can vary all across the U.S.  I've mentioned her many times on the forum, but Patricia Cornwell writes some great crime solving books with her main character Kay Scarpetta who is a Chief Medical Examiner for the Commonwealth of Virginia.  If you have ever watched the television show "The Mentalist" you'll see that some states have a state crime unit, like the CBI (California Bureau of Investigation).  Is this the first crime or is it part of a long list of crimes?  If it is part of a major crime spree, the FBI might get involved.  So I guess we would need to know more back story in order to give you a proper title or group of people.  I've lived in the U.S. all my life, and really Inspector isn't used all that much when referring to police force personnel.


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## Sandy (Jul 21, 2013)

Lewdog, I agree its rare, but isn't San Francisco a city that uses inspectors? (I'm thinking Dirty Harry).


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## Lewdog (Jul 21, 2013)

Sandy said:


> Lewdog, I agree its rare, but isn't San Francisco a city that uses inspectors? (I'm thinking Dirty Harry).



Yeah, but it really is a rare title.  So I guess OurJud would need to do some background research based on the scene of his story as well, since the different titles and terms are not universal.


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## OurJud (Jul 21, 2013)

Thanks, people.

Lewdog, as I say in my OP, my department is fictional (this is sci-fi and set quite a way into the future), but CSI sounds much more like the line of work than straight up detective. They're a special unit dealing solely with homicides wherein there's a strong possibility the Time Reversal equipment can be used. If it turns out the murder can't be reversed, they just hand it over to the regular homicide division, and it's treated just as any murder would be in the present day. In the scene I've just written, the murder I describe is the first in a chain by a serial killer.

The more I think about it, the more I feel I _do_ need to move away from normal police ranking/procedure. Out of interest, what are the people who work in this CSI show called? I've had a name for my department from the very start; HRD (Homicide Reversal Department), but I'm struggling with titles for the individual ranks within it.


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## Lewdog (Jul 21, 2013)

If you check out the wikipedia page it tells you what they are called and their responsibilities.

List of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation characters - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Just out of curiosity, have you ever seen the Tom Cruise movie, _The Minority Report_?  It's oddly familiar to what you are talking about, but they have a group of women that can see the future, and they use them as part of a special group of agents to stop future crimes from happening.  Then there is the movie _Time Cop_, starring Jean-Claude Van Dam where the government uses time travel to go back and stop rogue time travelers from committing crimes and changing the past.  Your story sounds like a mix of these two.  If you haven't seen them, it might make good research to watch and see how they handle certain things in order to avoid to many similarities.


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## OurJud (Jul 21, 2013)

Yes, I've seen _Minority Report_. Really loved it, despite it being nothing like the Philip K Dick short story it's based on.

The similarities to it and mine are there, but it really isn't intentional. What I have now started off as a very simple concept; a futuristic 'toy' for the general public that could reverse time using 'airtime' like the old pay-as-you go mobile/cell phones used to have. But I couldn't get a story from it until I hit upon the idea of the emergency services using the technology to 'undo' murders and other preventable deaths. The whole thing just naturally developed from that and the similarities were unavoidable.

I must admit, one of my fears is that the finished story will just get slated as a _Minority Report_ rip-off.


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## Omi (Jul 22, 2013)

From what I found though the rank of Inspector varies a lot between states, agencies and departments. Since you're putting this far in the future and your department is fictional, I think you could just call your character a Field Inspector and move on with the story without raising any eyebrows.

Instead of just looking at the US Police Forces, why not take some inspiration from other sources like the FBI https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Bureau_of_Investigation#Rank_Structure, private military contractors (ranks differ widely between PMCs but are usually very different from military or police ranks) or even the positions in a large corporation or business (come on... we all know that everything in the future will be owned by corporations.  )

You could also make up your own ranks like Rewinder or something but I see that as unnecessary when words like Inspector, Special Agent or Detective work just as well to communicate the same thing. 

No matter what you do, I wish you luck with this. I'm getting more interested every time you talk about this story.

QUICK EDIT: I love that new avatar, Jud.

'NOTHER EDIT: Hey Jud, found this thing that might help. It's a forum that allows writers to ask verified police officers questions. Should be able to get a lot of helpful answers for all kinds of questions over there:  http://www.realpolice.net/forums/writers-questions-218/


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## OurJud (Jul 23, 2013)

Thanks very much, Omi. I do hope it doesn't disappoint... if I ever finish it.

I think you are right that both the ranking isn't as important as I'm thinking, and that any mention should maybe look at ranking systems outside the police force. I want to throw in the odd reminder for my reader that this is set in the distant future, and unusual ranking titles would help do that.

As I say, though, the subject will hardly come into play and my question was only prompted when I decided my character was to have a co-star within the department and I just got to thinking how that would work within an organisation.

Glad you like the avo; there's some gorgeous sci-fi imagery out there!


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## Sandy (Jul 23, 2013)

Thanks Omi -- your link is very helpful!


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## Fred (Jul 23, 2013)

Omi said:


> ...found this thing that might help. It's a forum that allows writers to ask verified police officers questions. Should be able to get a lot of helpful answers for all kinds of questions over there:  Writers' Questions


What an excellent find! Thanks for sharing, Omi.


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