Expert: Dick Rogers - 11/27/2009

Question
What is the purpose of the rank of corporal?

Answer
Kizzy, you ask a good question. Usually the corporal rank assists the sergeant in supervisory duties and the promotion basically gets the person used to the idea of assuming a more professional attitude to his/her duties.  Historically. there have been problems when an officer is promoted and has to become more focussed than when he/she was doing the grunt work. The natural tendency is to be lenient or not so hard when a former constituent fouls up.  That was the problem in my department and LAPD during the seventies when there was a significant number of new officers and people were promoted before they had basic experience... supervision suffered and it just wasn't done in a good manner. So, I guess one could say the corporal rank is a bit of on-the-job training for future sergeants. Hope this helps.