Expert: Loren Stevens - 8/9/2006

Question
What is the police hierarchy? What is the lowest level and what is the highest level of apolice officer

Answer
Hello Brent,
Your question is a good one. And, not as easy as some would think.
The correct response, is: IT DEPENDS."
On a typical small to mid sized agency, it would go from patrol officer, Sgt. Lt. Capt. and Chief.
Bigger agencies also might have a Cpl. rank just below a Sgt. And, some levels in the appointed ranks above the highest civil service level, which is usually a Capt.
Appointed ranks above Capt. can include: Commander, then Deputy Chief, the Assistant Chief, then Chief.
The Detective positions are usually the same as patrol officers, with the first level as a Detective, or Investigator.
In a Sheriff's Department, they are about the same, except they start with Deputy, rather than patrol officer. Then in the upper ranks, they use Chief Deputy, rather than Deputy Chief, as Division Commanders.
Above that, they'll typically use Assistant Sheriff, then the #2 person, is the Undersheriff.
Many state and federal agencies use entry level terms like Agent, or Special Agent, Inspector etc.
A department like Tokyo PD, or NYPD, are so huge, they factor in different levels of Sgt, etc. When an agency gets upward of 25,000 officers, the dynamics change to larger scale.
Feds also use field offices, so they'll have an SAC (Agent in charge) and an ASAC (Assistant Agent in charge)
Or a lone agent in a small community would be referred to as the Resident Agent.
Hope this was helpful to you.
Good Luck, and Regards,
loren