Crime & Law Enforcement Issues & Death Penalty/Small town police structure

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Expert: - 4/16/2007


Question
Hi, Hope you can help me. I have some understanding of police hierarchy in standard city forces (mainly from your replies to other postings), but was curious how a small town's force may vary from that of the city. Obviously it would be much smaller but would the general ranks be the same? I'm assuming a small force (say 10 patrol officers) would probably not have detectives etc but in the event of a situation such as a murder, what would happen? Would detectives from a city be on loan?
Thanks


Answer
   There is no way to accuratly answer your question because there are thousands of little police departments in this country, some with a "chief" and nine officers, some with a chief, a sergeant, eight officers, etc, etc.  There are no national standards about structuring a police department and I don't believe I have ever seen two small town departments with the same rank structure.  They basically set it up on their own and when a new chief or mayor comes in they change it again.

  You are correct that a ten man department would not have a detective bureau and usually the county or state police (not a city) would handle any major investigations.  It is usually called a memorandum of understanding.

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Jack Toomey

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Please do NOT ask questions about potential jail sentences that you or your friends may receive in court. There is no way for me to know that. I am NOT a probation officer or a parole officer so questions about those subjects will be rejected. I am a police officer with 26 years experience. Can answer questions about crime, police procedure, investigations, criminal law, search and seizure, traffic offenses. Prefer not to answer questions on the death penalty. Please do not ask homework questions. Remember this. The law in every state is different so questions about laws that are specific to your state could be difficult to answer. I also cannot give you legal advice on what to do or not to do in court. I have worked with authors in the past and will be happy to review scenarios or plots with authors to check for believability or accuracy.

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Police officer with 26 years experience. Ten years in patrol and sixteen years in the detective bureau investigating every type of crime including murder, rape, robbery, theft, fraud, missing persons, etc, etc. Also taught at the police academy in areas such as constitutional law, search and seizure, and lineups.

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B.S. in Criminology from the University of Maryland.

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