e.g. Inspector Cramer of Homicide.
As been mentioned here it all depends on the agency.
I retired from a Sheriffs office and the structure there was even more different because it included non-sworn supervisors. Non-sworn meaning they were not peace officers with arrest powers.
Correction Officer (Jail/House of Corrections. Non-Sworn)
Deputy sheriff (sworn)
Deputy Sheriff Sergeant (sworn)
Correction Lieutenant (Non-sworn)
Deputy Sheriff Lieutenant (sworn)
Deputy Sheriff Captain (Sworn)
Corrections Captain (Non-sworn)
Major (Sworn)
Deputy Inspector (Sworn)
Inspector (Sworn)
Sheriff (Sworn/elected)
Detective, though a gold badge, was about the same rank as a sworn Deputy Sheriff, unless there was another attached rank like Detective Sergeant, Detective Lieutenant, etc…
If a Detective were working on an investigation, even though a patrol Deputy Sheriff Sergeant or above would outrank them it would not be within policy to start ordering the detective around unless there were extenuating circumstances. Also, if a high ranking patrol Deputy were at a homicide scene and a Detective from the homicide unit would show up, it was the Detectives gig even though he were outranked.
Some of you might be wondering what happened when a non-sworn Corrections Lieutenant tried to boss around a sworn Deputy Sheriff Sergeant. Even though they technically outranked them it usually got met with a hearty invitation to kiss their ass. Non-sworn personnel typically were looked down upon by those of us who were sworn, including the non-sworn supervisors. For example, a sworn Sergeant would not take a position as a non-sworn Lieutenant or non-sworn Captain just to increase rank.
There were both sworn and non-sworn staff in the jail and the county HOC and sometimes these conflicts would come up.
It varies by department by the rankings generally go as follows
Chief
Captain
Lieutenant
Sergeant
Patrolman
Probationary/recruit
Missed the edit window.
Inspectors and Deputy Inspectors were assigned to operations of all units, not doing investigations like they do in the movies. Even the inspector that was in charge of the Bureau never actively performed any field work. Inspectors were in charge when the Sheriff was not around and their word was law. I had much, MUCH more contact and communications and received more orders from Inspectors and Deputy Inspectors than I ever did with any of the Sheriffs I worked under.
In my town:
Constable
First Constable
Senior Constable
Leading Senior Constable
Sergeant
Senior Sergeant
Inspector
Chief Inspector
Superintendent
Commander
Assistant Commissioner
Deputy Commissioner
No doubt there is some overlap, but in my experience if you are arrested, it’s by a Senior Sergeant or below. If you see a name in the press or hear someone on radio, it’s an Inspector or above. Detective is a job: it gets you off traffic duties, and give you a different kind of shift work.
For the NYPD, which is always popular in fiction:
Police Officer
Detective (grades 3, 2, 1)
Sergeant
Lieutenant
Captain
Deputy Inspector
Inspector
Deputy Chief
Assistant Chief
Bureau/Supervising Chief
Chief
Sergeants can supervise either uniformed officers or a detective squad; in the latter case they typically wear plain clothes. Lieutenants and higher will always wear uniforms.
The highest detective rank, Detective 1st Grade, actually earn more than new sergeants. That allows the NYPD to give long-serving detectives a rewarding career track if they don’t want to become sergeants. But in terms of command, all detectives and patrol officers report to their respective sergeants, and detectives can not give orders to patrol officers or more junior detectives, unless delegated authority by their sergeant or higher officer.
French Gendarmes and Spanish Guardias Civiles take their titles directly from the military. In fact, officers of the Guardia Civil must be graduates from the same school as every military officer in Spain, although the Civiles are specifically not considered military. The NATO equivalencies given in a chart here reach O-8 (alféreces and tenientes are both listed as O-1).
The Policía Nacional has less ranks and has purposefully moved away from military titles; the Policía Canaria copied their titles, while the other three Regional police bodies have different mixtures of military and Nacional titles.
I’ve just finished the most recent season of Fargo, and they had a bit of fun with this.
Do Americans, including police, find the micro-patterning of police jurisdiction as confusing as it seems? Australian states each have a single state police force, with Federal police restricted to particular fields of federal law, and guarding big-wigs. that means that Western Australia [>Texas + Alaska] is covered by one organisation.
I seem to also remember that Judd Rheingold’s job in Beverly Hills cop was coordinating all these US inter-digitating police forces, and hilarity ensued.
Also, what’s the difference between an FBI agent and Special Agent? Length of service? Management grade? Tech wizardry skills?
on NYPD blue for detective squads Lieutenant and above don’t wear a uniform. pretty sure that’s also true in real life. They wear a uniform for a formal event like a funeral.
Special Agents are FBI agents (are there non-special FBI agents?) I think non-director management types would be Special Agents in Charge (it would be interesting to hear from someone who knows more about this).
every FBI agent is a special agent , even rookies right out of training.
Nitpick: I don’t remember Mr. Reinhold’s police rank, but he was a Judge, not a Judd. 
in the US the vast majority of crimes are state crimes, local sheriffs or cops work those cases. Federal crimes are things like bank robbery ,kidnapping , drug trafficking. A few murders are federal such as killing a federal employee.
Not really. The roles and jurisdictions are usually well defined with little overlap. There generally is only one organization that covers a specific area. It gets confusing in places like Washington D.C. where multiple jurisdiction do overlap. In 20 years the only jurisdictional issues I’ve run into involve figuring out where the initial point of impact is at a car accident on a borderline road. The only time people tend to be confused is when I have to tell them that they have to go through them Sheriff’s office to get an eviction.
there are some obscure US police agencies . For example, federal reserve police which started in 2001 and US mint police started in 1792.
Except when there is.
In the late 90’s or so almost every public safety worker in my area had to take the mind numbing Incident Command System training.
In 2006 there was a major emergency because of an explosion at a local factory.
As I had predicted all that NIMS stuff went completely to shit. There was an unbelievable amount of dick waving and pissing contests regarding jurisdiction and who was in charge and yadda yadda yadda.
I briefly got sent to that clusterfuck even though the unit I worked in at the time was the compliance sector of vice, which would have had nothing to do with anything even remotely relateable to such a situation. I just happen to have been on the clock at the time. After being in the middle of the bickering and infighting I was never so glad as I was when I was told I could disregard the assignment!
Special Agents carry guns*. The FBI does have many unarmed desk jobs, but I dont think many of them are called Agents. The IRS otoh, has many Agents, but only a few Special Agents.
- and are considered LEOs and get 20 year retirement.
From this thread: Does training to become an FBI Special Agent require a lot of physical training?, where I asked the same thing, I later found this Wiki “Special Agent,” which actually is defined in all sorts of LEO hierarchies.
That is not true in real life. There are no detective lieutenants in the NYPD. Captains or lieutenants who supervise detective squads may wear plain clothes on the job, or they may not, depending on the specifics of their command duties.
Traditionally, a business suit has been considered a detective’s uniform.