Police Hierarchy Essay

Police hierarchy has been around since the late 1800s. Almost all law enforcement agencies follow the same organizational structure. Departments can have different variations of titles but essentially have the same functions and responsibilities. Rank is structured in a top down type of hierarchy. “This means that problems that cannot be solved at one level continue to rise through each hierarchical level until a resolution is reached” (Johnson, 1994). At the top we have chief, then assistant chief, major, captain, lieutenant, sergeant, and officer. Much like a military structure, police structure is organized in a similar manner, with communications moving vertically within the organization.
Command level personnel consists of chief, assistant chief, and major. These three often share a lot of the same responsibilities which include developing goals, objectives, policies and procedures, works on the budget for the department, and often is the spokespersons of the police department. Captains and lieutenants are considered middle-level management. Their duties can include carrying out disciplinary actions, and are involved in administrative issues such as budgets. They also oversee all police operations during a given time. Sergeants are considered low-level management and are direct
“More often than not, decisions that impact the work of ranked police officers, as well as the community are made by administrators without the input of lower ranked officers” (Law Teacher, n.d.). Therefor problems are created because decisions are made by administrators who are not actively involved with the problems firsthand, but rather their decisions are based on statics. This explains why smaller departments are more likely to be successful than larger department’s because they are able to achieve a much more intimate