Police Rank Progression titles...

[GoblynByte]

What follows is a rather superficial list of police ranks (and superficial is fine for my purposes) taken from Wikipedia. What would you suggest for a per rank progression of these titles? Do you think it would be as simple a 1 to 1 progression matched to this list? Or do you think some of these would group into a single level of the Rank advantage?

Thanks in advance!

Note: I'm not really concerned with the accuracy of this list with real-world police agencies. What's presented is more or less adequate.

The United States of America police rank model is generally quasi-military in structure. Although the large and varied number of federal, state, and local police departments and sheriff's office have different ranks, a general model, from highest to lowest rank, would be:

• Sheriff (the highest ranking law enforcement official within a county)
• Chief of Police, Police Commissioner, Superintendent, Constable (highest ranking law enforcement official within a city/municipality)
• Chief of Police, Deputy Commissioner, First Deputy Superintendent, Undersheriff
• Deputy Chief, Assistant Commissioner, Deputy Superintendent, Assistant Sheriff
• Assistant Chief, Assistant Superintendent, Associate Sheriff
• Commander, Deputy Assistant Superintendent, Chief Deputy Sheriff
• Colonel
• Lieutenant Colonel
• Major
• Captain
• Lieutenant
• Sergeant Major
• Master Sergeant, First Sergeant
• Sergeant First Class, Sergeant II
• Sergeant, Sergeant I
• Master Trooper, Master Trooper
• Detective, Investigator, Inspector (this is generally only an actual rank in larger departments, and often include different levels for "career detectives")
• Corporal Grade 1, Senior Trooper
• Police Corporal, Deputy First Class, Trooper First Class, Master Patrol Officer
• Police Officer, Deputy Sheriff, Trooper, Patrol Officer

[Phantasm]

I have the following setup for my games as a rough outline. Because each police department has different ranks, the titles will change. For example, "Inspector" in one department could simply be another name for Detective, while in others they're a Homicide division chief.

I should also note that in many departments "Officer" and "Detective" are the same pay grade, but Detective has more authority.

Rank	Typical Titles		Notes
7	Commissioner		Head of the Department for larger cities and state police forces
6	Chief			Head of the Department for smaller cities
				Day-to-day manager for larger cities and state police forces
5	Commander		Section, Division, or Bureau Commander for larger cities and state forces
				Head of the Department for larger municipalities
4	Captain or Inspector	Precinct or Unit Commander; head of the department for smaller municipalities
3	Lieutenant		Duty or Shift Lead Officer for precincts and smaller municipalities
2	Sergeant		Squad Leader
1	Detective		Investigator, CSI team lead
0	Officer			Beat Cop, CSI technician

Fill in other rank titles as you see fit. I don't see a county sheriff exceeding Rank 4, though, probably maxxing out at Rank 3.

[GoblynByte]

Originally Posted by tbrock1031

I have the following setup for my games as a rough outline. Because each police department has different ranks, the titles will change. For example, "Inspector" in one department could simply be another name for Detective, while in others they're a Homicide division chief.

I should also note that in many departments "Officer" and "Detective" are the same pay grade, but Detective has more authority.


Fill in other rank titles as you see fit. I don't see a county sheriff exceeding Rank 4, though, probably maxxing out at Rank 3.

That is very helpful!! Very concise and functional. Thank you!

[GoblynByte]

Here's what I'm thinking for a Space Patrol organization.

Rank	Typical Titles		Notes
8       High Commissioner       Head of ISF
7	Commissioner		Regional Commander
6	Chief			Sector Commander
5	Commander		System Commander
4	Captain 	        Mobile Squad Commander
3	Lieutenant		Duty or Shift Lead Officer for ISF Mobile Squad.
2	Sergeant		Squad Leader
1	Patrolman		Crew member of ISF Mobile Squad
0	Officer                 Station/ground based security

[Infornific]

Originally Posted by GoblynByte

Here's what I'm thinking for a Space Patrol organization.

Rank	Typical Titles		Notes
8       High Commissioner       Head of ISF
7	Commissioner		Regional Commander
6	Chief			Sector Commander
5	Commander		System Commander
4	Captain 	        Mobile Squad Commander
3	Lieutenant		Duty or Shift Lead Officer for ISF Mobile Squad.
2	Sergeant		Squad Leader
1	Patrolman		Crew member of ISF Mobile Squad
0	Officer                 Station/ground based security

Depending on the scale you might want to go for more levels. I understand the semi-formal rule of thumb is:

Rank 1: Commands 1-5 people
Rank 2: Commands 6-20
Rank 3: Commands 21-100

with *100 subordinates for every +3 rank. So the NYPD chief would have about Rank 8, while the sheriff in small county with a couple dozen deputies would be Rank 3. If a Mobile Squad Commander is Rank 4 that suggests a Mobile Squad consists of more than a hundred but less than 500 officers. Of course Patrol officers could have a level or two of Rank relative to planetary law enforcement, kind of the way federal agents typically get Rank 2.

GURPS Cops has a list of police officer ranks. It's 3e but might be of interest if you want to play up the law enforcement end of things.

[nondescript handle]

Originally Posted by Infornific

Depending on the scale you might want to go for more levels. I understand the semi-formal rule of thumb is:

Rank 1: Commands 1-5 people
Rank 2: Commands 6-20
Rank 3: Commands 21-100

with *100 subordinates for every +3 rank. [...]

This 'semi-formal rule of thumb' doesn't seem significantly easier to me than the official (Space page 189) GURPS rule of

Each level of Military Rank means that the character has about four to five times as many subordinates under his direct command.
[...]
So someone with Rank 0 has no subordinates, Rank 1 has four to five people, Rank 2 commands 16-25 men, Rank 3 has 64-125 troops, and so on.

why not just use them?