Police Rank Progression titles...

[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.