Police ranks of the United Kingdom
[4][5] Most of the police forces of the United Kingdom (including those of the British Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies) use a standardised set of ranks.
However, as law enforcement in the United Kingdom is organised separately in the three jurisdictions of England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland, and as most law enforcement is carried out by police officers serving in regional police services known as territorial police forces, some variations in rank organisation, insignia and responsibilities may occur within the United Kingdom.
See List of law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom, Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories for a fuller description of jurisdictions.
The "detective" prefix designates that the officer has received suitable training and passed related examinations to conduct serious or complex criminal investigations.
The ranks are management grades; those holding them are not "sergeants" or "inspectors" for the purposes of the law (for example, authorisations to order the removal of disguises or to set up roadblocks).
However, since 2000, the National Policing Improvement Agency has encouraged special constabularies to return to rank structures and epaulette insignia identical to their regular counterparts.
Temporary ranks are often used for set periods (e.g. a six-month appointment to a particular role), whereas acting ranks, although sometimes held for extended periods, are often used for a very short time (e.g. a single shift when additional supervisory officers are required, or to replace an officer on short-term leave).
Chief constables, the Commissioner of the City of London Police, and all commissioner ranks of the Metropolitan Police wear oakleaves on both the outer and inner edges of their peaks (or a double row beneath the capbadge for female officers).
Additionally, officers at or above the rank of commander or assistant chief constable wear gorget patches on the collars of their tunics.
[15] Other specialist forces, and those outside of the United Kingdom (including British Overseas Territories such as Bermuda and Gibraltar, which are parts of the British sovereign territory in most of which internal competencies of governance are mostly delegated to local governments, and the Crown Dependencies of the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, which are not parts of the British sovereign territory) use the same general system, but often have fewer senior ranks.
As a variation to the standard set, the deputy chief constable of the British Transport Police wears two rows of oak leaves on their hat.
[19] The Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI) adopted the same rank system as elsewhere in the United Kingdom on 1 June 1970, but has a different version of the rank insignia, with the star from the PSNI badge replacing the crown.
The PSNI has retained the RUC's distinctive inverted (point-up) sergeants' chevrons, worn on the lower sleeve in formal uniform.
For example, rank insignia and collar numbers on epaulettes are gold, as are the bands and oak leaves on the caps of senior officers,[24] and officers of or above the rank of commander wear gold-on-black gorget patches on the collars of their tunics.
Acting inspectors were denoted by a crown in the place of their divisional letters, whilst keeping their collar number and chevrons.
The epaulettes for the constables and sergeants also have an addition of the Isle of Man Constabulary logo and motto above their collar numbers.
Special constabulary epaulettes frequently bear the letters SC (with or without a crown above) to differentiate them from regular officers.
[31] Senior special constables wear the same markings on their hats as equivalent regular ranks.
These are not operated, regulated or funded by the Home Office, although they are fully authorised (by Act of Parliament) establishments.
It is a requirement under the College of Policing Public Order Manual that all officers, regardless of rank, display an identifying number on their epaulettes.
Therefore, ranks such as inspector have collar/warrant numbers displayed on their public order colour-coded epaulettes that they might not have as part of their normal uniform.
The following table serves as an example of ranks within volunteer police cadet schemes, which vary considerably.
