The California Police department is the nodal department entrusted with mission of maintaining law in the state of California. It is a government empowered organization working under the aegis of the office of Attorney general of California.
California State Police is supervised by the chief of police who is responsible for the overall management and operations of the department and answerable to the state appointed management board. Like every organization the California State Police has a well-defined hierarchy and structure to effectively manage, supervise and direct the operations of it officials to maximize the interest of the state and society at large.
The office of chief of police consists of various departments such as Criminal investigation Department, Risk Investigation, recruitment and training etc. Each of this functional bureau is headed by a deputy chief level officer. All functional bureaus have their specifically assigned tasks and duties and have trained personnel to accomplish these tasks. The California police hierarchy functions in the following format of officers, written from top to bottom:
- Chief of Police
- Deputy Chief Level Officers
- Commander
- Lieutenants
- Sergeants
- Detectives
- Patrol units
- Traffic enforcement
The California Police hierarchy can be viewed as pyramid with the Chief of Police at the top. He has the chief of staff, administrative staff and a public information officer directly reporting into him and assisting him to discharge the administrative and public relations related functions.
Further to make functioning of the state police smooth all the duties are divided into function each being headed by a deputy chief level appointee. These deputy chiefs are responsible for the effective discharge of their respective disciplines in all the geographic areas of the state. Further down the line each geographic area is headed by a commander.
The commander is entrusted with the task of maintaining law and order in his/her respective geographic division. He has at his disposal a completely trained and experienced team of Lieutenants, sergeants, detectives, patrol units, traffic enforcement units and special investigations teams to assist in effectively discharging his assigned duties.
A lieutenant is personnel akin to a district manager and is responsible a specific utility such a patrolling unit, team of detectives, a traffic enforcement team and is accountable for the efficient functioning of that utility group. Detectives and sergeants are police officials generally reporting into the commander and responsible for managing the law in their respective domains.
Detectives are generally responsible for specialized investigations, follow-up investigations, forensics investigations etc. Sergeants are responsible for general policing work and may also take up administrative responsibilities such as audits, public relations etc. The next in line of command are the police officers who are basically inducted directly into the department after completion of their training with the police academy.
All in all the California police hierarchy is designed in such a manner that the department works like a well-oiled machinery aiming to maximize the benefit to the society. The roles and responsibilities of each functional designation are properly assigned and appraised effectively to make sure that only well-deserved ones move upwards in the hierarchy.
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