Police commissioner

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Commissioner is a senior rank used in many police forces. In some organisations it may be rendered Police Commissioner or Commissioner of Police.

In police services in the Commonwealth and the USA, the title of commissioner typically designates the head of an entire police force. In some countries, such as in many Latin American countries and in France, the title of commissioner is more junior and instead refers to the head of a single police station (similar to Chief Superintendants in the Commonwealth).

[edit] Specific organisations

In some organizations, the commissioner is a political appointee, and may or may not actually be a professional police officer. In these circumstances, there is often a professional chief of police in charge of day-to-day operations. Usually, however, the commissioner is the professional head of the organization.^{[citation needed]}

In the UK, commissioner is the rank of the chief of the City of London Police and the chief of the Metropolitan Police. The latter is the more senior.

In Canada, the highest ranking officer of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and of the Ontario Provincial Police holds the rank of Commissioner.

In some U.S. states, the sheriff fills the same function as a police commissioner. For example in Las Vegas, Nevada the elected county sheriff heads a combined county-municipal Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. The agency was created via a merger of the Sheriff's Office and the former municipal Police Department.

In the police of France and other French-speaking countries, commissioner (commissaire) is a lower rank equating approximately to the British police rank of Superintendent. Above it is the rank of Principal Comissionner, and above that rank of Divisional Commissioner.

In the Romanian Police, similarly to the French Police, the rank of commissioner (comisar) is equivalent to the British police rank of Superintendent (see also Romanian Police Ranks).

In the Italian Police, a commissioner (commissario) is the superintendent of a commissariato, a Police station/detachment that can either serve an entire township of small or middle dimensions, or a limited area in a metropolitan city.

[edit] Popular Culture

• A fictional police commissioner is Commissioner James Gordon, ally of the Batman.
• Pierre Niémans, played by Jean Reno, in the movie Crimson Rivers (Les Rivières Pourpres) is a Police Commissioner (Commissaire). However, in the novel, he is a Superintendent.
• Stewart McMillan (Rock Hudson) was the police commissioner for the City of San Francisco in the NBC television network’s crime drama, McMillan and Wife.
• Abe Carver, television's longest running African-American character, is the Police Commissioner of the town of Salem in Days of our Lives

[edit] See also

• Sheriff
• Chief Constable (UK)
• Chief of police (United States & Canada)
• Commissioner of Police of the Metropolis (Greater London)
• Commissioner of Police for the City of London
• Commissioner of Police (Hong Kong)
• Commissioner of Police (Mumbai)
• Commissioner of Police (New Delhi)
• Commissioner of Police (New Zealand)
• Commissioner of Police (Singapore)
• Police Commissioner (New York City)