Head Constable

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Head Constable was a rank used in some British and British colonial police forces, and is still used in the Indian police. It had three different meanings.

• In the Indian police, Head Constable is the equivalent of Sergeant in police forces in other countries. Head Constables wear three point-down chevrons as their rank insignia.

• In the Royal Irish Constabulary, Royal Ulster Constabulary (until its reorganisation in the 1960s), and some colonial forces such as the Palestine Police, Head Constable was a rank between the Sergeant and Inspector grades, roughly equivalent to a Warrant Officer in the Army. In colonial forces, it was usually a rank held by Europeans only. Some colonial forces also had a higher rank of Head Constable Major.

• In the Liverpool City Police and a few very small borough police forces in the United Kingdom, the Head Constable was the chief officer, equivalent to the Chief Constable in other forces. The Head Constable of Liverpool was renamed the Chief Constable in the early 1920s.