User:Josh477

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Most of the police forces of the United Kingdom use a standard set of ranks, with a slight variation in the most senior ranks for the Metropolitan Police in London. Badges of rank are usually worn on the epaulettes, although sergeants wear their stripes on their upper sleeves in formal uniform.

United Kingdom police ranks (up to Chief Superintendent)
Rank	Police Constable	Sergeant	Inspector	Chief Inspector	Superintendent	Chief Superintendent
Insignia

United Kingdom police ranks (chief officers)
County police force rank	Assistant Chief Constable	Deputy Chief Constable	Chief Constable
City of London Police rank	Commander	Assistant Commissioner			Commissioner
Metropolitan Police rank	Commander	Deputy Assistant Commissioner	Assistant Commissioner	Deputy Commissioner	Commissioner
Insignia

All territorial forces in the United Kingdom use all of these ranks, except the City of London Police which has fewer senior ranks. The British Transport Police and Ministry of Defence Police also use the same system. Smaller specialist forces and forces outside the United Kingdom (including the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar) use the same general system, but often have fewer ranks.

In Britain Chief Constable is the title of the head of all British territorial police forces except the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police, which are headed by Commissioners. Ranks above Chief Superintendent are usually non-operational management roles, and are often referred to as "Chief Officer" ranks.

Epaulettes are normally black with white or silver insignia as shown above, although for High Visibility Uniform, they are often yellow with black insignia.

[edit] Examples of Variations

[edit] City of London Police

The City of London Police has fewer ranks above Chief Superintendent:

The City of London Police Commissioner has the unique status of not holding the office of constable, but is fact classed as a Justice of the Peace. This was the same for the Metropolitan Police Service until recent years with Sir Paul Condon being the last Commissioner to have this status, along with his deputies. The Commissioner has the power to attest his own officers as constables without putting them before a local Magistrate to do so, as happened in the Metropolitan Police.

[edit] Royal Ulster Constabulary

The Royal Ulster Constabulary was headed by an Inspector-General until 1969, when it fully adopted the rank system used elsewhere in the United Kingdom. The RUC has now been replaced by the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which uses the same ranks, but has a different version of the rank insignia without the crown.

[edit] Isle of Man Constabulary

The Isle of Man Constabulary has fewer ranks above Superintendent:

Deputy Chief Constable (DCC)
Chief Constable

[edit] Powers

In law, every member of a police force is a constable whatever their actual rank. The basic police powers of arrest and search of an ordinary Constable are identical to those of a Superintendent or Chief Constable; however certain higher ranks are given administrative powers to authorise certain police actions. These include the powers

to authorise the continued detention of up to 24 hours of a person arrested for an offence and brought to a police station (granted to Sergeants),
to authorise section 18 (1) PACE house searches (granted to Inspectors), or
to extend the length of prisoner detention to 36 hours (granted to Superintendents).

In relation to police officers of the Home Office or territorial police forces of England and Wales, Section 30 of the Police Act 1996 states that "a member of a police force shall have all the powers and privileges of a constable throughout England and Wales and the adjacent United Kingdom waters". Police officers do not need to be on duty to exercise their powers and can act off duty if circumstances require it (technically placing themselves back on duty). Officers from other police forces of Scotland, Northern Ireland, those non-territorial special police forces have different jurisdictions. See List of police forces in the United Kingdom for a fuller description of jurisdictions.

[edit] Detectives

Officers holding ranks up to and including Chief Superintendent who are members of the Criminal Investigation Department or Special Branch (and certain other units) have the prefix "Detective" before their rank. Due to the nature of their duties these officers generally wear plain clothes and so do not wear the corresponding rank insignia. However, they still operate within the same structure as other officers. It is a misconception often portrayed by the media that detective ranks are superior to those of uniformed officers. In the United Kingdom this is not the case, and a Detective Sergeant has the same powers and authority as a uniformed Sergeant. Indeed, in terms of law, a uniformed Sergeant actually has far more police powers available due to custody and traffic legislation requiring the officer to be in uniform. The "Detective" prefix merely designates that the officer has received extra training and has certain skills in terms of investigation.

[edit] Special Constables

A Special Constable is a volunteer police officer, with the same powers as a regular officer. The main role of a "special" is to work with the local constabulary to provide an additional and heightened police presence on the streets and in the local community. They may also be requested to police particular events such as football matches and community events.

In the special constabulary, there are various grades which assist in the tasking and management of the constabulary. The persons holding these grades have no additional power within law and are "outranked" by any regular officer. Most forces use a rank system of bars, shown below in descending order from left to right. Special constabulary epaulettes frequently bear the letters "SC", a crown, or both to differentiate them from regular officers, however with some forces, such as the Avon and Somerset Constabulary, only the collar number designates a special.

[edit] Metropolitan Special Constabulary

The Metropolitan Special Constabulary uses the following grades (in increasing order of seniority):

Special Constable (SC logo, borough code and shoulder number)
Special Sergeant (SC logo, borough code, shoulder number and one bar)
Special Inspector (SC logo, two bars)
Assistant Chief Officer (SC logo, three bars)
Chief Officer (SC logo, four bars)

[edit] Thames Valley Special Constabulary

The Thames Valley Special Constabulary uses the following grades (in increasing order of seniority): [1]:

Special Constable (SC logo and shoulder number)
Special Sergeant (SC logo, one bar and shoulder number)
Special Inspector (SC logo, two bars)
Special Chief Inspector (SC logo, three bars)
Assistant Chief Officer (laurel wreath with two bars inside)
Chief Officer (laurel wreath with four bars inside)

[edit] Warwickshire Police Special Constabulary

The Warwickshire Police Special Constabulary uses the following grades (in increasing order of seniority; the SC logo incorporates a crown):

Special Constable (SC logo and collar number)
Section Officer (SC logo, one bar and collar number)
Area Officer (SC logo, two bars)
Senior Area Officer (SC logo, three bars)
Deputy Chief Officer (SC logo, laurel wreath with two bars inside; three bars until 2006)
Chief Officer (SC logo, laurel wreath with four bars inside; four bars until 2006)

[edit] Community Support Officers

Police Community Support Officers do not have a rank system: their epaulettes simply bear the words POLICE COMMUNITY SUPPORT OFFICER and their shoulder number, or in the Metropolitan Police, a borough code and shoulder number.

[edit] Shoulder numbers

Sergeants, Constables, Special Constables and PCSOs all carry "shoulder numbers" on their epaulettes. These are still called "collar numbers" in some forces, since that is where they used to be worn, although all forces now actually wear them on the epaulettes.

In most forces these are simple numbers, with 1 to 4 digits. The Metropolitan Police, being a much bigger force, uses a different system:

Sergeant - Borough Code and 2 digits
Constable - Borough Code and 3 digits
Special Constable - Borough Code and 4 digits, the first digit being a 5
PCSO - Borough Code and 4 digits, the first digit being a 7

The Borough Code is the two letter shown as AB in the diagrams above. Before the reorganisation into boroughs, each division had a different code.

[edit] Traffic Wardens

Traffic Wardens are administered by the police and exercise some police powers to control traffic or issue Fixed Penalty Notices for traffic offences; their epaulettes bear their shoulder number and the words TRAFFIC WARDEN. They are not to be confused with local authority "Parking Attendants" whose powers are generally limited to issuing Fixed Penalty Notices for breaches of parking laws on highways or in local authority car parks and compelling the production of a Disabled parking permit (Blue Badge) for inspection.

[edit] External links

This page is about emergency vehicle markings. For the cake, see Battenberg cake.

'Battenburg' markings, in the original colours, designed by the UK's Police Scientific Development Board in order to maximise the conspicuity of police vehicles in both daylight and nighttime use

Scottish Ambulance Service paramedic vehicle with full Battenburg colour scheme and rear hazard warning panel

Battenburg refers to a pattern of high-visibility markings used to maximise conspicuity, originally on vehicles, but since used in a variety of other applications such as uniforms. It is primarily used by the emergency services, having been first developed for the United Kingdom police forces to use on traffic patrol cars, although other private organisations and civil emergency services have since started to use the pattern on their vehicles.

[edit] History

Battenburg markings were originally developed by the Police Scientific Development Board (PDSB) at the request of the national motorway policing sub-committee of the Association of Chief Police Officers. The brief was to create a livery for motorway and trunk road police vehicles which would maximise the visibility of the vehicles when stopped on scene, both in daylight, and under headlights from a minimum distance of 500m, and which would distinctively mark it as a police car.^[1]

The key research objectives included:

"Enhance officer and public safety by reducing the likelihood of road accidents where conspicuity of the police vehicle is a factor"
"Be recognisable as a police vehicle up to a distance of 500 metres in normal daylight"
"Assist in high visibility policing so as to reassure the public and enhance the potential deterrent benefits of proactive traffic patrol activity"

The research showed the human eye is most sensitive to blue/green shades at night and yellow/green in daylight. The battenburg design typically comprises 2 or more rows of alternating retroreflective squares or blocks, usually starting with yellow at the top, then the alternating colour, along the sides of a vehicle. The battenburg livery is not used on the rear of vehicles, with the majority of users using upward facing chevrons in yellow and red to the rear, in line with the markings used by other road users. Whilst most cars use only two rows in the design, larger vehicles can be marked with more rows.^[2]^[3]

Following their launch, the similarity to the pattern of battenburg cake was noticed, and the name was soon regularly applied to the high conspicuity design.

[edit] Sillitoe Tartan

Image:AandSCustodian.JPG

A police officer in a uniform with blue-and-white Sillitoe Tartan

Patrol car of the New South Wales Police (Australia) showing blue-and-white Sillitoe Tartan markings

During the development of battenburg markings, one of the key functions was to clearly identify a vehicle as being linked to the police. In addition to the advantages in effectiveness tests, the pattern was also reminiscent of the Sillitoe Tartan pattern of black-and-white or blue-and-white chequered markings, first introduced by City of Glasgow Police in the 1930s, and subsequently adopted as a symbol of police services as far away as Chicago and Australia.

Subsequent to the launch of the markings of the vehicles, the police introduced retro-reflective versions of the Sillitoe tartan markings to their uniforms, usually in blue and white, rather than blue and yellow used on vehicles.

[edit] Usage

In the United Kingdom, the majority of the emergency services have adopted the battenburg style of markings, with nearly half of all police forces adopting the markings within three years of its introduction, and over three quarters using it by 2003.^[1]

In 2004, following the widespread adoption and recognition of the battenburg markings on police vehicles, the Home Office subsequently recommended that all police vehicles, not just those on traffic duty, be marked up with a 'half-battenburg' livery which formalised a position which had already been undertaken by a number of forces.

In the United Kingdom, the emergency services have chosen or been given certain colours which identify them, with the police continuing to use the blue, whereas ambulances tend to use green and the fire service use red.

The use of these colours in retro-reflective material is controlled by the Road Vehicle Lighting Regulations 1989, with civilian vehicles only legally able to use yellow retro-reflective material.^[4] However, a number of civilian organisations have adopted the pattern, which is not legally protected, and a number of these also use other retro-reflective colours.

An alternative to the use of retro-reflective materials is the use of fluorescent markings, or other non-reflective markings, which at least in the United Kingdom can be used by any vehicle, regardless of ownership or purpose.

Common battenburg markings used in the United Kingdom
	Police
	Ambulance and doctors
	Fire and Rescue
	National Blood Service
	Highways Agency
	Rail response
	Mountain rescue