San Francisco Police Hierarchy

San Francisco Police Department is the city police department of San Francisco, California. Do not confuse this with San Francisco Sheriff’s Department, as both of these are law enforcement agencies for the city. San Francisco is the second most densely populated city in North America and hence, this police force is indeed efficient. It is the 11th largest Police department in the United States and below given is the hierarchy according to which this police force works.

San Francisco Police Hierarchy

  • Chief

The Chief is the top most authority in the Police Hierarchy of San Francisco. He is appointed by the mayor or selected by the city commission. The jobs of a Chief includes Managing the promotion and rank placing of the junior officers, keeping the track of the patrolling and investigation activities, developing and executing different safety and security based policies as per the situation and reporting the updates of regular operations to the Mayor whenever asked for.

  • Assistant Chief

The Assistant Chief is also known as Assistant Sheriff. He is directly below the Chief or the commissioner. He assists the Chief in heading the regional command bureaus. He takes the reports of statistics and work happening in different areas of the city. He is a major coordinator between the Chief and the junior police force.

  • Deputy Chief

The Deputy Chief is a junior to the Assistant Chief. He has a diverse range of responsibilities which include taking decisions during emergencies, analyzing daily crime reports, monitoring safety in different areas of the city and deciding over patrolling in the areas.

  • Commander

The job roles of the Commander vary according to different cities of America Police system. In San Francisco, this post is that of a detective, who looks into complicated cases in detail and helps the Inspector work on cases which have not been solved since a very long time.

  • Captain

The Captain supervises the police stations and in addition to this, he also does the job of supervising and controlling the detective divisions and patrolling activities which take place in the city.

  • Lieutenant

A Lieutenant supervises the activities of inspectors working on different cases of crime. They can supervise and command the functioning of an entire section or department of a police station rightfully. The Inspector has to follow the commands of the Lieutenant.

  • Inspector

Inspectors are also sometimes known as detectives. They usually work in Plain clothes and hold more authority to investigate on cases in detail. Inspectors are the main in charge for investing a particular case.

  • Officer

The officer is the lowest rank in the San Francisco Police Hierarchy system. They are in charge of detection of crime and maintaining the public and social order.