Police ranks are a system of hierarchical relationships in police organizations.[1] The rank system defines authority and responsibility in a police organization,[2] and affects the culture within the police force.[3] Police ranks, dependent on country, are similar to military ranks[4][5] in function and design due to policing in many countries developing from military organizations and operations,[6] such as in Western Europe,[7][8] former Soviet countries,[9] and English-speaking countries.[10][11] Usually, uniforms denote the bearer's rank by particular insignia affixed to the uniforms.[12][5]
Rank is not only used to designate leadership, but to establish pay-grade as well.[13] As rank increases, pay-grade follows, but so does the amount of responsibility.[14]
^Lioe, Kim Eduard (3 December 2010). Armed Forces in Law Enforcement Operations? - The German and European Perspective (1989 ed.). Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. pp. 52–57. ISBN978-3-642-15433-1.
^Glantz, David (1977). "The internal forces in the years of peaceful socialist construction, 1922-1941". Stumbling Colossus: The Red Army on the Eve of World War. Moscow: Iuridicheskaia Literatura. pp. 507–508.
^Myers, Richard W. (2007). "From pyramids to network: Police structure and leadership in 2020". In Schafer, Joseph Andrew (ed.). Policing 2020: Exploring the Future of Crime, Communities, and Policing. Police Futurists International. p. 488.