Structure of a Police organisation

If I may, I’d like to tell you how I believe the Police should be structured. This is in no way is a negative statement against Sir Robert Peel, as what he did was the best possible solution for the times. Peel created the modern Police Force concept when establishing London’s Metropolitan Police Force, and heavily relied on the Military rank structure when creating his Policing concept.

Firstly, a gender comment. I will be using the term “he” in this piece. This is not a reflection of my thoughts about women, but purely due to the fact that writing “he” is easier than “he/she” or “they”. 

Times, attitudes, and job requirements have changed.

The problem stems from trying to make a Police Force an “Organisation”. It’s not like the Military where each unit has a commander and all his subordinates must do what that commander says. Nor should it be treated as a “business” where internal politics, budgets, and meetings are of utmost importance.

Police are people who hold an individual office. A whole suite of powers, and technically they are answerable to no one. I haven’t looked in a while, but I think even Legislation states that Police are solely answerable to the Commissioner of Police.

How can you create an organisation with thousands of individuals? How can you achieve focus and direction of an entity made up of people who can legally follow their own paths? Obviously you need direction and focus to be able to provide the entire community with an effective Police service. That is what is required of each and every Police Officer

The militaristic rank structure that most Police agencies have adopted can create confusion. It is not legislated that a Police Officer has to do what a Sergeant or Inspector orders him to do. That’s usually written in Internal Policy documents.  So we have the situation where a  Police Officer with their own suite of powers is expected to not use their powers, or is not provided with the equipment and training to effectively enforce the laws as they are required? Why? Because the rank structure, internal politics, nepotism, and budgetary thinking has effectively hobbled that individual Officer.

This is my “ideal” structure. I welcome any and all constructive comments.

Firstly, what should this “organisation” be called? Some people think “Force” is a more powerful term than “Service”. I think both terms have their pros and cons. Overseas, the Police are usually in a Police “Department”. That’s an option.

But, why do we need a “term”? What’s wrong with “Police”? Think about it. Victoria Police. NSW Police. Qld Police.

It’s a factual name with no terminology to be argued over. There will always be people who want a name changed from “Force” to “Service” and back again. Get rid of the cause of contention. Streamline the name, just as the entire organisation needs to be streamlined.

Now, on with the streamlining.

Firstly, we need to get rid of the term “General Duties”. It has become a derogatory and misunderstood term.  (Those damn terms again...)

In the US they use the term “Patrol”. That’s a little better, but in this day and age a more appropriate term should be “Response”. That is what frontline Police are expected to do. They respond to calls for assistance. They respond to intelligence and information on crimes. This should not be thought to be a lessening of the importance of pro-active duties though. Even though “Response” is obviously a reactive term, it is still interpretive of pro-active duties.

Why do you conduct Traffic duties? Why do you conduct foot patrols? Why do you patrol the streets with your lights off at 15kp/h at 0300? Because you are responding to previous reports, crimes, or even just gut feelings.  You are responding to the communities’ expectations and desires of what you should be doing.

Response is naturally the frontline and backbone of the State Police.

But how should Response be structured? Think about how you work at the moment. You are in a designated shift / team, and that team has a Sergeant (hopefully) in charge.  Within your team, you have Probationary Constables, Constables, Constables First Class, Senior Constables, Senior Constables First Class, Acting Sergeants, and a Sergeant.  A bit overwhelming and confusing?

You only need 4 levels in a Response Team.  The new guy who is still “learning”. The Officer who has completed his learning phase. An experienced Officer who is responsible for training the “learning” officer, and someone in charge. Let’s try this for size:

Level 1 = “Primary Officer” – The term Probationary is frankly quite derogatory. Look it up in the dictionary to find the official definition. The term Primary however is an apt term. It is the first level of a Police Officer.

Level 2 = “Officer” – The next level. No longer a Primary. But there’s no need for another term. Streamlining, remember? The Officer is eligible to apply for “junior” positions at remote Police Stations, such as a 2 or 3-man station.

Level 3 = “Field Training Officer”. This is the position to be achieved by every officer who wishes to get ahead in the Police. An Officer undergoes on-the-job assessment and also knowledge assessment to reach the position (not rank) of FTO. It is then the responsibility of a FTO to guide his Primary Officer through what he is required to know and achieve to reach the position of “Officer”. The FTO is eligible to apply for positions such as one-man stations, or Station Commander for 2 or 3-man stations. The FTO can also apply for other positions. More on this later.

Level 4 = Response Leader. Not a “Manager”, nor a “Supervisor”. Remember that a Police Officer holds his own Office? That means that they should not be Managed nor Supervised, but led. That is the responsibility of the Response Leader.

Now, some of you will be screaming that the more ranks / levels there are, the more pay rises are available, and that my structure reduces that. No, it does not. The Military needs rank to ascertain what pay is received. The Police are different, remember?

Each and every “position” simply has a pay band. Band 1 through to 5, 7, 10, whatever. The numbers are not important. But what this means is that in a current position, you start at pay band 1, and every year you go up a band. Now, if you have been in one position for 10 years, you have obviously achieved enough experience and knowledge to progress to a higher position. If you’re too lazy to do this, then you don’t get payed any more after 10 years, sorry.

Additionally, some of you may ask why I’m not using the terms “Senior”, “Constable”, “Sergeant” etc.

Remember, the Police is not the Military. The Military needs ranks. The Police does not. How can you be senior to someone who has the exact same powers that you do? A Police organisation is not about rank, but about structure.

That’s also why I’m not using the term “Constable”. Though it is part of the current official title of Police in Australia, “Constable of Police”, it has become synonymous with the rank of “Constable”, and we’re trying to get away from ranks.

Next. Every station, sector, region, district, whatever the term, will have their Response Teams operating. But when you need co-ordination for some incidents involving multiple areas or teams, you will need someone in charge. Someone to control, lead, and to take responsibility.

As different Police jurisdictions have different terms for their areas, I will use this example. Each Police Station is responsible for one “Sector”. Those Sectors are part of a “District”. Multiple “Districts” make up a “Region”. A State / Territory will be divided up by those “Regions”.

Sector – District – Region – State.

So, for your sector, your Response Leader is responsible for Response actions & requirements.

But, once things progress from there, what do you need? Once things get to that advanced level, that is when you are no longer acting as an Officer, but as a member of a Team. Due to that, it is not a case of you being led, but one of your team being commanded. So it’s quite simple.

Each area of responsibility higher than sector requires someone to command it. A “Response Commander”.

District Response Commander – Regional Response Commander – State Response Commander.  In my structure, the District Response Commander would be one held by three of four people, so there is always a District Response Commander on duty according to a rotating roster. Above that, each position is held by one Officer, who is subject to be called on duty when required.

But this brings me to another aspect of the structure of the State Police. Specialisation.

Due to the fact that everyone will start their careers in Response, as it should be, then that means that people wanting to change their specialisation will be transferring away from Response.

But, when does that happen?

Ok, if you want to achieve the position of District Response Commander, or even State Response Commander, you will need to work your way up every single level in Response.

That will be the same requirement for other Police Sections.

Why the term “section”? Because it is “part” of the Police organisation, and the term “part” just doesn’t sound right.

The position of Field Training Officer is one that every Police Officer shall be required to achieve prior to them deciding what section they want to specialise in. Once you decide though, that’s it. You cannot transfer from one section to another unless you start at the bottom of that section.

So, if you want to become a Detective, you achieve the position of FTO, then transfer to CIB (or whatever term you want to use).

You then become a Primary Detective. First level remember?

Then Detective.

There’s no need for a Detective FTO, due to the nature of Investigations, so Detective Teams only have 3 levels.

Primary Detective – Detective – Detective Lead. And then?

District Detective Commander - Region Detective Commander – State Detective Commander.

As you can see, for operational Police sections, the structuring of them can be quite simple. It requires Police to specialise in their career paths, which means that someone who has been a Detective for years cannot promote into a position of Region Response Commander, as they do not have the requisite Response knowledge.

This will work for all Police operational sections. Traffic, Crime, Drug etc. The one exception though, is those sections such as TRG / SERT / SOG etc.

The duties, training, and Federal requirements of these units make the structure requirements a little different.

Additionally, each Police Sector will not have a Police Tactical Unit assigned to it each shift, and neither will each District. They should be a regional asset. Yes, that means every region should have a Police Tactical Unit (PTU).

But the skill sets of a PTU mean that each PTU is not one team, but several. For example, there will be an Assault Team, Marksman Team, possibly a Maritime Team, Search & Rescue Team, Surveillance Team and so on.

Each team can use a similar Team structure as other operational units, but then it stops.

To help explain this, I will use the Marksman Team as an example.

Primary Marksman – Marksman – Marksman Lead. Then the Marksman structure path stops.

After that will be a Tactical Team Commander. The Tactical Team Commander will have under his control whatever teams he requires for an incident. This could be one Assault Team, two Marksman Teams, and a Surveillance Team.

The fluid nature of PTU operations means that the Tactical Team Commander can have one team under his command, or ten. But his duties are the same.

At the same time, another Tactical Team Commander could be commanding an operation in the same region, with a different number / type of teams. So that is where the Police structure takes over again.

That is how I believe the operational Police functions should be structured. Have you noticed that there is no rank? There is no Commissioned Officers? The head bloke can still be the Commissioner of Police, or Chief of Police, whatever. But the unrealistic Police rank structure is no more. No longer can a Superintendant of Traffic apply for the position of Superintendant of Internal Affairs, nor will they have the same skills.

Every operational State Commander, whether he be State Response Commander, State Traffic Commander etc, are under the command of the State Operations Commander, (more on Operations Commanders later). The State Operations Commander reports to the Commissioner of Police. There may be a requirement for a Deputy Commissioner for when the Commissioner goes on leave, jaunts etc.

But what about the non-operational functions?

Well, that’s different. There are two non-operational areas to Policing. “Support”, and “Administration”.

The Administration side of things is easy. They are unsworn members who fall under the State Government Pubic Sector conditions, pay, promotions etc. They’re not involved in any meetings or decision-making. They are all under the command of the relevant Support Officer.

But Support is a bit more complex. Support is the area of non-operational Policing such as Crime Scene, Communications, Prosecution, Liaison sections, etc. All Support members must have started their career in Response. No exceptions. The difference is that even though all Support members are Police, their role is solely to provide “support” to the operational Police. Support and Operations will be subject to different allowances, and it is necessary that members of the Support career path do not receive higher pay than those operational members in a comparable position.

Let’s take an area such as Forensics & Crime Scene. The Crime Scene members can have a similar team structure as the operational Police, all the way up to State Crime Scene Commander, obviously with the exception of District Crime Scene Commander and possibly Region Crime Scene Commander.

But then you have the scientists, Doctors, analysts etc that the Crime Scene Team members work closely with. They are all civilians, hired under the Administrative umbrella, but they will be under the command of a Support Officer.  (That is important. No administrative position will be one of command of anything).

The Forensics Support Commander would basically ensure that the Forensics section is getting what it needs, and is also doing their job, which is to provide forensics services to the State Police. If there was more than one Forensics complex in a state, then each complex would be under the command of a Forensics Support Commander. Those Forensics Support Commanders would then be under the command of a State Forensics Support Commander.

If there was only one Forensics complex in the state, then the Forensics Support Commander would be the top of the line. The next step up the line would be State Support Commander. The State Support Commander is the same as the State Operations Commander. They both report to the Commissioner.

Now, for the one complex area in my structure.

The Operations Commander.

This career path, due to the complexity of the duties, is considered to have more responsibility than any other career paths. The Operations Commander is the only Police Officer specifically trained to be able to command different teams from different areas. Response, Traffic, Tactical, Crime Scene etc all working in one Operation will fall under an Operations Commander.

This career path can only be applied for once a Response member has progressed from FTO to Response Team Leader, and then to District Response Leader.

The District Response Leader, once accepted for Operations Commander training undergoes a lengthy course where he is taught all aspects of each section of the State Police. He also undergoes specific “Command” Training that involves making difficult decisions under pressure.

This is the initial training for those Officers who will eventually command multiple Police sections during riots, disasters, etc.

Once he successfully passes that course, the starting point for the Operations Commander is as a Station OIC.

For remote stations, or “small” station, where there is only one Officer or one Team for that station, then the Officer or Team Leader handles the running of the station.

But in Metropolitan areas, the Station Officer position is handled by the Station Operations Commander. He has at his hands all sections at that Station. Operational, Support, and Administrative.

The Station Operations Commander does NOT interfere with the day to day running of the Teams. That is not his job. For example, he does not tell the Response Team Leader what to do for a shift. That is the job of the District Response Leader.

The Station Operations Commander handles the rostering of the Response Teams under the requirements provided by the District Response Commander. Same with CIB, Traffic etc.

Why do I think this is how it should be structured? Presently, as a GD’s member, you are under the direct command of your shift supervisor, Station OIC, Watch Commander, and Duty Officer. And there’s also probably another 2 or 3 Commissioned Officers sending orders directly to you. That is a major problem with the current system. How can you work effectively when you are being ordered around by multiple persons with different and sometimes conflicting orders?

With my desired structure, that could not happen. There is a clear path, up and down. For Response, you are led by your Response Team Leader. Above him is the District Response Commander. Same with Traffic, CIB etc. That’s it. No more convoluted chains of command.

But, I hear you asking, what about matters that are currently handled by the Station OIC, such as:

-      Complaints Against Police;

-      Demonstrations / Shows / Sporting events

-      Other matters requiring GD’s, CIB, Traffic all involved?

That’s the beauty of it. The Station Operations Commander receives the information, and he then decides who needs to be notified.

If it’s a minor complaint, then he advises the Response Team Leader in charge of the member involved. If it’s a bit more complex, then he contacts the District Response Commander.

If it is a special event, such as a sporting event, that requires multiple resources, then he advises the District Response Commander, District Traffic Commander, District CIB Commander, and the District Operations Commander who will be on duty for that event, (District Commanders work shift work remember?).

Those District Commanders and the Station Operations Commander then sit down with coffee and biscuits. They all draw up an Operations Order. The District Commanders then sign off the Ops Order, and each District Commander then passes that Order down the chain to the relevant Team Leader who will be on duty (Response, CIB, Traffic etc). And the Officer in charge of that multiple-section Operation? The Station Operations Commander.

However, if the event or incident requires an Operation involving multiple sections from multiple sectors in one District, it is then the District Operations Commander who is in charge. Multiple Districts? The Region Operations Commander.

The Station Operations Commander is effectively the “Sector” Operations Commander, and he moves up to District Operations Commander, Region Operations Commander, and then finally the State Operations Commander.

Well, I think that’s it. My brain is empty, and my fingers are calloused. I planned to write maybe 2 pages, but after 3 hrs, I’ve discovered that I’ve actually written 8 pages of thoughts down.

If you’ve managed to read this to the end, I thank you. Again, I welcome all constructive comments.

About the Author

Doug Nicholson served for over 9 years with the Northern Territory Police Force, during which time he worked in remote Aboriginal Communities, was a General Duties Shift Supervisor at the busiest Station in the jurisdiction and became a qualified Workplace Assessor and Trainer. He has travelled to the US for advanced training, as well as worked in both Afghanistan and Iraq as a Security contractor, and is now studying for a degree in Security, Terrorism, and Counter-Terrorism. He is the editor for Response Australia eMagazine, an online publication for Policing in Australia.

Doug can be contacted at editor@responseaustralia.net