Donate SIGN UP

Diffrences between a detective inspector and a detective chief inspector in the UK?

Avatar Image
FeliciaG | 18:58 Sun 04th Nov 2012 | Criminal
18 Answers
Well, as the headline says: what are the diffrences between a detective inspector and a detective chief inspector in the UK?

Is the DCI chief over the DI, and is the DI chief over someone else? What are their different roles and functions? And so on...

// Swedish girl writing a book
Gravatar

Answers

1 to 18 of 18rss feed

Best Answer

No best answer has yet been selected by FeliciaG. Once a best answer has been selected, it will be shown here.

For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.
we are lucky in the UK as we have 2 very good sources, one is called Google and one is called Wikipedia, both very good, shame you are in Sweden

http://en.wikipedia.o...of_the_United_Kingdom
Question Author
Dotty, ha-ha. We have that in Sweden too, as I think you already know (sarcasm is fun), but I couldn't find the answers I need, so I thought that maybe some of you could give me some other information. Apparently, YOU couldn't. Thanks anyway.
An Inspector reports to a Chief Inspector who reports to a Superintendent who reports to a Chief Superintendent
Question Author
nailit, I've already read that too, and I found some useful information but I don't understand everything of it. "In larger stations many DCs, DSs and Detective Inspectors will be present under the overall responsibility of the Detective Chief Inspector." - it says. Can a DS report directly to a DCI or will he/she report to a DI. And will the DI thereafter report to the DCI?

I find it so confusing, ha-ha!
In the UK there are basically 2 branches of police - the CID and 'normal' police officers which include beat officers; mounted officers (on a horse); dog handlers; domestic violence officers; child protection officers; traffic officers; and many other specialist officers such as IT fraud and antique theft.

All of these start off as Police Constables and then apply for CID; traffic etc. They can then revert to Police Constables after their specialist stint.

The ranks are:
Police Constable (PC) or Detective Constable (DC)
Sergeant (PS) or Detective Sergeant (DS)
Inspector or Detective Inspector (DI)
Chief Inspector (CI) or Detective Chief Inspector (DCI)
Superintendent or Detective Super Intendent (DSI)

Then it is Chief Super, Detective Chief Super
Assistant Chief Constable (various departments)
Chief Constable.
Every force will have a central police station where much of the administration is done; human resources will be housed there and the 'top brass' - the Chief Constable and the Assistant Chief Constables.

Then other police stations will be located throughout the force area. Some forces are huge and so have other large stations which house the Superintendent and other officers. The Superintendent will be responsible for several Chief Inspectors, Inspectors, Sergeants and Constables based at several smaller satellite stations.

These smaller stations will typically have an Inspector, Sergeants and Police Constables. They may also have a CID department with officers of the same ranks.

While it is usual for an officer to report to his immediate senior that is not always the case. The next ranking officer may not be available at that particular time, for example
It's almost self-explanatory. The DCI is a rank above DI. He will have a DI working 'for' him on cases and the DI is answerable to him. My guess is that he 'steers a desk' most of the time, because there are not many cases that require an officer of that rank to be involved in the investigation. And when you get to higher ranks of detective than that, I suspect that their rank only serves to have them giving press conferences, their actual involvement not being great :) Mind, I did call a chief constable as a witness once; he had asked to be taken out on a patrol, as he was new to the area, when suddenly the car was called to an affray and he found himself in the middle of it. That was not involvement that he wanted. To his credit, he did arrest somebody, who must have been amazed at the sight of such a fancy uniform!
You could try reading a few Inspector Morse books before you start.
(And I'm not being sarcastic)
That makes a change then, Tilly lol.
A detective inspector tends to drink a lot and hang about with criminals (for evidence see Jack Regan in The Sweeney). A detective Chief inspector is rarely seen as his uniformed colleague normally takes the flack for his force when they have cocked up.
Gene Hunt, now there's a proper inspector.
Who's Gene Hunt? Someone using Ancestry.co.uk?
Oi Tilly, Life On Mars.
Question Author
Thank you so much for all your help, everybody! Made me a little bit more clever
tut, me sarcastic?
the difference between a DI and DCI

is about £ 20 000 /y isnt it ?


There is an incredible hierarchy in the Police and
this was introduced to give them a career structure.
all with very good pensions I would point out.

1 to 18 of 18rss feed

Do you know the answer?

Diffrences between a detective inspector and a detective chief inspector in the UK?

Answer Question >>

Related Questions

Sorry, we can't find any related questions. Try using the search bar at the top of the page to search for some keywords, or choose a topic and submit your own question.