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A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a
building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and func ...
which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with
locker room A locker is a small, usually narrow storage compartment. They are commonly found in dedicated cabinets, very often in large numbers, in various public places such as locker rooms, workplaces, elementary schools, middle and high schools, trans ...
s, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms.


Names

Large departments may have many stations to cover the area they serve. The names used for these facilities include: *Barracks for many
American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...
state police and highway patrol stations and in Ireland *District office, typically used by American state police forces like the California Highway Patrol, but also used by smaller departments like the Calgary Police Service *Precinct house, or precinct, for some urban police departments in the United States such as the New York City Police Department, Memphis Police Department, and Newark Police Department, where stations are in charge of precincts *Police house *Police office, especially in Scotland *Station house *Substations, smaller stations used by many departments, especially county sheriffs *Detachment, most notably used by the
Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal and national police service of Canada. As poli ...
Multiple informal names exist, such as "cop shop", "cophouse" or (in the UK) "nick". The area a police station serves has a variety of different names, such as precinct, district, division and zone. However, in some police forces such as Hampshire Constabulary, police stations do not serve a specific area and the officers have great flexibility over where they can operate.


Facilities

Typical facilities at police stations typically include: *Office space where officers, detectives and administrative staff can work *Cells for detainees. In the UK, the area with cells is known as a custody suite * Interview rooms for both detainees and non-detained visitors * Evidence rooms for storing evidence and seized property *Lockers and storerooms for storing equipment *A reception desk for public visitors *Car park for fleet vehicles and officer-owned personal vehicles *A room for personnel from other emergency services Specialized stations exist in a number of countries, typically containing more or less of these facilities. An example includes
women's police stations Women's police stations (also units or offices) – es, Comisaría de la Mujer, pt, Delegacia da mulher – are police stations specializing in crimes with female victims. They were first introduced in 1985 in Brazil and are numerous in Latin Amer ...
in Latin America.


By country


India

Police stations in India have a designated area under their jurisdiction. Police stations are headed by a station house officer (SHO) who may be of inspector or sub-inspector rank, assisted by an assistant sub-inspector, head constables, and constables. The number of personnel in a particular police station depend on many factors like area covered, population,
topography Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the land forms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps. Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sc ...
, crime rate, sensitivity, important places and others. Some police stations may have police outposts under them. Police outposts are set up when areas covered by police stations have difficult topography, a lack of transportation, high population density, communally sensitive places and border points, or if the area is very large. There are many police stations in India which lack basic infrastructure like proper buildings, landline telephones, wireless sets, vehicles, computers and adequate police personnel. Specialized police stations also exist for specific purposes, such as cyber crime, railway, traffic enforcement, women, and others.


Ireland

The police stations (or barracks) of the Garda Síochána come in the following types, in ascending order of size: *Sub-district stations: Stations in small towns and villages, led by an officer who is no higher in rank than a sergeant. Since the 1980s, many of these small stations have been closed or reduced to operating part-time. *District headquarters: Located in the largest town in a Garda district, with the most senior officer being a superintendent. *Divisional headquarters: Located in the largest town or city within a Garda division, which in turn comprises multiple districts. The most senior officer is a chief superintendent. *Garda headquarters: Located in
Phoenix Park The Phoenix Park ( ga, Páirc an Fhionnuisce) is a large urban park in Dublin, Ireland, lying west of the city centre, north of the River Liffey. Its perimeter wall encloses of recreational space. It includes large areas of grassland and t ...
,
Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...
and includes the office of the Garda Commissioner, as well as other senior officers.


United Kingdom

The county constabularies in
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...
were previously organised on a village basis. Most villages of any size had a "police house". Police houses in small villages were often staffed by a single uniformed constable, with larger stations being staffed by more. Local police stations were grouped together under the command of a uniformed sergeant, whose station was known as a "sergeant's station". Larger towns in the county constabulary areas had police stations staffed by a number of officers, often under the command of an inspector or superintendent, usually also commanding a sub-division or division respectively, and therefore giving the names of "sub-divisional station" or "divisional station" to their stations. In
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...
a police station may be referred to as a police office.


United Arab Emirates

As well as traditional, staffed, police stations, there are a number of
kiosks Historically, a kiosk () was a small garden pavilion open on some or all sides common in Persia, the Indian subcontinent, and in the Ottoman Empire from the 13th century onward. Today, several examples of this type of kiosk still exist in an ...
in Dubai allowing instant access to police services via a video touchscreen.


Image gallery


See also

* Police *
Law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of government who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by discovering, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms governing that society. The term ...
* Law enforcement agency * List of police stations, about notable individual stations * Custody suite * Dubai Smart Police Stations * State police


References

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