Station sergeant (also known as crown sergeant, senior sergeant or staff sergeant) is a police rank senior to sergeant and junior to inspector in some British and Commonwealth police forces. The rank insignia is usually a sergeant's three chevrons surmounted by a crown, or sometimes four chevrons. The Metropolitan Police (of London), which was the first force to introduce the rank, originally used four chevrons, but later changed to a crown over three chevrons, which was identical to the insignia worn by a

staff sergeant Staff sergeant is a Military rank, rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administr ...

in the

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

. A police officer holding the rank is usually the senior sergeant in a police station, or in some cases the commander of a smaller sub-divisional police establishment. The rank is used in the

Hong Kong Police Force The Hong Kong Police Force (HKPF) is the primary law enforcement, investigative agency, and largest Hong Kong Disciplined Services, disciplined service under the Security Bureau (Hong Kong), Security Bureau of Hong Kong. Pursuant to the one c ...

(station sergeant), the Barbados Police Service (station sergeant), the Port of Felixstowe Police (station sergeant), the Royal Gibraltar Police (crown sergeant) and most Canadian police forces (staff sergeant). It was historically used in the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

Metropolitan Police (station sergeant) and the Royal Parks Constabulary (crown sergeant). The rank is also used, though with a different operational role, in the

Australian Federal Police The Australian Federal Police (AFP) is the principal Federal police, federal law enforcement agency of the Australian Government responsible for investigating Crime in Australia, crime and protecting the national security of the Commonwealth ...

Australia

Although only used in special circumstances, the

uniquely has separate ranks of both senior sergeant and staff sergeant. Whilst on deployment in peacekeeping operations with the International Deployment Group members of the AFP are appointed to the ranks of senior sergeant (three chevrons below a crown which is surrounded by a laurel leaf), station sergeant (a crown surrounded by a laurel leaf), superintendent (a pip and a crown), or

commander Commander (commonly abbreviated as Cmdr.) is a common naval officer rank as well as a job title in many army, armies. Commander is also used as a rank or title in other formal organizations, including several police forces. In several countri ...

(three pips and crown).

Hong Kong

In the Hong Kong Police Force, the rank of station sergeant (SSGT) is senior to sergeant but junior to probationary inspector. A station sergeant is required to have served three years at the rank of sergeant and be recommended by a selection board before being promoted to the rank. Station sergeant is the highest non-commissioned rank in the Hong Kong Police Force. Because of this, station sergeants tend to be the most experienced NCO in a unit, serving as the commander or second-in-command of a unit and/or a station when necessary. To progress to the rank of probationary inspector, a station sergeant must undergo the same application process as other junior officers. The rank badge of a station sergeant is the Hong Kong Police badge surrounded by a wreath worn in the centre of the shoulder strap. However, station sergeants go through a 13-week training process instead of the 36-week training that other officers do. A distinctive feature of the uniform of a station sergeant is that they wear the white shirt typically worn by

commissioned officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent ...

s as opposed to the

cornflower blue Cornflower blue is a shade of medium-to-light blue containing relatively little green. This hue was one of the favorites of the Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. The most valuable blue sapphires are called cornflower blue, having a medium-da ...

or dodger blue shirts worn by sergeants and all ranks below. However, acting station sergeants may wear the blue shirts with station sergeant insignia.

Ireland

The Irish ''

Garda Síochána (; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace") is the national police and security service of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards". The service is headed by the Garda Commissio ...

'' used the rank until at least the 1960s.

United Kingdom

Metropolitan Police

In the Metropolitan Police, the station sergeant, or station police sergeant (SPS), was the senior

sergeant Sergeant (Sgt) is a Military rank, rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage f ...

in a

police station A police station is a facility operated by police or a similar law enforcement agency that serves to accommodate police officers and other law enforcement personnel. The role served by a police station varies by agency, type, and jurisdiction, ...

. Station sergeants either acted as a station

inspector Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it. Australia The rank of Inspector is present in all Australian police forces excep ...

's deputy or commanded smaller police stations that had no inspectors. When introduced, the rank insignia consisted of four chevrons. From 1921, this arrangement was replaced by a crown over three chevrons - the same insignia as a

in the

. The rank of station sergeant was officially introduced to uniform grades in 1871. In 1890, a station sergeant's pay started at 45

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

s a week (a sergeant's maximum pay was 40 shillings a week), rising by an annual increment of 1 shilling a week to 48 shillings a week. The

Criminal Investigation Department The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) is the branch of a police force to which most plainclothes criminal investigation, detectives belong in the United Kingdom and many Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth nations. A force's CID is disti ...

equivalent was the first class detective sergeant, who was in charge of the allocation of cases to the

detective A detective is an investigator, usually a member of a law enforcement agency. They often collect information to solve crimes by talking to witnesses and informants, collecting physical evidence, or searching records in databases. This leads the ...

s in each division. Originally, station sergeant was a mandatory step between sergeant and inspector, but later it became common to miss out the rank entirely and it became more of a reward for long-serving sergeants who did not wish to be promoted to inspector. The rank was never available to women officers. No further promotions to the ranks of station sergeant and first-class detective sergeant were made after 1973. The last officer to hold the rank was Station Sergeant William Palmer, who retired in 1980. The last officer to be promoted to the rank was Station Sergeant Kenneth Humm, who retired in 1983 following promotion to inspector in 1980. However, the term continued to be used to denote the longest-serving sergeant in a station, although it was no longer a separate rank with its own insignia. Possibly the most famous fictional station sergeant was George Dixon in the long-running television series ''

Dixon of Dock Green ''Dixon of Dock Green'' is a BBC police procedural television series about daily life at a fictional London police station, with the emphasis on petty crime, successfully controlled through common sense and human understanding. It ran from 1955 ...

''. An equivalent rank was clerk sergeant, or clerk police sergeant (CPS), held by the officer responsible for all administration in a division. Clerk sergeants were regraded as inspectors in January 1954.

City of London Police

The insignia commonly associated with the rank of station sergeant is still used within the

City of London Police The City of London Police is the territorial police force#United Kingdom, territorial police force responsible for law enforcement within the City of London, England, including the Middle Temple, Middle and Inner Temple, Inner Temples. The for ...

for those officers in an acting inspector role.

Port of Felixstowe Police

The Port of Felixstowe Police, a small British specialised police force responsible for policing the

Port of Felixstowe The Port of Felixstowe, in Felixstowe, Suffolk, is the United Kingdom's largest container port, dealing with 48% of Britain's containerised trade. In 2017, it was ranked as 43rd busiest container port in the world and 8th in Europe, with a ha ...

, had one officer of the rank of station sergeant until 2015, and held the distinction of being the final British police force to employ this historic rank. In 2015, on the retirement of Inspector M. Hayward, the last station sergeant, Station Sergeant A. Miaoulis, was promoted to inspector, and the rank of station sergeant was abolished.

Royal Gibraltar Police

The Royal Gibraltar Police, the principal law enforcement agency in the overseas territory of

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

has the concept of crown sergeants in their force. However, unlike other police forces with similar concepts, crown sergeant in the Royal Gibraltar Police is an appointment (role) not a rank. It is an appointment given to the response team leaders of the operational division to symbolise their seniority. The appointment was initially introduced in 2018 with the name of senior sergeant, which was later at some point changed to the present name of crown sergeant. Crown sergeants wear the insignia of a sergeant with a crown on the chevrons' top, the same insignia station sergeants and crown sergeants wear in other police forces.

Royal Parks Constabulary

The Royal Parks Constabulary used the station sergeant rank (known as crown sergeant) until 1989, when the last incumbent, Sergeant John Stewart, was appointed to the rank. Chief Officer's Annual Report, 1989 The Constabulary was disbanded in May 2006 with its functions transferred to the Royal Parks Operational Command Unit in the Metropolitan Police.

Footnotes

{{reflist Ranks in the Metropolitan Police Hong Kong Police Force Police ranks 1890 introductions Police ranks in the United Kingdom