# Police captain

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Rank in law enforcement

A **police captain** is a [police rank](/source/Police_rank) in some countries, such as the [United States](/source/United_States), [France](/source/France), [Thailand](/source/Thailand) and the [Philippines](/source/Philippines).[1]

## By country

### France

Shoulder straps of a French police captain.

France uses the rank of *capitaine* for management duties in both uniformed and plain-clothed policing. The rank comes senior to *[lieutenant](/source/Lieutenant)* and junior to *[commandant](/source/Commandant)*. This rank was previously known as *inspecteur principal* for plain-clothed officers, and *officier de la paix principal* for officers in uniform.

### United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the approximate equivalent rank of a police captain is that of [chief inspector](/source/Chief_inspector).

### United States

Rank insignia for a typical U.S. police captain, consisting of two yellow bars (similar to that of a U.S. Army captain) on a white shirt. Some U.S. police departments use silver-colored bars as well as a variety of shirt colors.

In most American police departments, the rank of captain is immediately above that of [lieutenant](/source/Police_lieutenant). A police captain is often the officer in charge of a [precinct](/source/Police_precinct).

In some smaller police departments, a person holding the rank of police captain may be in charge of a division (patrol division, detective division, etc.) within that department. In larger police departments, a police captain may command only one section of a precinct which is commanded by either a police major, police inspector, or the next highest rank. A police captain is considered upper-level management in most large urban police departments.

#### New York City

In the [New York City Police Department](/source/New_York_City_Police_Department), the rank of captain is immediately below [deputy inspector](/source/Inspector#United_States). Captains are usually veterans with extensive experience.

### Philippines

[Philippine National Police](/source/Philippine_National_Police) insignia for Police Captain

In the Philippines, the rank of a police captain is equivalent to a senior inspector based on the original [Philippine National Police](/source/Philippine_National_Police) rank under the Republic Act 6975. It has existed since 2019. It was higher than a [police lieutenant](/source/Police_lieutenant), and lower than a police major.

## Notable police captains

- [Derwin Brown](/source/Derwin_Brown)

- [George Gastlin](/source/George_Gastlin)

- [John H. McCullagh](/source/John_H._McCullagh)

- [Maharram Seyidov](/source/Maharram_Seyidov)

- [Jacob B. Warlow](/source/Jacob_B._Warlow)

- [Eric Adams](/source/Eric_Adams)

## See also

- [Captain](/source/Captain_(disambiguation))

## References

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Connolly, Francis M.; Mullins, George J. (1993). [*Police Sergeant, Lieutenant and Captain*](https://books.google.com/books?id=IWQrAgAACAAJ). Peterson's. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-671-84686-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-671-84686-2).

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