Oh to be Area Commander

My area is run by a Chief Superintendent, with two or three superintendents under him running the individual areas directly. Below that, chief inspectors run certain departments, inspectors run response and neighbourhood teams, and sergeants in different stations run portions of said teams. PCs just run.

Of course, the verb 'to run' means something slightly different to each of these people.

• Sergeants run the small matter of policing, making instant decisions daily about well over half the incidents that come in. They attend incidents, review and direct their officers' investigations, and make quick decisions about things happening straight away. There is also a sergeant in the control room doing this. Between them, they get it right most of the time.
  
• Inspectors run anything to do with the force's priorities, which means they directly review PCs' investigations if they involve domestic violence, race hate, or something the chief inspector has emailed about. The interested ones also manage resources across the area and take control of more serious incidents. Again, there's another inspector in the control room who directs spontaneous unfolding incidents from afar, while the local inspector does it on the ground.
  
• The chief inspector runs around, mainly doing what the superintendent asks. This largely includes sending out emails that are beneath the superintendent's job role, such as nagging emails to PCs asking why they haven't arrested such-and-such or complied with the race hate policy in this-or-that. In this sense, the chief inspector's role is pretty much degraded to that of a sergeant who is perhaps holed up in an office with a broken arm, or something.
• The superintendent runs a complex email system. This involves weekly emails highlighting How We Could Do Better and Why Force Policy Matters, and also redefining the law where necessary to make it fit better with local policy. For example, recently our superintendent redefined the law regarding arrest and detention in custody. It now turns out we can arrest anyone we want, and keep them in custody as long as we want.
  
• The chief superintendent runs a blog, which is very cheerful indeed.

I'm in the wrong rank.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------
'Diary of an On-Call Girl' is available in some bookstores and online.