City of Charleston Police Department - Rank Structure

Rank Structure

Charleston Police Department chevrons are royal blue on a black background. Non-commissioned officers also wear one royal blue-on-black hash mark on their lower left sleeves for every four years of service to the department.

The design of an officer's badge also changes by rank.

Some officers still wear the ranks of Corporal and Staff Sergeant. However, these ranks are being phased out through promotion and attrition, and no new promotions are being made to these ranks.

The titles "Detective" and "Investigator" are based on assignment only. Detectives are assigned to the Central Investigations Division and wear gold badges. Investigators are officers whose primary responsibilities include the investigation of criminal offenses, but who are not assigned to Central.

The position of Patrol Training Officer, or PTO, is bestowed upon experienced officers in the Uniform Patrol Division whose responsibilities include the training and evaluation of new officers upon their graduation from the South Carolina Criminal Justice Academy. The PTO designation is displayed on a pin worn above the officer's name tag. The position of PTO was formerly known as Field Training Officer, or FTO.

The ranks of Probationary Police Officer and Police Officer were formerly known as Private. The rank of Senior Police Officer was formerly known as Private First Class.