A suburban police station in San Bruno, California

A police station is a building which serves as the headquarters of a police force or unit which serves a specific district. South San Jose (cropjpg||thumb|A suburban development in San Jose California. San Bruno is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. In Architecture, Construction, Engineering and real estate development the word building may refer to one of the following Any man-made Headquarters (HQ denotes the location where most if not all of the important functions of an organization are concentrated Police are agents or agencies usually of the executive, empowered to enforce the law and to effect public and social order through the legitimatized use of force Districts are a type of Administrative division, in some countries managed by a Local government. These buildings typically contain offices, various accommodations for their personnel and their vehicles such as locker rooms, temporary holding cells, and interview/interrogation rooms. Vehicles, derived from the Latin word vehiculum, are non-living Means of transport. A changeroom term prison cell or holding cell refers to the accommodation of a Prisoner in a Prison or Police station. Interrogation or questioning is Interviewing as commonly employed by officers of the Police and Military.

Regional substations

J. C. "Buster" Court Public Safety Complex in Stafford, Texas

Large departments may have many stations to cover the area they serve. This article is about the town of Stafford England For the larger local government district see Borough of Stafford. Texas ( is a state geographically located in the South Central United States and is also known as the Lone Star State. The names used for these facilities include:

• Detachment for local facilities of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Ontario Provincial Police
• District offices are used by the California Highway Patrol
• Division by the Toronto Police Service, Los Angeles Police Department and the London Metropolitan Police Service. The Ontario Provincial Police ( OPP) is the Provincial Police force for the province of Ontario, Canada. The California Highway Patrol (CHP is a state agency that acts as the State police force of California. The Toronto Police Service ( TPS) formerly the Metropolitan Toronto Police, is the Police force for the City of Toronto, Ontario London ( ˈlʌndən is the capital and largest urban area in the United Kingdom. "Metropolitan Police" redirects here See also Metropolitan police.
• Precinct or precinct house for regional facilities of the New York City Police Department and other urban police departments in the United States
• Substations are used by many departments, especially county sheriffs
• Police Stations in India. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the SHERIFF is a telecom fraud detection and management system originally developed by BT and MCI. India, officially the Republic of India (भारत गणराज्य inc-Latn Bhārat Gaṇarājya; see also other Indian languages) is a country A police station would typically be under the command of a Sub-Inspector. Sub-Inspector is a rank used extensively in the Indian Police, which is primarily based on the British model. In case of a police station being the H. Q of a Police Circle, the Inspector's office would be clearly demarcated (and most likely in a separate building). This is about the police rank/position For the use in graphical user interfaces see Inspector window.

Great Britain

An English police station: Wood Street station in Wakefield

The county constabularies in Great Britain used to be organised on village lines. Wakefield lies at the heart of the City of Wakefield, a Metropolitan borough of West Yorkshire, England. Constabulary may have several definitions A civil non-paramilitary Police force consisting of police officers called Constables This is the usual See also Kingdom of Great Britain Great Britain (Breatainn Mhòr Prydain Fawr Breten Veur Graet Breetain is the larger of the two main islands A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a Town or City. Most villages of any size (and even many small villages and hamlets) had a police station, often called a "police house", which was staffed by a single constable, who also lived there with his family. A hamlet is (usually&mdashsee below a Rural community — that is a small settlement — which is too small to be considered a Village. A constable is a person holding a particular office most commonly in law enforcement. He could be called out by the locals at any time of the day or night and during the day also patrolled the village and surrounding area on a bicycle. The bicycle, cycle, or bike is a pedal-driven, human-powered vehicle with two wheels attached to a frame, one behind These local police stations were grouped together into sections under a sergeant, whose station was known as a "sergeant's station". Sergeant is a rank used in some form by most militaries police forces and other uniformed organizations around the world This was usually a larger station in a large village or small town, staffed by one or more constables as well as the sergeant; although in very rural areas it may have been just another single-officer police house. 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. This is about the police rank/position For the use in graphical user interfaces see Inspector window. Superintendent ( Supt) often shortened to "Super" is a rank in British police services and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations A division was until recently the usual term for the largest territorial subdivision of most British police forces similar to a precinct in American city A division was until recently the usual term for the largest territorial subdivision of most British police forces similar to a precinct in American city

Organisation of police stations in the UK

In the United Kingdom, police stations may have:

• Uniformed police officers who respond to 999 calls and provide community policing. ^[1]
• Police Community Support Officers (PCSOs) who are tasked with general day to day patrol in the community, (Ecluding Ireland, and Scotland). Police Community Support Officers ( PCSO) (Swyddogion Cymorth Cymunedol yr Heddlu SCCH or Heddlu Ategol are uniformed personnel working with the Police in England ^[1]
• Traffic Wardens who enforce parking regulations. A traffic warden is a member of civilian staff employed by a British police force to assist in regulating the flow of traffic ^[1]
• Crime Reduction Officers who are tasked with attending public functions, visiting households with advice and handing out items such as rape alarms. ^[1]
• A Firearms Enquiries Officer, responsible for firearms certificates and related duties. A Firearms Enquiries Officer (FEO is a Civillian member of most Police Forces in the United Kingdom. ^[1]
• Station Reception Officers (SROs) who are in charge of the front desk and do administration. ^[1]
• Fingerprinting and Identification Officers who deal with Criminal Identities for Archives. ^[1]
• In Metropolitan Police stations, police cadets may be present helping regular officers, PCSOs or any police staff. "Metropolitan Police" redirects here See also Metropolitan police. ^[1]
• Special Constables, Sergeants and Inspectors will be present. A Special is a part-time fully trained Police Officer with powers of arrest. ^[1]
• Smaller stations usually have a number of Detective Constables (DCs) headed by a Detective Sergeant (DS), or in larger stations DCs, DSs and Detective Inspectors (DIs) are present, with the Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) in charge of the department. ^[1]
• Most stations have temporary holding cells where an arrested offender can be held overnight until escort to the court for sentencing. ^[1]
• An Authorised Firearms Officer (AFO) may be present at the station if it is central to that operational area. An Authorised Firearms Officer ( AFO) is a British police officer who has received training and authorisation to carry and use Firearms The ^[1]
• Police Stations also have kitchens to aid the officers during shifts. ^[1]

Most city police stations maintain two types of police vehicle - response cars, which respond to 999 calls and carry a range of equipment to deal with incidents, and Panda cars, which are usually less-capable cars and generally used for community policing. The phrase panda car refers to a small or medium-sized Police car operated by British police forces.

See also

• Custody suite

References