Another data point: the British Police have a single hierarchy. They are all called “officers”, but in this case the word does not distinguish them from “enlisted”, for which there is no analogue, but from people who do not have police powers (e.g. admin staff). Everyone enters at the bottom, although there are fast-track opportunities.
all police departments that I am aware of in the U.S. are single hierarchy. The dual hierarchy is a military thing.
In the U.S. when there has been a draft (involuntary conscription) one is only ever drafted in to the lower hierarchy. The officer hierarchy was always strictly volunteers.
Another data point: the British Police have a single hierarchy. They are all called “officers”, but in this case the word does not distinguish them from “enlisted”, for which there is no analogue, but from people who do not have police powers (e.g. admin staff). Everyone enters at the bottom, although there are fast-track opportunities.
all police departments that I am aware of in the U.S. are single hierarchy. The dual hierarchy is a military thing.
In the U.S. when there has been a draft (involuntary conscription) one is only ever drafted in to the lower hierarchy. The officer hierarchy was always strictly volunteers.
Also, even without a draft the lower and upper hierarchy have different induction methods. Military academy for the upper hierarchy, etc.
Interesting. That’s a nice counterexample.