Police department

A police department is a law-enforcement organization empowered by the state, or local municipality to uphold the designated laws of that area. Police departments answer to the Police Commissioner of a city, who is an elected official, and operates under the authority of an appointed police chief. Police departments are headquartered in station houses divided up by precincts and contain multiple divisions within each department, specializing in certain fields of law enforcement such as major crimes, homicide, vice and internal affairs. Ideally, police departments are expected to cooperate with county officials such as the Sheriff's department, but all too often, the political structure of each entity may cause friction which impedes progress.