Sergeant
Sergeant (normally abbreviated to "Sgt") is a rank used in some form by most militaries, police forces, and other uniformed organizations around the world. Its origins are the Latin serviens, "one who serves", through the French term Sergent.
In most armies [clarification needed] the rank of sergeant corresponds to command of a squad (or section). In Commonwealth armies it is a more senior rank, corresponding roughly to a platoon second-in-command. In the United States Army sergeant is a more junior rank, corresponding to a squad second-in-command.
More senior non-commissioned ranks are often variations on sergeant, for instance staff sergeant, sergeant first class, master sergeant, first sergeant and sergeant major. The spelling serjeant is used in a few regiments of the British Army.
Usage
In most non-naval military or paramilitary organizations, the various grades of Sergeant are non-commissioned officers (NCOs) ranking above privates and corporals, and below Warrant Officers and commissioned officers. The responsibilities of a sergeant differ from army to army. There are usually several ranks of sergeant, each corresponding to greater experience and responsibility for the daily lives of the soldiers of larger units.
In medieval European usage, a sergeant was simply any attendant or officer with a protective duty. The etymology of the term is from Anglo-French sergant, serjant, from Latin servient, serviens, to serve.
Defence forces
Sergeant (SGT) is a rank in both the Australian Army and the Royal Australian Air Force. The ranks are equivalent to each other and the Royal Australian Navy rank of Petty Officer (PO).
Although the rank insignia of the RAAF rank of Flight Sergeant (FSGT) and the Australian Army rank of Staff Sergeant (SSG) are identical, Flight Sergeant in fact outranks the rank of Staff Sergeant in the classification of rank equivalencies. The Australian Army rank of Staff Sergeant is now redundant and is no longer awarded, due to being outside the rank equivalencies and the next promotional rank is Warrant Officer Class Two. The ranks of Chief Petty Officer, Warrant Officer Class Two and Flight Sergeant fall in-line with US Enlisted Rank Eight (E-8). Chief Petty Officers and Flight Sergeants do not need to provide the courtesy of calling a Warrant Officer Class Two "sir".
Police
Within the British police, Sergeant is the first supervisory rank. Sergeant is senior to the rank of Constable, and junior to Inspector. The rank is mostly operational, meaning that Sergeants are directly concerned with day-to-day policing. Uniformed Sergeants are often responsible for supervising a shift of Constables and allocating duties to them. Large stations have a separate Custody Sergeant who is responsible for authorising detention of arrested persons under the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, along with effective running of the custody suite.
Plain clothes Detective Sergeants are equal in rank to their uniformed counterparts, the prefix 'detective' identifies them as being trained in criminal investigations and part of or attached to CID.
Uniformed Sergeants' epaulettes feature three down-pointed chevrons, above a personal identification number. Sergeants in service with the Metropolitan Police, which is responsible for law enforcement in Greater London, also have a divisional call sign attached to the epaulette, due to the size of the force.
Until the abolition of 1st Class Detective Sergeants in 1973, Metropolitan Police Detective Sergeants were officially known as 2nd Class Detective Sergeants.
Unlike in the military, addressing a police Sergeant as "Sarge" is not seen as incorrect. Constables in some forces (including the Metropolitan Police) refer to their Sergeants as "Skipper".
the annual salary for newly promoted Sergeants is of £36,519, rising to £41,040 after four years as a Sergeant[1].
In the case of the Police Service of Northern Ireland, Sergeants' chevrons point upwards. This is derived from the practices of the Royal Irish Constabulary, who were a mounted police force and followed a tradition of upward-pointing ranks.