Superintendent (Supt.; often shortened to "Super") is a rank in UK police services and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations, usually senior to Chief Inspector and junior to Chief Superintendent. A Police Constable of West Yorkshire Police on patrol The United Kingdom has a number of similar but independent police services. ... The Commonwealth of Nations, usually known as The Commonwealth, is an association of independent sovereign states, almost all of which are former territories of the British Empire. ... Chief Inspector (Ch Insp) is a rank in British Police forces. ... Chief Superintendent (Ch Supt/CSP; colloquially Chief Super) is a senior rank in the Police Forces. ...
The approximate equivalent in some United States police commands is Deputy Inspector, although in some commands, Superintendent is the title for the head of the department. Chief of Police in United States usage is the title typically given to the head of a police department. ...
Police were ordered to regulate saloons and suppress vice, but bribery and political interference discouraged enforcement, though police did restrict vice to specific areas and tried to impose outward order.
Police were employed to restore order on such notable occasions as the Railroad Strike of 1877 and the Haymarket Affair (1886).
Chicago's police were first to adopt a “signal service” in 1880, combining telegraph and telephone, to allow patrolmen on their beats to summon an ambulance or patrol wagon.
It is the largest police department in the Midwest and the second largest in the United States with 13,619 sworn officers and 2,625 other employees as of 2003.
The action resulted in the creation of a five-member police board charged with nominating a superintendent to be the chief authority over police officers, drafting and adopting rules and regulations governing the police system, submitting budget requests to the city council, and hearing and deciding disciplinary cases involving police officers.
While the checkered band is a common police symbol in the United Kingdom and other countries in Europe, Chicago and Pittsburgh are the only cities in the United States that have adopted it as part of their police officer uniforms.