General officer
A General Officer is an officer of high rank in the army, in some nations' air forces or marines. The term "general" is used in two ways: as the generic title for all grades of general officer and as a specific rank, it originates in the 16th century, as a shortening of captain general, which rank was taken from Middle French capitaine général. The adjective general had been affixed to officer designations since the late medieval period to indicate relative superiority or an extended jurisdiction. Today, the title of "General" is known in some countries as a four-star rank; however different countries use other insignia for senior ranks. It has a NATO code of OF-9 and is the highest rank in use in a number of armies, air forces and marine organizations; the various grades of general officer are at the top of the military rank structure. Lower-ranking officers in land-centric military forces are known as field officers or field-grade officers, below them are company-grade officers. There are two common systems of general ranks used worldwide.
In addition, there is a third system, the Arab system of ranks, used throughout the Middle East and North Africa but is not used elsewhere in the world. Variations of one form, the old European system, were once used throughout Europe, it is used in the United Kingdom, from which it spread to the Commonwealth and the United States of America. The general officer ranks are named by prefixing "general", as an adjective, with field officer ranks, although in some countries the highest general officers are titled field marshal, marshal, or captain general; the other is derived from the French Revolution, where generals' ranks are named according to the unit they command. The system used either a colonel general rank; the rank of field marshal was used by some countries as the highest rank, while in other countries it was used as a divisional or brigade rank. Many countries used two brigade command ranks, why some countries now use two stars as their brigade general insignia. Mexico and Argentina still use two brigade command ranks.
In some nations, the equivalent to brigadier general is brigadier, not always considered by these armies to be a general officer rank, although it is always treated as equivalent to the rank of brigadier general for comparative purposes. As a lieutenant outranks a sergeant major; the serjeant major was the commander of the infantry, junior only to the captain general and lieutenant general. The distinction of serjeant major general only applied after serjeant majors were introduced as a rank of field officer. Serjeant was dropped from both rank titles, creating the modern rank titles. Serjeant major as a senior rank of non-commissioned officer was a creation; the armies of Arab countries use traditional Arabic titles. These were formalized in their current system to replace the Turkish system, in use in the Arab world and the Turco-Egyptian ranks in Egypt. Other nomenclatures for general officers include the titles and ranks: Adjutant general Commandant-general Inspector general General-in-chief General of the Army General of the Air Force General of the Armies of the United States, a title created for General John J. Pershing, subsequently granted posthumously to George Washington Generaladmiral Air general and aviation general Wing general and group general General-potpukovnik Director general Director general of national defence Controller general Prefect general Master-General of the Ordnance – senior British military position.
Police Director General. Commissioner Admiral In addition to militarily educated generals, there are generals in medicine and engineering; the rank of the most senior chaplain, is usually considered to be a general officer rank. In the old European system, a general, without prefix or suffix, is the most senior type of general, above lieutenant general and directly below field marshal as a four-star rank, it is the most senior peacetime rank, with more senior ranks being used only in wartime or as honorary titles. In some armies, the rank of captain general, general of the army, army general or colonel general occupied or occupies this position. Depending on circumstances and the army in question, these ranks may be considered to be equivalent to a "full" general or to a field marshal; the rank of general came about as a "captain-general", the captain of an army in general (i.e. th
Ontario Provincial Police
The Ontario Provincial Police is the provincial police service for the province of Ontario, Canada. In the late 1940s, policing functions were reorganized in Ontario, with the OPP given responsibility for all law enforcement in the province outside areas covered by municipal police forces, together with overall authority for law enforcement on the King's Highways, enforcement of the provincial liquor laws, aiding the local police and maintaining a criminal investigation branch; the OPP is responsible for providing policing services over one million square kilometres of land and 174,000 km2 of water to a population of 2.3 million people. As of 2010, it has over 6,200 uniformed, 850 auxiliary, 2,700 civilian personnel; the vehicle fleet consists of 2,290 vehicles, 114 marine vessels, 286 snow and all-terrain vehicles, two helicopters, two fixed-wing aircraft. Rank structure within the OPP is paramilitary or quasi-military in nature, with several "non-commissioned" ranks leading to the "officer" ranks.
The OPP is the second-largest in Canada. It is responsible for providing policing services throughout the province in areas lacking local police forces, it provides specialized support to smaller municipal police forces, investigates province-wide and cross-jurisdictional crimes, patrols provincial highways, is responsible for law enforcement on many of the province's waterways. The OPP works with other provincial agencies, including the Ministry of Transportation and Ministry of Natural Resources, to enforce highway safety and conservation regulations, respectively. OPP officers provide security at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in Toronto; the OPP is one of three provincial police forces in Canada. The others are the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary in Newfoundland and Labrador and the Sûreté du Québec in Quebec. At the First Parliament of Upper Canada in Niagara-on-the-Lake on September 17, 1792, a provision was made for the formation of a "police system". Policing jurisdictions were limited to districts and parishes.
In 1845, a mounted police force was created in order to keep the peace in areas surrounding the construction of public works. It became the Ontario Mounted Police Force after Canadian Confederation. In 1877, the Constables Act extended jurisdiction and gave designated police members authorization to act throughout the province; the first salaried provincial constable appointed to act as detective for the government of Ontario was John Wilson Murray, hired on a temporary appointment in 1875 and made permanent upon passage of the 1877 act. Murray was joined by two additional detectives in 1897, marking the beginnings of the Criminal Investigation Branch. However, for the most part, policing outside of Ontario's cities was non-existent. With the discovery of silver in Cobalt and gold in Timmins, lawlessness was becoming a problem in northern Ontario. Police constables were introduced in various areas, until an Order in Council decreed the establishment of a permanent organization of salaried constables designated as the Ontario Provincial Police Force on October 13, 1909.
It consisted of 45 men under the direction of Superintendent Joseph E. Rogers; the starting salary for constables was $400 per annum, increased to $900 in 1912. The first OPP detachment was located in Bala. In the 1920s, restructuring was undertaken with the passing of the Provincial Police Force Act, 1921; the title of the commanding officer was changed to "commissioner" and given responsibility for enforcing the provisions of the Ontario Temperance Act and other liquor regulations. Major-General Harry Macintyre Cawthra-Elliot was appointed as the first commissioner; the OPP's first death in the line of duty occurred in 1923, when escaped convict Leo Rogers shot and killed Sergeant John Urquhart near North Bay. Rogers, killed in a shootout with OPP officers, had mortally wounded North Bay City constable, Fred Lefebvre; the first OPP motorcycle patrol was introduced in 1928, phased out in 1942, reintroduced in 1949. The first marked OPP patrol car was introduced in 1941. During World War II, the Veterans Guard was formed.
This was a body of volunteers whose duty was to protect vulnerable hydroelectric plants and the Welland Ship Canal under the supervision of regular police members. In the late 1940s, policing functions were reorganized in Ontario, with the OPP given responsibility for all law enforcement in the province outside areas covered by municipal police forces, together with overall authority for law enforcement on the King's Highways, enforcement of the provincial liquor laws, aiding the local police, maintaining a criminal investigation branch. Women joined the uniformed ranks in 1974. In 1994, as part of a tripartite agreement between the government of Canada, the Province of Ontario, the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, the OPP began the process of relinquishing a majority of northern policing duties to the newly created Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service; the transition was complete on April 1, 1999, when the OPP's Northwest Patrol was transferred to NAPS. The OPP still administers first nations policing for Big Trout Lake, Muskrat Dam, Pikangikum.
The Ontario Provincial Police provide policing services to areas of Ontario not policed by a regional or municipal police service. Municipalities can be policed by the OPP under contract, with 323 as of 2019; some detachments host satellite detachments that provide policing to a local area, covering more than one million square kilometers 128,000 kilometers of provincial highway, a population of over 13 million people. The OPP General Headquar
Lancashire Constabulary
Lancashire Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the ceremonial county of Lancashire in North West England. The force's headquarters are near the city of Preston; as of October 2018 the force had just under 3,000 officers as well as 2,000 Police Staff - of which 272 are police community support officers. After many complaints over a number of years over the crime ridden state of Lancashire it was decided in 1839 that a combined county police force was required to police the county. In the same year the force was founded and Captain John Woodford was made chief constable with two assistant chief constables, 14 superintendents and 660 constables. Over the next 50 years the police force saw many changes including the introduction of the police helmet and, during the 1860s, the force lost its first officer, PC Jump, who died after being shot by a group of men that he and a colleague were searching. By the end of the century the force had developed a detective department who were allowed to wear plain clothes.
The first detective appointed was John Wallbank. In 1917 the force first allowed female officers although it was only in the 1950s that they were allowed uniforms, not until the 1970s were they paid at the same rate as their male counterparts. In 1948 the force's dog section was established with many differing breeds being used, but by the 1950s it was established that the German shepherd was the most suitable. In 1965, the force had an establishment of 3,784 officers and an actual strength of 3,454, making it the second largest police force and the largest county force in Great Britain; the force went through major changes in the 1970s when the force was reduced to cover the new re-bordered Lancashire with the other areas coming under the jurisdiction of Greater Manchester Police and Merseyside Police. On 10 October 2007 the Home Office announced that Lancashire Constabulary had ranked joint first, with Surrey, out of 43 forces by Her Majesty's Inspectorate of Constabularies. All 43 police forces were assessed on seven areas - tackling crime, serious crime, protecting vulnerable people, neighbourhood policing, local priorities and resources and efficiency.
The Radio Branch or Wireless Workshops pioneered many techniques in the use of radio by the police. In 1925 they had radio communications between constabulary headquarters in Preston and six divisional headquarters. A year a van was equipped with a transmitter. Tests were done with radio communication to cars in the 1930s. In 1939 four fixed stations provided coverage over much of the county. At the start of World War II divisional headquarters were equipped with transmitter-receivers as a back-up to the telephone system; this was used in 1941 when the telephone system in Liverpool was put out of action by bombing, Lancashire Constabulary's radio system was sole means of communications with the city for a time. After the war they were involved in the move to VHF FM by the UK police. In 1961 a personal radio scheme was installed in Chorley with Motorola VHF personal radios imported from the USA after a demonstration in Stretford in 1959; this led in 1963 to the design of the Lancon VHF personal radio manufactured by GEC.
Under proposals made by the home secretary on 6 February 2006, it was to be merged with Cumbria Constabulary. These were accepted by both forces on 26 February, the merger would have taken place on 1 April 2007. However, in July 2006, both Cumbria and Lancashire constabularies decided not to proceed with the merger because the government failed to remedy issues with the council tax precept which left both forces unable to proceed. Over recent years, Lancashire Constabulary has developed a reputation for leading the way in intelligence analysis and holds an annual intelligence analysis conference in Blackpool attended by a large number of analysts from other UK police forces and law enforcement agencies. Other forces are now looking to Lancashire as a pioneering force in IT support. In particular in 2007 Cumbria police secured their own version of Lancashire's intelligence, police investigation and work management system SLEUTH. At the end of 2017 Lancashire Constabulary formed the Tactical Operations Team, composed of the Roads Policing Unit, Dog Unit, Mounted Branch, Armed Response Unit and Operational Support Unit.
The force is split into three geographical and two based at the force HQ at Hutton. The split is approximate, divisions are deliberately vague, giving a seamless approach to policing in the Lancashire area; the geographical divisions and their headquarters are as follows: Western The headquarters are in Blackpool from where this division is responsible for the Fylde area stretching from Bispham down to Kirkham. Lancaster is assigned with the policing of Morecambe and the Wyre area. A new divisional HQ was opened in 2018. Southern The headquarters are in Lancaster Road, with a secondary base at Chorley Magistrates' Court: it polices the Preston, South Ribble and West Lancashire areas. Eastern Based in Ainsworth Street, this division is assigned to police the Blackburn with Darwen, Ribble Valley and Accrington, Burnley and Rossendale areas. G Division Headquarters. H Division Operations Support and Operations Planning, which encompasses Motorway, Armed Response, Air Support and various other functions.
Lancashire Constabulary partners with the North West Police Underwater Search & Marine Unit and the North West Motorway Police Group. Th
Western Australia Police
The Western Australia Police Force, colloquially WAPOL, provides police services throughout the state of Western Australia, an area of 2.5 million square kilometres, the world's largest non-federated area of jurisdiction, with a population of only 2.4 million, of which 1.94 million reside in the Perth Metropolitan Region. The genesis of the police was the appointment of a sheriff by Captain Stirling on 18 June 1829, as part of the proclamation of the Swan River Colony; the proclamation provided for the appointment of a sheriff having under his direction a high constable, constables and surveyors of highways. The sheriff still exists as an officer of the Western Australian Justice Department—no longer having jurisdiction over police or highways; the sheriff retains responsibility for enforcement of court judgments and the administration of jury service. Police continue to carry out sheriff and bailiff duties in remote country locations. Early colonial policemen were worked part-time, they were paid only for specific tasks, such as one shilling for serving a summons.
By 1830, there were fifteen part-time constables in the state. A mounted force was established in 1834, proving unpopular with citizens on the grounds that it was not efficient and was being paid out of their taxes for duties which the military should be performing, it was involved in the "Pinjarra Massacre", in which Captain Ellis, the police superintendent, was killed together with a large number of Aboriginal people. The first full-time constable for Perth was appointed in 1840; the Legislative Council passed a police ordinance in 1849 that outlined police powers and responsibilities. An organised police force was formally established in 1853. After convicts started arriving in the colony in 1849, the police acquired the duties of registering and supervising ticket-of-leave men. By 1870, after transportation had ceased, some 1,244 ticket-of-leave men had to be supervised by 146 police employees. Applicants for police service were required to be aged under forty and physically fit. Leave was difficult to obtain and officers were not to appear in public when out of uniform.
Until the end of the nineteenth century, the monthly pay day was marked by a parade with band. A Criminal Investigation Department was set up in 1873, although two detectives had been sent out from Britain in 1854. A fingerprint bureau was set up in 1902 and the first female officer was appointed in 1917; the Police Headquarters is located in East Perth overlooking the Causeway, near the WACA Ground. The 1960s curved building housed the former East Perth Lockup. and a magistrates courtroom. The structure is entered on the State Heritage Register. Recruits are trained at the Western Australian Police Academy at Joondalup; the Academy was located at Maylands, in premises still used by various units including the mounted and K-9 sections. The command structure has the state divided into three regions and sub-divided into fourteen districts; as of 2017 there were 35 metropolitan and 123 regional police stations. The highest-ranking officer is the Commissioner of Police; as of October 2017, the Commissioner is Chris Dawson, who commenced duties on 16 August 2017.
There is an Assistant Commissioner, a Deputy Commissioner, a Deputy Commissioner and an Executive Director. Politically, the service comes within the portfolio of the Minister for Police. A number of specialist units have been established, including the Tactical Response Group, Dog Squad, Gang Crime Squad, Crime Investigation and Intelligence Services, Water Police, Traffic Enforcement Group, Specialist Police Motorcycle Unit, Regional Operations Group, Police Air Wing, Liquor Enforcement Unit and the Gold Stealing Detection Unit; as of 2017, some 6,793 police officers were employed, including auxiliary officers and Aboriginal liaison officers. Females constituted 21.6% of the police officers, including two of 13 senior officers. The Western Australia Police have Police Auxiliary Officers, members of staff who are employed to support WA Police officers through the admission and release of detainees in the Perth Watch House and other station-based lock-ups, including the supervision and transferring of detainees to court and for medical treatment in hospitals.
Other duties include managing and handling drugs and firearms, processing property and exhibits and a range of station support tasks. They are distinguishable by their maroon epaulettes, white name patches and their uniforms display'Auxiliary Officer' instead of'Police'. Police Auxiliary Officers are authorised to carry a firearm and a Taser and are equipped with telescopic batons and Oleoresin Capsicum Spray, they have limited. Created in 2004 the Regional Operations Group provides WAPOL with a specialist public order capability; the unit is split into two sub units and South. ROG officers undergo intensive public order training and carry extra equipment to assist with this whenever they are on duty. In 2013 the organisation opened a new facility at Northbridge. Accommodating up to 500 police officers, the complex includes the Perth Police Station, the Central Metropolitan District Office, the Northbridge Magistrate's Court and a new state-of-the-art Perth Watch House. Before long, the police union complained that insufficient staff had been assigned to the new lock-up in the context of state government budget constraints.
Traditionally the Commissioner came from within the service t
Police
The police are a constituted body of persons empowered by a state to enforce the law, to protect the lives and possessions of citizens, to prevent crime and civil disorder. Their powers include the legitimized use of force; the term is most associated with the police forces of a sovereign state that are authorized to exercise the police power of that state within a defined legal or territorial area of responsibility. Police forces are defined as being separate from the military and other organizations involved in the defense of the state against foreign aggressors. Police forces are public sector services, funded through taxes. Law enforcement is only part of policing activity. Policing has included an array of activities in different situations, but the predominant ones are concerned with the preservation of order. In some societies, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, these developed within the context of maintaining the class system and the protection of private property. Police forces have become ubiquitous in modern societies.
Their role can be controversial, as some are involved to varying degrees in corruption, police brutality and the enforcement of authoritarian rule. A police force may be referred to as a police department, police service, gendarmerie, crime prevention, protective services, law enforcement agency, civil guard or civic guard. Members may be referred to as police officers, sheriffs, rangers, peace officers or civic/civil guards. Ireland differs from other English-speaking countries by using the Irish language terms Garda and Gardaí, for both the national police force and its members; the word police is the most universal and similar terms can be seen in many non-English speaking countries. Numerous slang terms exist for the police. Many slang terms for police officers are centuries old with lost etymology. One of the oldest, "cop", has lost its slang connotations and become a common colloquial term used both by the public and police officers to refer to their profession. First attested in English in the early 15th century in a range of senses encompassing' policy.
This is derived from πόλις, "city". Law enforcement in ancient China was carried out by "prefects" for thousands of years since it developed in both the Chu and Jin kingdoms of the Spring and Autumn period. In Jin, dozens of prefects were spread across the state, each having limited authority and employment period, they were appointed by local magistrates, who reported to higher authorities such as governors, who in turn were appointed by the emperor, they oversaw the civil administration of their "prefecture", or jurisdiction. Under each prefect were "subprefects" who helped collectively with law enforcement in the area; some prefects were responsible for handling investigations, much like modern police detectives. Prefects could be women; the concept of the "prefecture system" spread to other cultures such as Japan. In ancient Greece, publicly owned slaves were used by magistrates as police. In Athens, a group of 300 Scythian slaves was used to guard public meetings to keep order and for crowd control, assisted with dealing with criminals, handling prisoners, making arrests.
Other duties associated with modern policing, such as investigating crimes, were left to the citizens themselves. In the Roman empire, the army, rather than a dedicated police organization, provided security. Local watchmen were hired by cities to provide some extra security. Magistrates such as procurators fiscal and quaestors investigated crimes. There was no concept of public prosecution, so victims of crime or their families had to organize and manage the prosecution themselves. Under the reign of Augustus, when the capital had grown to one million inhabitants, 14 wards were created, their duties included capturing runaway slaves. The vigiles were supported by the Urban Cohorts who acted as a heavy-duty anti-riot force and the Praetorian Guard if necessary. In medieval Spain, Santa Hermandades, or "holy brotherhoods", peacekeeping associations of armed individuals, were a characteristic of municipal life in Castile; as medieval Spanish kings could not offer adequate protection, protective municipal leagues began to emerge in the twelfth century against banditry and other rural criminals, against the lawless nobility or to support one or another claimant to a crown.
These organizations became a long-standing fixture of Spain. The first recorded case of the formation of an hermandad occurred when the towns and the peasantry of the north united to police the pilgrim road to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, protect the pilgrims against robber knights. Throughout the Middle Ages such alliances were formed by combinations of towns to protect the roads connecting them, were extended to political purposes. Among the most powerful was the league of North Castilian and Basque ports, the Hermandad de las marismas: Toledo and Villarreal; as one of their first acts after end of the War of the Castilian Succession in 1479, Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile established the centrally-organized and efficient Holy
South Australia Police
The South Australia Police is the police force of the Australian state of South Australia. It is an agency of the Government of South Australia within the South Australian Department of Justice. SAPOL is directed by the Commissioner of Police; as of 30 June 2017, South Australia Police had 4948 active sworn members, including 339 cadets in training and 132 protective services officers, as well as 920 civilian staff operating across 28 metropolitan and 110 regional police stations. Formally established in 1838 under Henry Inman, the force is the oldest in Australasia and it is the third oldest organised Police Force in the World. Unlike other Australian police forces, which employed soldiers or former convicts, the South Australia Police enlisted only volunteers; this occurred. In the early stages of the force, the staffing team consisted of ten mounted constables and ten foot constables under the command of the Inspector Henry Inman. By 1840, Major Thomas Shouldham O'Halloran was appointed as the first official Commissioner of Police.
At this time, SAPOL consisted of one Superintendent, two Inspectors, three Sergeants and 47 Constables divided into foot and mounted sections. From 1848 to 1867, SAPOL served as the state fire and rescue service until the South Australian Metropolitan Fire Service was formed, they supplied the Civil Ambulance Service 1880 til 1954 when it was taken over by the St John Ambulance Service. Emergency assistance on 000 Non-urgent assistance on 131 444 Crime prevention Child protection Coordinating and managing emergency response Responding to domestic violence Undertaking police checks Preventing vehicle crashes Regulating road use Registration and licensing of firearms Administering expiation notices Liquor licensing enforcement Statewide security Upholding the law. Advocacy Education Community engagement Incident response Investigation Law enforcement Prosecution Victim support. 1893: Introduced bicycles for metropolitan and country foot police. 1893: Pioneered the fingerprint system in Australia.
1915: Appointed the first women police in the British Commonwealth - Kate Cocks and Annie Ross 1987: The first Australian police service to introduce videotaping of'suspect person' interviews. 1993: Introduced Operation Nomad, as a policing initiative to reduce the threat of bushfires. 1996: Crime Stoppers launched. 1999: The first Australian policing jurisdiction to appoint a female police officer, Senior Sergeant Jane Kluzek, to a tactical group. 2000s: Established Neighbourhood Policing Teams in various metropolitan areas. 2011: The first police jurisdiction in Australia to launch its own web platform connecting mobile phone users to the latest police news. SAPOL's structure consists of various units. Through chain of command, all units are accountable to the Commissioner. Services are the largest units, are headed by a sworn Assistant Commissioner, or for areas which are not policing specific, such as information technology, a civilian Director. Services are directly accountable to either the Deputy Commissioner.
Services are based on Local Service Areas which provide operational policing services, Branches, which provide other specialised services or assistance. These areas are further broken down into Sections. Larger sections may be divided into a number of Teams. Local Service Areas are the main organisational unit to provide policing services to the public. A local service area contains a number of police stations, specialist services to support frontline police such as Detectives, Crime Scene Investigators and Traffic police; each LSA has a designated office known as a ` Complex'. The LSA have smaller community police stations for quick policing access. SAPOL has specific divisions to handle different roles within the organisation. All members of these units are trained for the roles that accompany their division. General Operations—Handles all general policing operations. Traffic Services—Handles traffic related operations. Major Crime Investigations Branch—Investigation and detective unit. Special Tasks and Rescue Force—Handles specialised operations that require armed police.
They are similar to American SWAT/ Canadian ERT. Water Operations Unit—Handles operations in water. Dog Operations Unit—Handles operations that require dog assistance. Mounted Operations Unit—Operations utilizing Horses. Forensic Services Branch—Handles forensics and investigative services. Band of the South Australia Police - Provides Musical support to corporate and State functions. Public Transport Safety Branch - Handles offences that occur on Public Transport services operating in the Adelaide Metropolitan area All grades of Constable perform the same basic range of duties, with the rank only reflecting experience; the rank of Probationary Constable is held for the first fifteen months of service. A Constable with one stripe is qualified for promotion to Senior Constable. A Senior Constable First Class is either an officer qualified for promotion to Sergeant/Senior Sergeant or has won a Senior Constable First Class position on merit. A Brevet Sergeant is a temporary designation for an officer in a particular position which would require specialised skills, such as a Detective, A Sergeant manages a team during a shift.
A Sergeant may manage a small country station. A Detective Sergeant is in charge of a team in an investigations section; as with a Sergeant, a Detective Sergeant may be the officer in charge of a country CIB unit. A Senior Sergeant is the officer in charge of a section, including traffic, criminal investigation, operations. A Senior Sergeant traditionally does more administrati
Brigadier general
Brigadier general or Brigade general is a senior rank in the armed forces. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries sitting between the ranks of colonel and major general; when appointed to a field command, a brigadier general is in command of a brigade consisting of around 4,000 troops. In some countries a brigadier general is informally designated as a one-star general. In some countries, this rank is given the name of brigadier, equivalent to brigadier general in the armies of nations that use the rank, although the rank is not regarded as a general officer; the rank can be traced back to the militaries of Europe where a brigadier general, or a brigadier, would command a brigade in the field. The rank name général de brigade, was first used in the French revolutionary armies. In the first quarter of the 20th century and Commonwealth armies used the rank of brigadier general as a temporary appointment, or as an honorary appointment on retirement; some armies, such as Taiwan and Japan, use major general as the equivalent of brigadier general.
Some of these armies use the rank of colonel general to make four general-officer ranks. Mexico uses the ranks of General de brigada; this gallery displays Air Force brigadier general insignia if they are different from the Army brigadier general insignia. Note that in many Commonwealth countries, the equivalent air force rank is Air Commodore; the rank of brigadier general is used in the Argentine Air Force. Unlike other armed forces of the World, the rank of brigadier general is the highest rank in the Air Force; this is due to the use of the rank of brigadier and its derivatives to designate all general officers in the Air Force: brigadier. The rank of brigadier general is reserved for the Chief General Staff of the Air Force, as well as the Chief of the Joint General Staff if he should be an Air Force officer; the Argentine Army does not use the rank of brigadier-general, instead using brigade general which in turn is the lowest general officer before Divisional General and Lieutenant General.
In the Australian Imperial Force during World War I, the rank of brigadier general was always temporary and held only while the officer was posted to a particular task the command of a brigade. When posted elsewhere, the rank would be relinquished and the former rank resumed; this policy prevented an accumulation of high-ranking general officers brought about by the high turnover of brigade commanders. Brigadier general was used as an honorary rank on retirement; the rank insignia was like that of the current major general, but without the star/pip - example. As in the United Kingdom, the rank was replaced by brigadier. Hence, prior to 1922, a "brigadier general" was a "general officer". Prior to 2001, the Bangladesh Army rank was known as brigadier, in conformity with the rank structure of the Commonwealth Nations. In 2001 the Bangladesh Army introduced the rank of brigadier general, however "the grade stayed equivalent to brigadier", although classified as a "one-star rank", a brigadier general is not considered to be a general officer – the lowest ranking general officer is Major General.
Brigadier general is equivalent to commodore of the Bangladesh Navy and air commodore of the Bangladesh Air Force. It is still more popularly called brigadier; the Belgian Army uses the rank of général de brigadegeneraal. However, in this small military there are no permanent promotions to this rank, it is only awarded as a temporary promotion to a full colonel who assumes a post requiring the rank, notably in an international context. General de brigada is the lowest rank amongst general officers of the Brazilian Army – i.e. like in most British Commonwealth counties, the lowest general officer rank is a two-star rank, a General de Brigada wears a two-star insignia. Hence, it is equivalent to the major general rank of many counties. In the Brazilian Air Force, all of the senior ranks include "Brigadeiro" – the two-star rank is Brigadeiro, the three-star rank is Major-Brigadeiro and the four-star rank is Tenente-Brigadeiro-do-Ar; the rank of brigadier general is known in Burma as bo hmu gyoke and is the deputy commander of one of Burma's Regional Military Commands, commander of the light infantry division or Military Operation Commands.
In civil service, a brigadier general holds the office of deputy minister or director general of certain ministries. In the Canadian Forces, the rank of brigadier-general is a rank for members who wear army or air force uniform, equal to a commodore for those in navy uniform. A brigadier-general is the lowest rank of general officer. A brigadier-general is senior to a colonel or naval captain, junior to a major-general or rear admiral; the rank title brigadier-general is still used notwithstanding that brigades in the army are now commanded by colonels. Until the late
