Policy Text
University of California, San Francisco
Police Department General Orders
1
1.4 Organization: Authority and Responsibility
1.4.1 Chief of Police (Revised: 7/18/18 )
A. The Chief of Police shall be responsible to the Senior Vice Chancellor, Financial and
Administrative Services for the leadership and direction the Department. When absent,
the Chief of Police will delegate responsibility and authority for the Police Department to
a Captain.
1. In the absence of a Captain, the Chief of Police may delegate responsibility for
command to a Lieutenant.
B. Ranks/Chain of Command
1. The precedence of rank in descending order is:
a. Chief of Police
b. Captain
c. Lieutenant
d. Sergeant
e. Corporal / Detective
f. Officer .
2. Non-sworn personnel who are assigned to supervisory positions will exercise the
same authority and responsibility over their work area as that of a sworn
supervisor in the same capacity.
C. Supervisory Responsibility
1. Supervisory positions exist to provide direction, guidance, training and
supervision to personnel.
2. All Department pe rsonnel will obey and carry out any lawful order from any
superior officer.
a. No personnel will be required to obey an order that is unlawful or requires
that an unlawful act be committed.
b. All personnel will accept responsibility for disobeying an ord er if, in fact,
the order was legal.
D. Commensurate Authority
1. All personnel within the Department are afforded the commensurate authority to
effectively make decisions and carry out their responsibilities.