I hate to post another police department question, but the previous one really hit home when I skimmed through it. The character in my novel is a detective. I want her to be THE lead detective. Here's my problem, I have no idea what a lead detective does. Also, when it comes to ranking, is the lead detective in charge of all the other detectives, or just in charge based on the case. In other words, can anyone be a lead detective at any given time? Also, I've watched a few tv shows in my day and I've heard some of the officers refer to their supervisors as "chief", "lieutenant chief", and "sarge", but I have no clue what it all means in the grand scheme. For example, are detectives ranked higher than regular beat cops? Also, who would outrank the supervising detective (if there's a such thing). I was thinking of going to a courthouse up the road but I was afraid they'd drag me down to interrogation for questioning...LOL Any help would be appreciated.