First, NYPD = New York Police Department and NYC = New York City.

In California, some cities do not have a police department. They are patrolled by the county
sherrif department. Some of the cites that do have a police department are augumented by
the sherrif department. Also, some cities have universities which have a police department
of their own.

In addition, there is the CHP (California Highway Patrol), the California State Police and
then some federal agencies, such as INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service, AKA Border
Patrol) and the US Marshals, the FBI, the US Secret Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) located throughout the state.

State and Federal police agencies require their officers to take a class called POST, or
Police Officer Standards Training and are hired by the state or city;

http://crime.about.com/od/agencies/a/agencies_ca.htm

Security gaurd services (AKA Rent-A-Cops), are generally less well trained and don't
exists in such high numbers as the police. Most Rent-A-Cops are not POST certified.

One sure fire way to recognize a real police force is by the cars they drive. The real
police have blue and red light bars on their cars. Rent-A-Cops, if they even drive a car,
have yellow lights as only state and federal agencies can use Red and Blue.

When I was young and in the Marines, I moonlighted as a Rent-A-Cop and to do so, you
had to take a class called 'Powers To Arrest', which basically said that a Rent-A-Cop
can only effect a Civilian Arrest. This is basically one civilian saying to another,
'You are under arrest', to which the other civilian can say 'Blow it out your ear'
and the first can do nothing about it. Rent-A-Cops have no real authority. They exist
mainly to keep a lookout and call the police.



>Can anyone explain to me what's the difference between NYPD and NYC (city - I know) Police. I noticed also when I was on Boston that they seemd to have at least 3 police forces operating in the city, all with different uniforms (and that's not to mention campus police - are they a bona fide police BTW or just like armed security guards?).
>
>How's a guy to know if he's being arrested by pukka police or being shaken down by a security organisation, especially as there's a multitude of different uniforms? I find this very confusing
>
>In England & Wales there is only one police, with jurisdiction throughout the two lands (Scotland have their own), and then the Transport Police, who essentially police the railways. Sure, this force (or service they like to call it) is split into different county or regional units, but is essentially the same organisation, and has a recognisable uniform.
>
>In France they seem to have the Police National, Police Municipal and the Gendarmes (more rural I think and sort of paramilitary), whereas Italy have something similar to the Gendarmes (Caribinieri) and Spain (Guardia Civil).