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

Yeah, I knew this (we did get NYPD Blue, you know, and have been exposed to these terms since before Cagney & Lacey) I just wanted to know what was the difference and why.
>
>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.

I find this weird, the fact that the sherrif has to be voted into or out of office ("It's an election year and the people won't like my doing that"). This seems to leave them wide open to graft, or, say, being more lenient for fear of offending the voters.

>Also, some cities have universities which have a police department
>of their own.

I knew about the Campus police but wanted to know to what extent they WERE cops, and not just security guards.

>
>In addition, there is the CHP (California Highway Patrol), the California State Police and

Hey, who could forget Erik Estrada in "CHiPs" :-)

>then some federal agencies, such as INS (Immigration and Naturalization Service, AKA Border
>Patrol)

>and the US Marshals,

Du-uh! ("The Fugitive", "Marshals", Marshal Dillon, etc. etc.

>the FBI, the US Secret Service, and the Bureau of Alcohol,

Du-uh ("FBI", "X Files", practically every cop show where the FBI guys try to muscle in and the local cops resent them)

>Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) located throughout the state.

Waco

>
>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.

There was an awful film in the 80s where a younger brother took over his elder bro's private police force, after he'd been killed (Christian Slater, I think). Never could understand that scenario.

>
>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.

Same over here. The flashing blue lights and 2-tone sirens are called "blues and twos"

>
>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.

There is something similar in the UK now. They're called Community Support Officers (CSO), and wear the same uniform, but with their title on it. They get paid less so nowadays they seem to be the only visible "police" presence outside a car.

In England & Wales the only difference between a cop's or citizen's (we don't say civilian) powers to arrest are that a citizen can arrest if an arrestable offence has been committed, and he's seen the culprit, but a cop can arrest if he THINKS an arrestable offence has been committed (e.g. he hears breaking glass around the corner then the suspect comes running from that direction)

Cheers

Terry