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police chief

police chief

93 3.2
An officer who is in charge of a police department
  • noun
  • /pəˈliːs tʃiːf/
translation icon : jefe de policía
  • The police chief announced new measures to improve community safety during the town meeting.
  • the police chief said
  • former police chief
  • city police chief

And it was the Malden Police chief who personally stood watch that first night.

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Examples

  • Bill Conners, the police chief of Ridgewood, had always treated Sarah as an adult.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Mrs. Bates: The police chief told me he is putting his forces on alert.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Right away, the police chief was saying, "Who are you?"

  • An hour later, the local police chief was at the door.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Earlier in a press conference, the police chief said that he is confident that those who are responsible...

  • The only persons in this town who knew of this incident were the police chief and me.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • Send a message to the police chief of Gary, Indiana.

  • The first group of speakers consisted of a city manager, a police chief, and a county commissioner.

    Academic text (2004)
  • Los Angeles police chief, Dennis Warren stated today that the killer will be caught and that the police department is working around the clock to bring the killer to justice.

  • But he was also a top-notch police chief and cared deeply about the people of San Celina.

    Fiction book (2000)

Synonyms

police commissioner
vspolice chief
27 4.6

A senior officer in charge of a city's police force

focuses more on direct operational leadership of a local department or precinct
police captain
vspolice chief
  • US
10 3.3

A senior police officer in charge of a precinct or division

has higher overall authority across the whole department and its operations
Chief Constable
vspolice chief
  • UK
1 7.0

A senior police officer who leads the police in a county, especially in the United Kingdom

is responsible for a single department or precinct rather than a wider region

How Senior

police chief
93 3.2
police captain
  • US
10 3.3
police constable
  • UK
1 2.8

Surface Forms

police chief singular
police chiefs plural

Morphology

police + chief

The meaning 'officer in charge of a police department' is directly derivable from combining 'police' (law enforcement organization) with 'chief' (top leader). This noun+noun compositional pattern is straightforward and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the MWE's meaning.

Etymology

Police chief comes from joining police, the officers who keep order, with chief, the leader of a group. Picture one person standing in front of the officers giving orders, so police chief means the officer 'in charge' of a police force.