.........I'm curious though where does the US military sit? what about the fire department, paramedic service or park rangers
Are they private companies or are you relying on part time/volenteers?
Heads up spoiler before reading the whole long post: in all cases it’s a combination of civil servants, elected officials, unpaid volunteers, and private contractors.
I’ll start with the military. It’s a combination of:
-Active Duty
-Reserves
-National Guard
-Air National Guard
-Naval Militia
-Civilian civil servants
-and yes indeed, a very large proportion of private contractors. However these are NOT civil servants. That term here by definition is reserved for civilian employees
-Two services are also augmented by unpaid volunteer auxilliaries:
—-The Air Force is augmented by its auxiliary, the Civil Air Patrol (this auxiliary utilizes privately owned aircraft and has sunk at least one confirmed enemy submarine in WW2 and produced multiple search and rescues every year since) Members also provide their,own personal amateur radio equipment for the CAP’s communications needs.
—-The Coast Guard is augmented by its auxiliary which is simply called the Coast Guard Auxilliary (this auxiliary primarily conducts boat safety checks and safety education as well as safety patrols on various waterways using the members’ own boats and equipment. They also furnish their own privately owned aircraft and crews for the auxiliary’s air arm, and their personal amateur radio equipment for the auxiliary’s communications division.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Next I’ll discuss the Fire Department:
-In the rural areas (the largest wise) they’re unpaid volunteers
-In urban areas they’re civil servants (similarly to you civil servants they’re underpaid) and augmented by unpaid volunteers.
-and yes, some departments are private contractors as the various gobernmental subdivisions (federal, state, county, city, etc.) find it cheaper than maintains their own department.
In all except the instances except the contractors, fire departments have a rank structure semi parallel to the military
————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-——————
Finally we’ll cover the police which will have to be divided into some broad categories
-Federal:
—-Under the Justice Department the cops are federal civil servants
—-Under the Department of the Interior the park rangers (yes, many of them have police authority) are also federal civil servants (generally overpaid and glorified baby sitters for tourist)
—-Under the Department of Agriculture the cops (Game Wardens) are also federal civil servants (these do more to earn their pay as they encounter much more risk encountering illegal wildlife smuggling)
—-Under the Post Office the cops are still federal civil servants but do little to earn even the badge, much less the pay.
Now for state level police: (be advised, this is extreme generalization and some states have combined some of these departments)
—-State Police/Highway Patrol are the vanguard of most statewide forces . They are state civil servants and pay varies widely from state to state
—-State Fish & Wildlife Officers are state civil servants and likewise their pay varies widely from state to state Some states have combined this department with the Highway Patrol and others have combined it with the Park Police (Florida combined it with both the Park Police and the Marine Patrol)
—-State Park Police/Park Rangers are also state civil servants (not all states give law enforcement authority to Park Rangers)
—-State Marine Patrols where they exist are also state civil service
—-Private contractors engaged to provide armed security officers at low threat state owned properties rather than detailing an officer (no these are not civil service)
ALL State agencies are augmented by unpaid volunteer Reserves and/or Auxilliaries
-Lastly I’ll cover local and rural agencies/departments:
—-In incorporated cities there are a variety of departments. Some cities select and hire a Police Chief which h would be a local. I I’ll servant while other cities elect a Marshal which would NOT be a civil servant by definition although for all intents and purposes, yes, he would be. All lower ranking officers or deputies would be civil servants and pay and training varies widely even within the same state.
—-In rural areas (counties in most states: parishes in Louisiana) the sheriff is the head of general law enforcement department, and the deputies are hired “at the descetion of the sheriff.” Quality of pay and training is variable with the department. Again, The sheriff by definition is an elected official rather than a civil servant but also again, that’s a grey line (the operative difference being that elected officials can’t be “fired” but rather have to be eithe recalled, impeached, or relieved by the Governor with a court order) All deputies are local civil servants.
—-ALL local agencies have the authority to augment with unpaid volunteer reserves and/or auxiliaries and almost all of the larger department do
—-Many southern and western states still have Constables. This is almost always an elected official who serves the next lower rural division in a county (variously called a beat, a district, or some other term in different states) His or her authority is full police powers although his /her primary function is serving summons, subpoenas, warrants, etc. and furnishing security for Justice Court (formerly called the Justice of the Peace and roughly equivalent to your Magistrates Court) In most states he receives no real pay to speak of. Rather he gets a small expense allowance to buy and maintain uniforms, weapons, ammunition, and equipment (equipment such as the emergency lights for his car, sirens, radios, radar guns, etc) The last tIme I checked in Mississippi (about 5 years ago) that allowance wasn’t around $5000 on initial and relelection. The other “pay” he receives is about $0.40 per mile when serving papers. Mileage computed either from the courthouse to the point of service (when accepting papers directly) or from the nearest post office (when papers are mailed to him for service.
—-Yes, again at this level some police departments or agencies are private contractors and again it’s because contracting is often (usually) cheaper than maintaining a civil service department.
Edit to add: at the federal level at least one private security company hfull status as law enforcement with full arrest powers. That is the Pinkerton Detective agency because they’ve always had the contracts with the various private railroad companies as the “railroad police” but only while on duty and only those employed in service to a railroad company. Elsewhere, namely in the state of Nevada, ALL private security officers regardless of employer have full recognition as police officers (but only whole on duty) And no, none of those have any civil service status whatsoever nor much in the way of minimum training requirements.