Assistant chief constable
Assistant chief constable (ACC) is the third highest rank in all British territorial police forces (except the Metropolitan Police and City of London Police, in which the equivalent rank is commander), as well as the British Transport Police, Ministry of Defence Police and Civil Nuclear Constabulary.
Each force has between one and six assistant chief constables. They are the lowest officers at chief officer level, below the chief constable and deputy chief constable, and rank immediately above chief superintendents. Assistant chief constables usually hold portfolios (e.g. for crime, operations or territorial policing). In larger forces, ACCs may be given responsibilities for policing major territories within the force area.
Senior police civilian staff (such as directors of finance and resources) hold equivalent status and are generally known as assistant chief officers.
Insignia
The rank badge worn by an assistant chief constable or a commander consists of crossed tipstaves within a wreath, roughly analogous to the former insignia of a brigadier-general in the British Army or Royal Marines, which was a crossed sword and baton, sans wreath.
Current numbers of ACCs
- Six ACCs: Police Scotland
- Five ACCs: Greater Manchester Police, West Midlands Police
- Four ACCs: British Transport Police, Kent Police, Merseyside Police, Police Service of Northern Ireland, West Yorkshire Police
- Three ACCs: Avon and Somerset Constabulary, Devon and Cornwall Constabulary, Essex Police, Hampshire Constabulary, Lancashire Constabulary, Ministry of Defence Police, Norfolk Constabulary, Northumbria Police, North Yorkshire Police, South Wales Police, South Yorkshire Police, Staffordshire Police, Sussex Police, Thames Valley Police
- Two ACCs: Bedfordshire Police, Cheshire Police, Cleveland Police, Cumbria Constabulary, Derbyshire Constabulary, Dorset Police, Gloucestershire Constabulary, Hertfordshire Constabulary, Humberside Police, Leicestershire Constabulary, Lincolnshire Police, Northamptonshire Police, Nottinghamshire Police, Suffolk Constabulary, Surrey Police, West Mercia Police, Wiltshire Police
- One ACC: Cambridgeshire Constabulary, Civil Nuclear Constabulary, Durham Constabulary, Dyfed-Powys Police, Gwent Police, North Wales Police, Warwickshire Police (had two ACCs until 2011)
