What does a lieutenant do?
A lieutenant is responsible for overseeing operations in police departments, evaluating departmental cases, cooperating in law enforcement investigations, monitoring internal activities, and ensuring the safety and security of the premises. Lieutenants also enforce rules and regulations for everyone's strict compliance, inspect police department facilities, and identify serious offenses. They also confiscate violating items, document any evidence for further investigation. A lieutenant must have excellent leadership skills, as well as extensive knowledge of the law regulations to maintain the credibility and integrity of the police operations.
Lieutenant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real lieutenant resumes:
- Manage a robust fire training program meeting NFPA, DoD, AFOSH, and German fire credentials.
- Manage respiratory and cardiac emergencies to include performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR).
- Facilitate the planning, delegation of duties, and conduct all training events for ROTC personnel.
- Coordinate the logistics throughout fully simulate combat operations in preparation to deploy to Afghanistan.
- prepare paperwork to send to ems biller.
- Mentore underclassmen in ROTC policies and procedures.
- Conduct trainings and make sure all member meet NFPA requirements.
- Develop expert-level knowledge of the job through firefighter and EMT certification courses.
- Maintain and file all pertinent files pertaining to equipment procurement and payroll processes.
- Volunteer firefighters rescue victims and provide first aid, including CPR, mouth-to-mouth breathing and wind care.
- Provide emergency services including firefighting, rescue, hazmat and medical services to the greater Fleetwood area.
- Schedule and perform service and major repairs on cooking, refrigeration and HVAC equipment throughout the hotel.
- Operate and maintain the steam heating system, absorption chiller cooling system, and other HVAC equipment.
- Complete payroll reports, insurance, new hires, terminations, general office duties, filing, etc.
- Supervise personnel in hazmat, supply, maintenance, food service, and communication sections of a medical unit.
Lieutenant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 11% of Lieutenants are proficient in Public Safety, Patrol, and Direct Supervision.
We break down the percentage of Lieutenants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Public Safety, 11%
Analyzed various sources of information, and identified high-crime target areas within the appropriate jurisdiction to improve public safety initiatives.
- Patrol, 10%
Post Commander responsible for administration, personnel and operational effectiveness of a Highway Patrol Post in various southwestern Ohio Counties.
- Direct Supervision, 8%
Direct Supervision of correctional officers assigned to specialize housing unit and managed program activities for incarcerated inmates and youth.
- Security Procedures, 7%
Provide guidance and expertise to staff from other departments in the implementation of correctional security procedures.
- Incident Command, 7%
Assumed role of Incident Commander during the resolution of numerous emergency situations and additionally tasked with Station Captain Responsibilities as needed.
- Criminal Justice, 6%
Graduated Kentucky Criminal Justice Executive Development Program 2015.
"public safety," "patrol," and "direct supervision" are among the most common skills that lieutenants use at work. You can find even more lieutenant responsibilities below, including:
The three companies that hire the most lieutenants are:
- Management & Training12 lieutenants jobs
- Texas Department of Transportation12 lieutenants jobs
- The GEO Group8 lieutenants jobs
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Compare different lieutenants
Lieutenant vs. Command master chief
A Chief Of Police is the title typically given to the top official in the chain of command of a police department. They plan, coordinate, supervise, and evaluate police department operations.
While similarities exist, there are also some differences between lieutenants and command master chief. For instance, lieutenant responsibilities require skills such as "public safety," "patrol," "direct supervision," and "security procedures." Whereas a command master chief is skilled in "morale," "human resources," "logistics support," and "sailors." This is part of what separates the two careers.
Command master chiefs tend to reach higher levels of education than lieutenants. In fact, command master chiefs are 7.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% less likely to have a Doctoral Degree.Lieutenant vs. Commanding officer
While some skills are similar in these professions, other skills aren't so similar. For example, resumes show us that lieutenant responsibilities requires skills like "public safety," "patrol," "direct supervision," and "security procedures." But a commanding officer might use other skills in their typical duties, such as, "logistical support," "direct oversight," "coast guard," and "financial management."
Commanding officers earn higher levels of education than lieutenants in general. They're 11.2% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.5% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Lieutenant vs. Co-captain
There are many key differences between these two careers, including some of the skills required to perform responsibilities within each role. For example, a lieutenant is likely to be skilled in "public safety," "patrol," "direct supervision," and "security procedures," while a typical co-captain is skilled in "championship," "scholarship," "all-conference," and "soccer."
Co-captains typically earn similar educational levels compared to lieutenants. Specifically, they're 4.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Lieutenant vs. Chief of police
Even though a few skill sets overlap between lieutenants and chiefs of police, there are some differences that are important to note. For one, a lieutenant might have more use for skills like "direct supervision," "security procedures," "incident command," and "emergency response." Meanwhile, some responsibilities of chiefs of police require skills like "emergency management," "police services," "law enforcement," and "state laws. "
The government industry tends to pay the highest salaries for chiefs of police, with average annual pay of $63,957. Comparatively, the highest lieutenant annual salary comes from the technology industry.The average resume of chiefs of police showed that they earn similar levels of education compared to lieutenants. So much so that theyacirc;euro;trade;re 3.2% more likely to earn a Master's Degree and more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree by 0.2%.Types of lieutenant
Updated January 8, 2025
