Law enforcement in the United States in the context of "Chicago Police Department"

The San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) is the municipal law enforcement agency of the City and County of San Francisco, as well as San Francisco International Airport in San Mateo County. In 2000, the SFPD was the 11th largest police department in the United States.

The SFPD (along with the San Francisco Fire Department and the San Francisco Sheriff's Department) serves an estimated population of 1.2 million, including the daytime-commuter population and thousands of other tourists and visitors.

The Naked Gun is a media franchise based on the TV show Police Squad!, consisting of American crime spoof-slapstick comedy films, created by the comedy filmmaking trio Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker. It includes one television series, four theatrical films and a video game. The series centers on a bumbling police detective who solves criminal cases in comical fashion. Leslie Nielsen stars in the television series and the first three films as the protagonist Detective Sergeant Frank Drebin; a fourth film starring Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. was released in 2025. Critics have praised the TV series and the films, all four of which have been financially successful.

John Doe (male) or Jane Doe (female) are multiple-use placeholder names that are used in the British, Canadian, and American legal systems, when the true name of a person is unknown or is being intentionally concealed. In the context of law enforcement in the United States, such names are often used to refer to a corpse whose identity is unknown or cannot be confirmed. These names are also often used to refer to a hypothetical "everyman" in other contexts, like John Q. Public or "Joe Public". There are many variants to the above names, including John (or Richard)/Jane Roe, John/Jane Smith, Joe/Jane Bloggs, and Johnie/Janie Doe or just Baby Doe for children. The gender-neutral A. N. Other is also a placeholder name, mainly used in the United Kingdom.

Sergeant (Sgt) is a rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The alternative spelling, serjeant, is used in The Rifles and in other units that draw their heritage from the British light infantry. The word "sergeant" derives from the Latin serviens, 'one who serves', through the Old French term serjant.

In modern hierarchies the term sergeant refers to a non-commissioned officer positioned above the rank of corporal, or to a police officer immediately below a lieutenant in the United States, or below an inspector in the United Kingdom. In most armies, a sergeant commands a squad or a section. In Commonwealth armies, it is a more senior rank, corresponding roughly to a platoon second-in-command. In the United States Army, sergeant is a more junior rank corresponding to a fireteam leader or assistant squad-leader; while in the United States Marine Corps the rank is typically held by squad leaders.

American militia movement is a term which is used by law enforcement and security analysts in reference to a number of private organizations that include paramilitary or similar elements. These groups may refer to themselves as militia, unorganized militia, and constitutional militia. While groups such as the Posse Comitatus existed as early as the 1980s, the movement gained momentum only after standoffs with government agents in the early 1990s. By the mid-1990s, such groups were active in all 50 US states, with membership estimated at between 20,000 and 60,000. The movement is most closely associated with the American right-wing. Most modern organizations calling themselves militias are illegal private paramilitary organizations that would require official sanctioning of a state government in order to be constitutional.

There are cases, both documented and alleged, that involve the usage of torture by members of the United States government, military, law enforcement agencies, intelligence agencies, healthcare services, and other public organizations both in and out of the country.

Torture is illegal in the United States. The United States came under scrutiny for controversial practices, both from foreign and domestic sources, following the Military Commissions Act of 2006.