Editing Constable (section)

===Australia===
[[File:Nsw-police-constable.png|thumb|Rank epaulette of a constable of the [[New South Wales Police Force]]]]
{{Main|Australian police ranks}}

In Australia, as in the United Kingdom, constable is the lowest rank in most police services. It is often categorised into the following (from lowest to highest): probationary constable; constable; constable first class; senior constable; leading senior constable. These variations depend on the individual state or territory police force in question.

''Senior constable'' generally refers to a police officer of the rank above constable, and is denoted by way of two chevrons or stripes.

The [[New South Wales Police Force]] has three grades of senior constable, namely senior constable (two chevrons), incremental senior constable (two chevrons and a horizontal bar), and leading senior constable (two chevrons and two horizontal bars). A senior constable is senior to a constable but junior to an incremental senior constable. Promotion to senior constable can occur after a minimum of five years' service (one year as a probationary constable in addition to four years as constable) and then upon passing probity checks and an exam. Incremental senior constable is attained after ten years of service automatically. One is appointed to the rank of leading senior constable on a qualification basis, but must have a minimum of seven years' service amongst other criteria in order to be eligible. Leading senior constable is a specialist position of which there are limited allocated numbers within any section/unit or local area command. If an officer is transferred to another duty type or station, the officer is then relieved of the position of leading senior constable: it is primarily a position for field training officers who oversee the training and development of inexperienced probationary constables or constables.

Within the [[Victoria Police]], senior constable is the rank above constable, while above senior constable is leading senior constable. When first introduced into the Victoria Police, leading senior constable was a classification not a rank, somewhat like "detective"; leading senior constables were appointed specifically to assist in the training and mentoring of more junior members. The last round of wage negotiations, however, saw leading senior constable become a rank in its own right, one that a lot of members pass through on their way from constable to sergeant, though this is not strictly necessary and it is permissible to be promoted to sergeant direct from senior constable. The general form of address for both senior constable and leading senior constable is "senior", and this is acceptable even in courts.

The [[Queensland Police Service]] employs a similar rank structure. Recently graduated recruits from the [[Queensland Police Service|QPS]] police academy are deemed First Year Constables, a rank they will hold for the duration of their [[Probation (workplace)|probationary]] period within the service. Following their year of probation, they are promoted to the rank of constable, followed by another two grades, including the rank of senior constable (two chevrons) and leading senior constable (LSC, two chevrons and a bar). If the officer proves successful in an application for a detective position, they are to be known as a 'detective' constable. The proceeding ranks follow suit, including detective senior constable, detective LSC, detective sergeant, and so on.