Police board (Canada)

In the Canadian Republic, all local civilian law enforcement agencies (that is, other than the provincial/territorial police or the RCMP) are commanded by a Chief Constable (the highest ranking sworn police officer in a constabulary), who is elected by and responsible to a police board (French: bureau de police), via the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) of the county for which the constabulary is responsible.

A police board acts as both the employer of a local constabulary (usually called a county constabulary, as most local police forces are assigned to a particular county), as well as its official civilian oversight and supervisory body. The PCC directs the police board's agenda and acts on its behalf between police board sessions, but is ultimately accountable to the police board which had the power to remove the PCC and hire a new one. The PCC officially appoints the Chief Constable of the relevant constabulary, but only on advice of the police board as a whole.