E-5 is a Buck Sargent
O-1 and O-2 are 2nd lieutenants and 1st Louies..the lowest you can be as an Officer...
We are talking here about police departments, where anyone, we assume would be a patrol officer first, then advance to sergeant, then to lieutenant. There are not enlisted men and then separate officer corps. So, in a police department, we would assume that a lieutenant always outranks a sergeant and has a higher pay grade, wouldn’t we? It was that way in Hayward, CA where I grew up.