A police station (sometimes called a "station house" or just "house") is a building which serves to accommodate police officers and other members of staff. These buildings often contain offices and accommodation for personnel and vehicles, along with locker rooms, temporary holding cells and interview/interrogation rooms. Names Large departments may have many stations to cover the area they serve. The names used for these facilities include: Barracks for many American state police and highway patrol stations and in Ireland District office, typically used by American state police forces like the California Highway Patrol, but also used by smaller departments like the Calgary Police Service Precinct house, or precinct, for some urban police departments in the United States such as the New York City Police Department, Memphis Police Department, and Newark Police Department, where stations are in charge of precincts Police house Police office, especially in Scotland Station house Substations, smaller stations used by many departments, especially county sheriffs Detachment, most notably used by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Thana, used in the Indian subcontinent Multiple informal names exist, such as "cop shop", "cophouse" or (in the UK) "nick". The area a police station serves has a variety of different names, such as precinct, district, division and zone. However, in some police forces such as Hampshire Constabulary, police stations do not serve a specific area and the officers have great flexibility over where they can operate. Facilities Typical facilities at police stations typically include: Office space where officers, detectives and administrative staff can work Cells for detainees. In the UK, the area with cells is known as a custody suite Interview rooms for both detainees and non-detained visitors Evidence rooms for storing evidence and seized property Lockers and storerooms for storing equipment A reception desk for public visitors Car park for fleet vehicles and officer-owned personal vehicles A room for personnel from other emergency services Specialized stations exist in a number of countries, typically containing more or less of these facilities. An example includes women's police stations in Latin America. By country India In India, police stations are referred to as 'Thana' or 'Thane'. Police stations have a designated area under their jurisdiction. Police stations are headed by a station house officer (SHO) who may be of inspector or sub-inspector rank, assisted by an assistant sub-inspector, head constables, and constables. The number of personnel in a particular police station depend on