warrant officer

warrant officer (plural warrant officers)

1. (military) An officer holding rank by virtue of a warrant rather than a commission.
2. (law enforcement) An officer assigned to execute warrants and other writs.
   • 1973, Paul Rock, Making People Pay, p. 162:

     The bailiff does not like to see himself as the brutal oppressor of the poor or as the agent of malicious creditors... This distinction between warrant officer and process server is not at all dissimilar to the gulf that divides the law officer and the peace officer in the police force... Warrant officers execute warrants whilst process servers distribute court summonses and cajole debtors.

In military services still employing warrant officers, they rank below the commissioned officers but above the NCOs.

• (military): WO (abbreviation)
• (law enforcement): pursuivant (historical); bailiff; beadle

• (law enforcement): catchpoll (arresting for debt)

• (military officer) commissioned officer, non-commissioned officer, petty officer, general officer, flag officer, field officer, staff officer

• senior warrant officer (SWO)
• master warrant officer (MWO)
• chief warrant officer (CWO)

• (law enforcement): process server

• company sergeant major, CSM
• regimental sergeant major, RSM
• WO1, WO2