Commissioner Commissioner is in principle the title given to a member of a commission or to an individual who has been given a commission ( official charge or authority to do something , the noun ' s second meaning ) . In practice , the title of commissioner has evolved to include a variety of senior officials , often sitting on a specific commission . In particular , commissioner frequently refers to senior police or government officials . A High Commissioner is equivalent to an ambassador , originally between the United Kingdom and the Dominions sharing the British Monarch as head of state and now between all Commonwealth states whether Commonwealth Realms , Commonwealth Republics or Commonwealth states having their own monarchs . The title is also sometimes given to senior officials in the private sector , for instance many North America n sport s leagues . Domestic public official . A Commissioner within a modern state generally holds his office by virtue of a commission from the head of state or a council of elected representatives ( or appointed by non - elected officials in the case of dictatorships ) . Imperial China . Senior Public Servants , Commissioners and other high ranking bureaucrats referred to collectively as Mandarins . Canadian territories . Commissioners are the formal head of the territories in Canada ( i . e . those areas under the formal jurisdiction of the federal government and without separate constitutional status of a province ) . Unlike the Governor General or a Lieutenant Governor , who are representative of the Queen of Canada , Commissioners are not vice - regal representatives , although they perform similar duties including ; reading the Speech from the Throne at the opening of the territorial Legislature . They are appointed by the federal government as delegates of cabinet . Under federal statute s governing the territories , Commissioners act in accordance with written instructions from cabinet or the minister responsible ( currently the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development ) . While commissioners formally had direct day - to - day role in administration and government and chaired the Executive Council , today they are under instruction to act more like provincial Lieutenant - Governors , as territorial assemblies have taken on more responsibility . Commissioners are eligible to present a Vice - Regal Commendation to any Canadian Forces Members as any Lieutenant - Governors for long - term or outstanding service to the Office of a Lieutenant - Governor or Commissioner . Police . In police services in the Commonwealth and USA , the title of commissioner typically designates the head of an entire police force ( e . g . , Australian Federal Police , the New South Wales Police Force , New York City Police Department , St . Louis Police Department , Royal Canadian Mounted Police , Ontario Provincial Police , the London Metropolitan Police or the California Highway Patrol ) . In some countries , such as in many Latin American countries and in France and in Italy , the title of commissioner refers to the head of a single police station . Scotland . Prior to the Acts of Union 1707 , an elect ed member of the Estates ( parliament ) of Scotland held the office of Commissioner , representing a constituency ( the equivalent of a Member of Parliament in the contemporaneous Parliament of England ) . There were Burgh Commissioners and Shire or Stewartry Commissioners . Isle of Man . In the local government system of the Isle of Man , a Commissioner is an elected representative equivalent to a Councillor . All town , village , district and parish local government bodies consist of commissioners , with the exception of Douglas , which has a council and councillors . Soviet Union . From the October Revolution in 1917 until the collapse of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991 , the Soviet government as well as the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and its predecessors used commissioner ( in Russian комиссар or commissar ) as a term for multiple positions . From 1917 until 1946 ministers of government were called people ' s commissars ( and ministries were called " people ' s commissariats " ) . In workplaces a commissar was appointed to assure that communist political doctrine was observed . In military units such commissars were also called the политрук ( " politruk " , meaning " political director " ) or замполит ( " zampolit " , or deputy commander for political affairs ) . By contrast , a военный комиссар ( " voyennyy komissar " ) , or military commissar , was merely a local military official in charge of supervising the induction of military draftees . United States . In many U . S . state s , the legislative and executive decision - making bodies of counties are called the board of commissioners or county commission . In Minnesota , Alaska , New York and Tennessee , the heads of statewide cabinet - level departments are called " commissioners " . In California , commissioners are subordinate judicial officers . Historically , the U . S . government appointed special commissioners for a variety of tasks . For example , the head of the U . S . Department of Agriculture from 1862 to 1889 was a commissioner , not a Cabinet secretary . The Salvation Army . In The Salvation Army the rank of Commissioner is the second - highest attainable rank and the highest rank by appointment , as the rank of General is by election . It is one of the original ranks of the Army and has been in use since 1880 , the first Commissioner was George Scott Railton . Scouting . Within the Scout Movement , a Commissioner is a senior adult leader who is responsible for the management of an aspect of Scouting and / or the leadership of other adults , as opposed to adult leaders who lead youth members . International public and colonial context . British and Commonwealth overseas possessions . The title of Commissioner , as such , was used by the ( gubernatorial ) chief British official in : Canada . Canada calls its government officials in charge of export promotion " trade commissioners " . There are 150 offices of the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service in Canada and abroad , and they " assist with export advice and guidance to help [ Canadians ] achieve [ their ] international business goals . " The website devoted to the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service uses the Internet domain www . tradecommissioner . gc . ca . European Union . The European Commissioner s are the members of the European Commission , the highest executive organ of the European Union , which is the closest EU equivalent to a government . Each Commissioner is assigned a portfolio , but they make most important decisions collegially , often subject to approval by the European Parliament and / or the Council of the European Union . French colonies . The French equivalent , " Commissaire " , was used for various officials employed at different levels of the colonial administration in several French - ruled countries . Russian Empire . After on 17 April 1914 Tannu Tuva ( ethnically Mongolian ) was declared a Russian ' protected ' area ( Uryanhay [ Urjanhaj ] kray ) , two subsequent Russian Commissioners for the Affairs of Urjanhai Kray ( 1914 - 1915 A . P . Cererin ( Tsererin ) and 1915 - 1917 Yu . V . Grigoryev ) were appointed , alongside the last native tribal Paramount chief ( title Ambyn - noyon ) , followed by a single Commissar of the Provisional Government ( October 1917 - 16 March 1918 Aleksey Aleksandrovich Turchaninov ) until czarist rule collapsed for good , giving way to the Soviet regime United Nations administration . A UN Commissioner appointed in 1949 supervised the transition of the UN Trust territory of Libya ( a former Italian colony ; actually Tripolitania and Cyrenaica each were under a British Administrator , in 1949 restyled Resident , Fezzan under a French Military Governor , in 1950 also restyled Résident ) to independence as a united monarchy in 1951 . United States . From the mid - 19th century until 1939 , two U . S . Government cabinet departments used the title " commissioner " for officials posted abroad who did not enjoy diplomatic status . U . S . federal agencies have not titled officials posted abroad as commissioners since 1939 . U . S . Department of Agriculture . During the 19th century , the U . S . Department of Agriculture ( USDA ) began sending employees , called " agricultural commissioners " , abroad to investigate foreign agriculture . These appointments were of a roving nature , as the officials were not assigned to a particular country or city . In 1919 USDA posted to London an agricultural commissioner without diplomatic status , Edward Foley , to report on British agriculture . Additional commissioners were posted through the 1920s to Buenos Aires , Berlin , and Shanghai . The title began to be phased out in 1930 with passage of the Foreign Agricultural Service Act , which granted USDA authority to use the diplomatic title " attaché " . The last USDA employee to bear the title " agricultural commissioner " was Owen Dawson , agricultural commissioner at the U . S . Consulate in Shanghai , who received diplomatic status and the title agricultural attaché in 1939 when USDA ' s overseas officers were transferred to the Department of State . Noted American author Mark Twain recounted meeting one of the 19th - century roving agricultural commissioners in " Innocents Abroad " : I was proud to observe that among our excursionists were three ministers of the gospel , eight doctors , sixteen or eighteen ladies , several military and naval chieftains with sounding titles , an ample crop of " Professors " of various kinds , and a gentleman who had " COMMISSIONER OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO EUROPE , ASIA , AND AFRICA " thundering after his name in one awful blast ! I had carefully prepared myself to take rather a back seat in that ship because of the uncommonly select material that would alone be permitted to pass through the camel ' s eye of that committee on credentials ; I had schooled myself to expect an imposing array of military and naval heroes and to have to set that back seat still further back in consequence of it maybe ; but I state frankly that I was all unprepared for this crusher . I fell under that titular avalanche a torn and blighted thing . I said that if that potentate must go over in our ship , why , I supposed he must - - but that to my thinking , when the United States considered it necessary to send a dignitary of that tonnage across the ocean , it would be in better taste , and safer , to take him apart and cart him over in sections in several ships . Ah , if I had only known then that he was only a common mortal , and that his mission had nothing more overpowering about it than the collecting of seeds and uncommon yams and extraordinary cabbages and peculiar bullfrogs for that poor , useless , innocent , mildewed old fossil the Smithsonian Institute , I would have felt so much relieved . U . S . Department of Commerce . Following unification of the U . S . Foreign Service under the Rogers Act in 1924 , overseas trade promotion shifted from consul s of the United States to " trade commissioners " employed by the U . S . Department of Commerce . Most but not all trade commissioners were retitled commercial attaché s upon creation of the Foreign Commerce Service ( " viz . " ) in 1927 . The title " trade commissioner " went out of use in the United States when Commerce ' s overseas officials were transferred to the Department of State and all three U . S . foreign services ( of the Departments of State , Agriculture and Commerce ) were merged in 1939 under Reorganization Plan No . II . Sports . In many North American sports league s , including nearly all professional leagues , the commissioner is the highest executive position . The exact powers of the commissioner depend on the constitution and / or rules of the league . Commissioners are elected by the owners of the league ' s clubs , and handle matters such as discipline , arbitration of disputes between the clubs , etc . The title was first used in 1920 , when Kenesaw Mountain Landis was appointed Commissioner of Baseball in the aftermath of the Black Sox Scandal . Landis was titled " Commissioner " partly to distinguish his office from that of the " President " of the American and National League s . Landis ' title derived from the " National Commission " , the ruling body for baseball established in 1903 , which were largely autonomous organizations at the time . Eager to restore public confidence in their sport ' s integrity , baseball owners gave Landis absolute power and a lifetime contract , which permitted the former judge to assume more power over the sport than a commissioner in any sport has held since . The other major professional sports league s of North America followed suit , replacing their positions of league president with that of commissioner . The National Football League appointed its first commissioner in 1941 , the National Basketball Association in 1967 , and the National Hockey League in 1993 . However , the commissioners ' powers and responsibilities in these leagues are not substantially different from those of the presidents that preceded them . Although baseball ' s subsequent commissioners have not had the absolute power that Landis did , current Commissioner Bud Selig has succeeded in centralizing authority over Major League Baseball in the commissioner ' s office , relegating the position of league president to an honorary title and giving baseball ' s commissioner competencies similar to those of his colleagues in the other major sports . Many minor professional and amateur leagues throughout the United States and Canada have also appointed commissioners . The title has not caught on outside North America . In addition to Selig , the other current commissioners of the North American major professional leagues are Roger Goodell in the NFL , David Stern in the NBA , Gary Bettman in the NHL , and Don Garber in MLS . Compound titles . In many cases the term Commissioner is part of a more specific title , including English renditions of such titles in other languages . Examples ( in some cases there are further compounds ) include :