European police — not in charge (4)
I believe the answer is:
pole
'european' is the definition.
(someone from Poland)
'police not in charge' is the wordplay.
'not' is a deletion indicator.
'in charge' becomes 'ic' (abbreviation for 'in charge').
'police' with 'ic' taken away is 'POLE'.
(Other definitions for pole that I've seen before include "possibly exerting a powerful attraction?" , "may be magnetic?" , "support" , "Heavenly body indicating north" , "European - flag bearer" .)