Этот полицейский работает здесь.

Этот means this and is the masculine singular nominative form of the demonstrative pronoun.

It matches полицейский, which is:

• masculine
• singular
• in the nominative case because it is the subject of the sentence

Some other forms for comparison:

• этот полицейский = this police officer
• эта машина = this car
• это место = this place
• эти люди = these people

So этот changes form to agree with the noun it describes.

Полицейский is a noun, meaning police officer or policeman, but it looks like an adjective because of its ending.

In Russian, some nouns have adjective-like forms. Полицейский is one of them.

In this sentence, полицейский is:

• masculine
• singular
• nominative

Its feminine form is:

• полицейская = policewoman / female police officer

Because it behaves somewhat like an adjective in its endings, learners often notice that it looks unusual for a noun, but it is completely normal Russian.

Работает is the 3rd person singular present-tense form of работать (to work).

The subject is этот полицейский = this police officer, which is:

• he
• singular

So Russian uses the he/she/it form:

• я работаю = I work
• ты работаешь = you work
• он / она работает = he / she works
• мы работаем = we work
• вы работаете = you work
• они работают = they work

So работает is used because the subject is one person.

It can mean either one, depending on context.

Russian present tense often covers both:

• he works here
• he is working here

So Этот полицейский работает здесь could mean:

• This police officer works here (general fact)
• This police officer is working here (current situation)

If there is no extra context, English translators often choose works here because it sounds like a general statement.

Russian usually does not use a present-tense form of to be in sentences like this.

In English:

• This police officer is here
• This police officer is working here

In Russian, the present-tense is/am/are is often omitted.

So Russian says:

• Он врач. = He is a doctor.
• Она дома. = She is at home.

In your sentence, though, the verb is работает (works / is working), so the sentence already has a verb. There is no need for a separate word meaning is.

Here is the breakdown:

• Этот — nominative masculine singular
• полицейский — nominative masculine singular
• работает — verb
• здесь — adverb, so it does not have a case

The subject этот полицейский is in the nominative because it is the one doing the action.

Здесь means here and is an adverb of place, not a noun, so no case ending is involved.

Yes. Russian word order is more flexible than English word order.

The neutral order here is:

• Этот полицейский работает здесь.

But you could also hear:

• Здесь работает этот полицейский.
• Работает здесь этот полицейский.

These versions are not random; they shift the emphasis a little.

For example:

• Этот полицейский работает здесь. = neutral statement
• Здесь работает этот полицейский. = emphasis on here
• Работает здесь этот полицейский. = stronger contrast or emphasis, often depending on context

English usually needs a more fixed word order, but Russian uses word order more for emphasis and information structure.

Both здесь and тут can mean here.

In many situations, they are interchangeable:

• Он работает здесь.
• Он работает тут.

Both mean He works here.

A very general tendency:

• здесь can sound a little more neutral or formal
• тут can sound a little more conversational

But the difference is usually small, and both are very common.

A rough pronunciation is:

EH-tuht puh-lee-TSEY-skee ra-BO-ta-yet zdes'

A few important points:

• этот is pronounced more like EH-tuht, not exactly as it is spelled
• полицейский has stress on -цей-
• работает has stress on БО
• здесь is one syllable, and the final ь is not a vowel; it softens the sound

Stress:

• Э́тот полице́йский рабо́тает здесь.

Listening to native audio is especially helpful with Russian vowel reduction, because unstressed vowels often sound different from how they look in writing.

Yes, работать is imperfective.

That matters because imperfective verbs are used for:

• ongoing actions
• repeated actions
• general facts or habits

So работает is exactly what you want for:

• He works here
• He is working here

A perfective verb would not normally be used in this kind of simple present-tense statement.

Russian has no articles.

So Russian does not have separate words for:

• a police officer
• the police officer

Instead, Russian uses context, word order, and words like этот (this) to make the meaning clear.

For example:

• полицейский could mean a police officer or the police officer, depending on context
• этот полицейский clearly means this police officer

So in your sentence, этот helps specify which police officer is meant.

Not in this exact form.

This sentence is specifically masculine:

• этот
• полицейский

For a female police officer, you would usually say:

• Эта полицейская работает здесь.

Here:

• эта = feminine this
• полицейская = female police officer

So the grammar changes to match the gender of the person being described.