Inspector

Inspector, also police inspector or inspector of police, is a police rank. The rank or position varies in seniority depending on the organization that uses it.

The rank of Inspector is present in all Australian police forces except for the Northern Territory. Where it exists, it is generally the next senior rank from Senior Sergeant, and is the lowest commissioned rank. Uniformed officers of this rank wear epaulettes with three pips, matching a Captain in the army. In addition to the general rank of inspector, some police forces use other ranks such as detective inspector and district inspector.

In Austria a similar scheme was used as in Germany. At some point the police inspector was completely removed from the list of service ranks.^{[citation needed]} The current police service has an inspectors service track with Inspektor being the entry level – it is followed by Revierinspektor (precinct inspector), Gruppeninspektor (group inspector), Bezirksinspektor (district inspector), Abteilungsinspektor (section inspector), Kontrollinspektor (control inspector) and Chefinspektor (chief inspector).

In most Canadian police services the rank of inspector is the first officer/commissioned officer rank, above that of staff sergeant. It is usually immediately below the rank of superintendent. Depending on the police force, an inspector may be considered senior management. The rank insignia of an inspector in Canada is usually a crown on the epaulettes, the insignia of a major in the army. In some police services such as the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary or the Vancouver Police Department, the rank insignia are three pips, similar to the insignia of an army captain, while in others including the Toronto Police Service and Peel Regional Police, the insignia consists of two maple leaves, similar to an army lieutenant's insignia.

Provincial police services and the majority of municipal police services, such as the Toronto Police Service have a staff inspector rank, which ranks above inspector and below superintendent.

In the French National Police, inspecteur is a former rank of members of the Command and Management Corps. There were several grades of inspecteur, with senior detectives holding the various grades of commissaire. See French National Police for current ranks. In the French customs, inspecteur is the first rank of members of the Command and Management Corps.

Currently, in Germany, Inspektor is a civil service rank. It is the lowest and therefore the entry rank of the gehobener Dienst (upper service) requiring a degree from a three-year administrative college. The rank is not used in the German police services; there the equivalent of inspector is Kommissar. In earlier times the upper service track was called Inspektorenlaufbahn (inspectors service track) ranging from Inspektor, Oberinspektor (senior inspector), Amtmann, Amtsrat to Oberamtsrat (senior supervisor).

The title is used on many professional areas that require an inspection service, like Brandinspektor (fire inspector in the fire department), Steuerinspektor (tax inspector in the financial department) and Bauinspektor (building inspector in building control) that are in a supervision position of their department. In many administrations, a corresponding position exists like Regierungsinspektor (government inspector on the federal level), Stadtinspektor/Stadtverwaltungsinspektor (city administration inspector), Kreisinspektor/Kreisverwaltungsinspektor (county administration inspector) that serve in supervision of the department.