Editing Inspector (section)

== United Kingdom ==
{{See also|Police ranks of the United Kingdom}}
[[File:Inspector Epaulette.svg|UK police inspector epaulette|thumb|upright]]
Within the [[Law enforcement in the United Kingdom|British police]], inspector is the second [[Police ranks of the United Kingdom|supervisory rank]]. It is senior to that of [[Sergeant#United Kingdom|sergeant]], and junior to that of [[Chief inspector#United Kingdom|chief inspector]]. The rank is mostly operational, meaning that inspectors are directly concerned with day-to-day policing. Uniformed inspectors are often responsible for supervising a duty shift made up of constables and sergeants, or act in specialist roles such as supervising [[Roads Policing Unit|road traffic policing]].

The rank of inspector has existed since the foundation of the [[Metropolitan Police]], [[Metropolitan Police Act 1829|formed in 1829]], when it was used to designate the rank immediately below that of [[Superintendent (police)|superintendent]], and many [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] police forces also use the term.

Plainclothes '''detective inspectors''' ('''DI''') are equal in rank to their uniformed counterparts, the prefix "[[detective]]" identifying them as having been trained in criminal investigation and being part of or attached to their force's [[Criminal Investigation Department]] (CID).

The [[epaulette]]s of uniformed inspectors, unlike those of constables and sergeants, do not show a [[Police division|divisional]] or [[Collar number|personal identification number]]. Instead they feature [[Order of the Bath]] stars, informally known as "pips", being the same insignia as those of a [[lieutenant]] in the [[British Army]].

In the Metropolitan Police, the rank was formerly officially known as station inspector to distinguish it from the more senior rank of [[sub-divisional inspector]] (abolished in 1949). A station inspector wore a single star on his epaulettes until 1936, when this changed to a star over two bars to accommodate the new rank of [[Station inspector#British Metropolitan Police|junior station inspector]] (wearing a star over one bar).<ref>"New Police Badges", ''The Times'', 27 June 1936</ref>