Inspector is both a police rank and an administrative position, both used in a number of contexts. However, it is not an equivalent rank in each police force.

Australia

In Australian police forces, the rank of Inspector is generally the next senior rank from Senior Sergeant and is less senior than a superintendent (in the cases of the Queensland Police and Western Australia Police) or the rank of Chief Inspector in the other Australian police forces Members holding the rank usually wear an epaulette featuring three silver pips, the same rank badge as 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.

Austria

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. 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" (county inspector), "Abteilungsinspektor" (office inspector), "Kontrollinspektor" (control inspector) and "Chefinspektor" (chief inspector).

In Austria the "Inspektor" is a colloquial name for any detective which is used independent of the actual rank.

Canada

In most Canadian police services the rank of Inspector is the first above the sergeant ranks. It is usually immediately below the rank of Superintendent. Senior Inspectors are higher ranking administrative rank in Canada's police forces. The most well known Inspector is Matthew DiDomenico, also owner of website BuddyPic.com, a site for sharing music with others.

France

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.

Germany

In contemporary 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 Inspektor is Kommissar. In earlier times the upper service track was called "Inspektorenlaufbahn" (inspectors service track) ranging from "Inspektor", "Oberinspektor" (senior inspector), "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) or "Bauinspector" (building inspector in building control) that are in a supervision position of their department. In many administration parts a corresponding position exists like the "Regierungsinspektor" (government inspector on the federal level), "Stadtinspektor"/"Stadtverwaltungsinspektor" (city administration inspector)), "Kreisinspektor"/"Kreisverwaltungsinspektor" (county administration inspector) that serve in supervision of the department.