History Main / InspectorLestrade

** Inspector James Japp for Literature/HerculePoirot, though more so in the ''Series/{{Poirot}}'' TV series than in the original novels. This is partly because the early Poirot stories, on which the series is largely based, followed the ''Sherlock Holmes'' pattern quite rigidly, with Poirot as Holmes, Captain Hastings in the role of Doctor Watson, and Inspector Japp playing the Lestrade part. However, it needs to be said that Japp is a ''really competent'' inspector who solved many cases on his own (as evidenced by his [[CharacterOverLap appearance]] in ''Literature/TommyAndTuppence''). It's just that compared to Poirot, ''nobody'' is as competent. Japp also never viewed Poirot as an obstacle. If Poirot is present at a scene, Japp will assume something big is up.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsFromZero'': This is omnipresent throughout the game as the PlayerParty are police officers. The player gets rewarded for keeping contacts and investigating thoroughly with Detective Points that count towards promotion. Some of the best sources work in bars, like the CampGay gang leader Wazy [[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign Hemisphere]]. As for Lloyd's connections, he befriends an elderly couple from the Merchant's Association in the first scene of the game.

* Chief Grizzly in ''WesternAnimation/{{Hoodwinked}}'' sees an open and shut case of a hungry wolf threatening an innocent girl and her grandmother, but Det. Nicky Flippers digs deeper and uncovers a criminal conspiracy that they are all merely pawns in.

* Chief Grizzly in ''WesternAnimation/{{Hoodwinked}}''.

* Dojima of ''VideoGame/Persona4''. He figures out a great deal about the murders, and that his HeroicMime nephew is involved in the case. Unfortunately, he [[WrongGenreSavvy doesn't realize]] that he's living in an UrbanFantasy setting so he really can't do much. And then he's handed the IdiotBall. Dojima is more LockedOutOfTheLoop than this trope. He manages to stay relatively close with the Investigation team on solving the murders with only about half (or less) of the clues [[spoiler: and later on, he's the only cop still working on the case despite the fact that the rest of the department believes that it has been closed]]. A better example would be his partner, Adachi, from whom the main characters learn much about the police investigation (Dojima himself remains tight-lipped about the subject) [[spoiler:though it turns out that Adachi is the real killer and has spent the entire game misleading you]].

* Dol Grenn in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic II''. In particular, he arrests the Exile, Atton, and Kreia for destroying Peragus -- to be fair, a dark side Exile might have done it anyway, but they still didn't create the circumstances that led to it. He would probably be more capable if he had the manpower he needed, a fact he laments. After it's cleared up, you can also get sidequests from him that consist of crimes that the security forces haven't been able to solve.