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1[[quoteright:350:[[Series/{{Vera}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lead_police_detective.JPG]]]]
2 [[caption-width-right:350:Meet Detective Chief Inspector (DCI) Vera Stanhope and Detective Sergeant (DS) Aiden Healy. If you're guilty, you're screwed.]]
3
4The Lead Police Detective is a plain clothes police officer who serves as the chief investigator and (often) protagonist of the story. They report to DaChief, but have, at minimum, one subordinate (in many television series, this is a [[OldCopYoungCop younger partner]]) who often acts as TheWatson for them. This character has just enough rank to order people around, and not enough to justify spending all their time in HQ. Instead of sitting in at his desk directing entire units, he will be out and about investigating crime scenes and interviewing witnesses himself.
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6In LongRunners, the character may be promoted to DaChief or retire, prompting their partner (or a completely new character) to replace their role as Inspector. Both the Inspector and DaChief can be compared to TheCaptain, the military equivalent. Depending on the story, the Lead Police Detective may have a large team of subordinates who are there primarily to show they have rank.
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8Contrast with the PrivateDetective and the AmateurSleuth, who also do investigations but are not part of a police force.
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10----
11!!Examples:
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13[[foldercontrol]]
14
15[[folder: Comic Books]]
16* ''Armitage'' in ''Comicbook/TwoThousandAD'' is the Morse/Frost format relocated to the Dreddverse's Brit-Cit. Detective-Judge Armitage's usual assistant is Judge Treasure Steel.
17[[/folder]]
18
19[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
20* ''Film/TheBlackHand'' has Joe, a tough Italian cop who wants to personally eradicate the Mafia in America.
21* In ''Film/TheFugitive'' and ''Film/USMarshals'', Marshal Samuel Gerard is a Lead Police Detective of the "large team of subordinates" variety.
22* In ''Film/KillBenLyk'', Detective Scott is put in charge of protecting the safe house. Unknown to the main cast, he is also working for the gangsters.
23%%* Inspector Jacques Clouseau from ''Franchise/ThePinkPanther'' films is the most famous comic example of this trope.
24[[/folder]]
25
26[[folder:Literature]]
27* Creator/GeorgesSimenon's [[Literature/{{Maigret}} Jules Maigret]] is both a GreatDetective and a lead police detective.
28* The Creator/JulesVerne thriller ''Literature/MasterOfTheWorld'' stars John Strock, a police detective traveling around America on the track of a mysterious MadScientist. We also get to meet [[DaChief Strock's boss Mr. Ward]], as well as several subordinate agents who act as [[TheWatson Watsons]].
29* The ''Literature/NurseryCrime'' series features DCI Jack Spratt, with Sergeant Mary Mary as his main assistant, and team of subordinates named Butcher, Baker and Kandlstyck-Maeker.
30* DCI Morse and his assistant DS Lewis in ''Literature/InspectorMorse''..
31%%* [[Literature/ATouchOfFrost DI Jack Frost]]
32* DCI Thomas Nightingale and PC (later DC) Peter Grant in ''Literature/RiversOfLondon'', although unusually the stories are written from Peter's perspective.
33%%* [[Creator/GeorgetteHeyer Inspector Hemingway]], although he's [[OvershadowedByAwesome the assistant to Superintendent Hannasyde]].
34* Literature/HarryBosch is one in most of his appearances. Exceptions are ''Literature/LostLight'' and ''Literature/TheNarrows'', where he is briefly retired from LAPD and working as a private detective, ''Literature/TheCrossing2015'', where he has been forced to retire again and is working as an investigator for [[Literature/TheLincolnLawyer his half brother]], and ''Literature/TheNightFire'' and anything after that, as he is no longer working for SFPD anymore either.
35[[/folder]]
36
37[[folder:Live Action TV]]
38* In ''Series/FoylesWar'', Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle has a higher rank than usual but still investigates his cases in person, due to being in a small town and having a manpower shortage on account of the War. He is assisted by Sergeant Paul Milner (invalided out) and MTC driver Sam Stewart (female).
39* ''Series/InspectorMorse'': Chief Inspector Morse, with his partner Sergeant Robert Lewis. After the series ended, Lewis was promoted to Lead Police Detective in ''Series/{{Lewis}}''.
40* ''Series/MidsomerMurders'': DCI Tom Barnaby, with a succession of assistants. At the end of the thirteenth season, Barnaby retired, and was succeeded by a new character, DCI John Barnaby, his cousin (played, amusingly enough, by an actor who'd already appeared on the show as a sleazy suspect hitting on Barnaby's wife).
41* In ''Series/PieInTheSky'', Detective Inspector Henry Crabbe is the protagonist. He investigates with the assistance of WPC Sophia Cambridge (who levels up to Detective Sergeant by the end of the series) and later PC Ed Guthrie and WPC Jane Morton.
42* ''Series/{{Taggart}}'': Detective Chief Inspector Jim Taggart, assisted by Detective Sergeant Peter Livingstone and then Detective Sergeant Mike Jardine. Following the death of Taggart's actor, Jardine was promoted to Lead Police Detective and gained a sidekick of his own.
43%%* ''Series/TheBill''. [[LongRunner 26 seasons on the air]], it featured 8 Detective Inspectors among its regular cast during that time. The most famous of them probably being Detective Inspector Frank Burnside.
44%%* Inspector Kerry Vincent ''Series/Rush2008''.
45%%* Lieutenant Horatio Caine, ''Series/{{CSI Miami}}''
46%%* Lieutenant Fancy in ''Series/NYPDBlue''.
47* Detective Inspector Thomas "Tommy" Lynley of ''Series/TheInspectorLynleyMysteries'', who forms an OddCouple crime-fighting duo with his partner Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers. In a break from the formula, however, if she's younger than him, it's not by much,[[note]]Creator/SharonSmall is all of five years younger than Creator/NathanielParker[[/note]] and the show [[{{Deuteragonist}} is as much about her as it is about him]].
48%%* Although he's a bit more rough around the edges than is typical for this trope, Detective Inspector Jack Regan of ''Series/TheSweeney'' still counts.
49* Played with somewhat in ''Series/HillStreetBlues'': Individual episodes usually followed a TwoLinesNoWaiting structure, but whenever there was a multi-episode story arc about a lengthy investigation then one of the cast would be elevated to this trope during scenes involving the A-plot. It was most noticeable when Belker or Goldblum got the gig, but even when partners La Rue and Washington were jointly assigned to the case, one of them would have a slightly bigger role than the other.
50* Series/DeathInParadise has had no less than four Lead Detectives:
51** DI Richard Poole (seasons 1-2)
52** DI Humphrey Goodman (seasons 3-6)
53** DI Jack Mooney (seasons 6-9)
54** DI Neville Parker (season 9-present)
55* ''Series/Oktoberfest1900'' has Inspector Eder investigating the mysterious strangling and beheading of Kurt Prank's rival Ignatz.

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