and immigration inspectors. These employees inspected and processed people and merchandise entering the United States from foreign countries, at a land border, seaport or airport. They wore different types of uniforms and had different duties, but were paid essentially the same. After US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) was established with the merging of the above two agencies, the inspectors were retitled Customs and Border Protection Officers and merged their responsibilities. Administrative law In American administrative law, an inspector is an official charged with the duty to issue permits, such as a building inspector or sanitation inspector, and to enforce the relevant regulations and laws. These positions are commonly known as the fire inspector or building inspector. The duty it act is based on the adopted building or fire code in the municipality. A government agency may also have an inspector general responsible for preventing internal fraud, waste, abuse and other agency deficiencies. In popular culture In fiction, "Inspector" is often used as a term and title for a detective, even if their duties and role does not match that of an inspector in a Commonwealth police force. Examples of fictional inspectors include the characters Inspector Clouseau, Inspector Gadget, Inspector Zenigata, Inspector Javert, Inspector Lestrade, Inspector Morse, Inspector Palmu, Kurt Wallander, and Inspector Goole, the title character of An Inspector Calls. See also Police rank Detective Investigator (disambiguation) Special agent Suffixes (or, er, ar, history) References Administrative law Detectives and criminal investigators Law enforcement Police ranks Police ranks in the United Kingdom