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{{trope}}
[[File:inspector-
▲[[File:inspector-lestrade2_153.jpg|link=Detective Conan (Manga)|right|Once again, the trained, professional police officer can't compete with a [[Kid Detective|high school student]].]]
{{quote|''"Aaah! It's that confused detective!"''|''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney|Maya Fey]]''}}
A character who is long on observational acuity and a bit short on connecting the dots. Named after Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's character '''Inspector Lestrade''', who would always attempt to solve the case before [[Sherlock Holmes]] could, and always failed miserably. Where an [[Amateur Sleuth]] is involved, this character is nearly always a police officer, because the [[Police Are Useless]].
[[Tropes Are Not Bad|A good Lestrade]], especially a self-aware one, can still be a valuable resource to their great detective, doing much of the legwork and research, as well as being [[Friend
A common act of [[Genre Blindness]] faced by the Lestrade is for them to over-confidently and prematurely declare that the case is open-and-shut; obviously [[Always Murder|the dead person]] [[Never Suicide|committed suicide]], or the [[The Corpse Stops Here|obvious culprit]] [[Wrongly Accused|was the one who did it]]. Of course, whilst they're busy putting their feet up or [[Miscarriage of Justice|throwing the book at an innocent person]], the Sleuth is almost instantly discovering the clues that prove that the Lestrade is way, ''way'' off base.
Compare [[Cop Boyfriend]], [[Friend
{{examples
== Anime and Manga ==
* [[Sherlock Hound]] features Inspector Lestrade as an anthropomorphic dog, more exactly a huge mastiff. A [[Shout
* Most of the police officers in ''[[Detective Conan]]'' are this, but specially Megure. They're portrayed as competent at their job (a few stories start near the end of a successful investigation on their part, for example) - but Shin'ichi is [[Overshadowed
** Kogoro Mouri exemplifies this, although he's no longer with the force.
* Inspector Nakata from the ''[[Witchblade (
* Most of the cast of ''[[
* Inspector Kenmochi in [[The Kindaichi Case Files]] is a rare example of a Lestrade who is actually genre savvy. After resisting Kindaichi in the series' first mystery, he is immediately won over and begins calling Kindaichi in to help him solve murders. He is quite aware that Kindaichi is going to solve everything while he just does the legwork, and he doesn't mind. Keep in mind that Kenmochi is a decorated police inspector, while Kindaichi is sixteen years old.
** Kengo Akechi comes off as this as well, especially during his debut story arc. Arrogant and snobbish, he is an elite-level officer who often tries to compete with Kindaichi over murder cases. Despite their rivalry, however, there is a grudging mutual respect.
* If [[Gosick
==
* Some incarnations of Jim Gordon are this to [[Batman]], particularly stories centered around Batman's early years.
* Recently, Batman's gained another: Edward Nigma, AKA the Riddler, who has (probably) reformed and is trying to use his fame as a villain to leverage a career as a detective. It hasn't gone well yet. At least one storyline has involved Batman and Nigma playing off each other, picking up tips.
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** And a subversion: Inspector Baynes in ''Wisteria Lodge'' is the one official police officer who at the end of the story is praised by Holmes (and justly, as he turned out to have also found the correct solution).
** Averted with Stanley Hopkins, who respects and even looks up to Holmes's methods.
* Likewise, Inspector James Japp for Hercule Poirot, though more so in the ''[[Poirot]]'' television series than in the original novels by [[
** However, it needs to be said that Japp is a ''really competent'' inspector who solved many cases on his own. It's just that compared to Poirot, absolutely ''nobody'' is really competent.
* Archie Goodwin functioned as a Lestrade for ''[[Nero Wolfe]]''. However, Archie is smart and quick enough to connect ''most'' of the dots, to the point where he often figures out where his boss is going with a case before the last chapter (deliberately refusing to share it with the reader until Wolfe reveals the solution, of course). But he isn't really bothered when he doesn't: "That's why we keep a genius around here."
** Inspector Cramer is also an example. He also counts as an [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]]. Wolfe points out that for 99% of murders, Cramer is better suited to the job. Wolfe is only needed for weird stuff.
* Westman Block became this in Glen Cook's ''Garrett, P.I.'' series. Justified in that, when Block joined the force, it was more concerned with keeping the city free of riots and the lower classes off the Hill than with actually solving crimes: Block didn't really have anyone to learn proper detective techniques from.
* The father of [[
** Mentioned in the books that he ''can'' usually solve the case on his own, and that it's only about once a month or so he needs Encyclopedia's help. Still not the best record, though.
* M.C. Beaton's ''[[Hamish Macbeth (
* M.C. Beaton's other Detective Agatha Raisin has P.C. Bill Wong, who's actually a pretty good Police officer. In ''Quiche of Death'' he actually works out who the murderer is at the same time as Agatha and ends up saving her when she gets in over her head.
* Milo Sturgis fills this role in the Alex Delaware books by Jonathan Kellerman.
* The ''[[
* In [[The Thrawn Trilogy]], when Captain Pellaeon isn't being [[The Watson]], he's the good type of this for the Grand Admiral. While he's observant and intelligent, he always comes to simpler conclusions. Thrawn always either overrides him or nudges him into seeing what really happened.
** By the time Pellaeon is anAdmiral, however, his strategizing has become much more like Thrawn's.
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* Sgt Lewis for ''[[Inspector Morse]]''.
** Lewis' 'weakness' is that compared to Morse he has a private life, and he's more "people" orientated then Morse's fact focus.
* [[Columbo
* Simon Brimmer in the 1975 adaptation of ''[[Ellery Queen]]''.
* Cabot Cove's Sheriff Amos Tupper (and later Sheriff Mort Metzger) in ''[[Murder, She Wrote]]''.
** In their defence, they're both incredibly competent in the day-to-day things a small town sheriff would have to do.
* ''[[
* Mikio Jinno in ''[[Kamen Rider Double]]''.
* Detective Bum Woo in the [[Korean Series]] ''[[Bad Boy]]''.
* In ''[[
** The DVD commentary reveals that an important part of casting Lestrade was finding someone who the audience could believe would, if Sherlock Holmes did not exist, eventually solve the crimes on his own.
* Various characters of this type show up throughout the entire run of ''[[
== Videogames ==
* Detective Gumshoe from ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney]]''. Also Ema Skye in ''Apollo Justice''. Shi-Long Lang fills a similar role in ''Investigations'', though he switches between this trope and [[Inspector Javert]].
* Dojima of ''[[Persona 4]]''. He figures out a great deal about the murders, and that his [[Heroic Mime]] nephew is involved in the case. Unfortunately, he [[Wrong Genre Savvy|doesn't realize]] that he's living in an [[Urban Fantasy]] setting so he really can't do much. And then he's handed the [[Idiot Ball]].
** Dojima is more [[Locked Out of the Loop]] 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}}.
* Inspector Chelmey of the ''[[Professor Layton]]'' games fits this trope to a T. He jumps to conclusions regarding the second game's murder case, and Layton must set him straight. Chelmey apparently has a reputation for being a detective who gets solid results...[[Informed Ability|Something the game notes as being a tad presumptuous about his abilities.]]
** In fact, his treating the matter as a murder at all casts doubts on his competence. You can't have a murder investigation without proof that somebody died, and non-medical personnel cannot legally declare someone to be dead unless the body is in pieces. So he was investigating a murder - and actually tried to arrest a man for that murder - without any evidence that a murder took place at all. {{spoiler|This becomes especially clear at the end, where it is revealed that not only was there no foul play involved in what happened to the doctor, he hadn't actually died.}}
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== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[Sherlock Holmes in
* Chief Grizzly ([[Hey,
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Cops and Detectives]]
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