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{{trope}}
The '''Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist''' represents the law, who is [[The Determinator|intent]] on capturing a criminal. It just so happens that the viewpoint character of the work is a [[Lovable Rogue]] or some other [[Villain Protagonist|criminal]].
The Inspector must be sympathetic, unlike the [[Inspector Javert]]. He's doing exactly what he should be doing, and even doing it fairly well, but never quite as well as the protagonist is doing ''his'' job. As a series goes on, chances are he'll develop a great deal of [[Worthy Opponent|respect]] for his quarry, and may be quite prone to [[Enemy Mine|teaming up]] with the protagonist. He also does not chase [[Wrongly Accused]] criminals. Don't try to fake being a victim of his target; the Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist ''knows'' his quarry, and can often tell right off "That's not his style." Likewise, he can often figure out pretty quickly if an innocent target is being framed by his archnemesis.
This sympathy can be played for laughs, and [[Butt Monkey|humiliated left and right]] by the hero. Thus, this character runs a risk of becoming a joke among fans (or even [[Inspector Oblivious|in-series]]) if he never has any on-screen successes, especially if [[Flanderization]] sets in. A common way of preventing this is to have the character be a [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass]] against lesser crooks, thus racking up an impressive career record of arrests even if it is primarily cleaning up after his main quarry has defeated them. More likely to be [[Lawful Good]] than [[Inspector Javert]]. Many times, it is also revealed that he is VERY good at his job... but that his elusive quarry [[Overshadowed
This character is also always considered an important one in the series, even if he is secondary to the protagonist: the series would just not be as interesting without a foil for the hero. Expect him to have a few episodes dedicated exclusively to him, like showing his point of view for an entire episode or showing his life outside chasing his prey. Can easily become an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] if he's likable enough (which he usually is).
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== Anime and Manga ==
* The former [[Trope Namer]] is Inspector Zenigata from the ''[[Lupin III]]'' series. He set the standard for a whole host of wacky detectives following in the example of his relentless pursuit of Lupin. By this point, he's come to admit he wouldn't have any idea what to do with himself if he ''did'' catch Lupin. He's also very much in the "good, just not as good as his quarry" column of
** In his younger days?? In ''Dead Or Alive'', which is most certainly in the contemporary timeline, he takes on a gang of armed soldiers by himself while drinking some tea in a cafe without getting a scratch. Much BIGGER, well trained soldiers. [[I Know Karate|With Judo]]. [[Badass
** Zenigata has also actually been able to catch Lupin clean a few times. In the original series, he caught him with a
*** He's also let Lupin go more than a few times, too. While Lupin is his archenemy, it's a matter of the two being [[Friendly Enemy|on reasonably good terms with each other]], and he'll stop chasing Lupin if there's a worse villain to be caught, even to the point of ignoring Lupin escaping if the
* In ''[[Gunsmith Cats]]'' and its pilot of sorts, ''Riding Bean'', Percy is the head investigator, obsessed with catching Bean Bandit the legendary Road Buster. Bean finds him most amusing.
** At least until ''[[Gunsmith Cats]]: Burst'', where Percy tries to have him ''assassinated''.
** Percy has never been a ''good'' cop. He'll happily put innocent lives at risk, orders his men to near-suicidal
* [[Sherlock Hound
* ''[[Kaitou Saint Tail]]'' has the [[Amateur Sleuth]] Asuka Jr constantly trying to foil Saint Tail. Of course, complications arise from Meimi's on-off crush on him outside her alter-ego, eventually leading into [[Dating Catwoman]].
* Tadashi from ''[[Astro Boy (
* Hakuba Saguru from ''[[Magic Kaito]]'' can be seen as a serious version of this or, in his worse moments, a genuine [[Inspector Javert]]. However, he does do a fair bit of good despite his attempts to catch the gentleman thief protagonist, and views him as a [[Worthy Opponent]]. Also notable for the huge amount of [[Ho Yay]] his obsessed chase produces.
** Don't forget Inspector Nakamori, who is pretty much exactly [[Lupin III|Zenigata]]. He's an actual cop in charge of an entire division devoted exclusively to catching Kaitou Kid. He's also totally, unhealthily obsessed and does not even approach being smart enough to beat Kid, instead getting taunted and gently humiliated whenever he faces off against the thief. (Though he ''is'' more competent when not dealing with Kid.) And ironically, Nakamori's daughter [[Tsundere|Aoko]] is the closest to Kaitou's [[Dating Catwoman|love]] [[Victorious Childhood Friend|interest]].
** Eventually, he gets ''yet another'' Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist... Conan from ''[[Detective Conan]]''.
* Detective Leon Orcott of ''[[Pet Shop of Horrors]]''. He finds Count D to be a threat to humanity. Count D finds him to be endearingly/irritatingly thick-headed. Both are correct in their assessment. [[Go-Karting
** Leon also finds himself disturbingly attracted to D (disturbingly so because D is male - sort of), just as D finds himself disturbingly drawn to Leon (disturbingly so because Leon is human). Eventually, as Leon really begins to trust D, he lets his little brother live in the titular Petshop because he feels it would be ''the safest environment'' for the kid
* ''[[Seto no Hanayome]]'' has [[Shout-Out|Zenigata]] Mawari, a policeman's daughter obsessed with enforcing rules with all her might. Comes with a [[Catch Phrase]]: "Must Mawari teach you the rules of..."
* Another female example: Atsuko "Jambo" Jackson, from ''[[Michiko to Hatchin]]''.
* Inspector Saehara from ''[[D.N.Angel]]'' falls into the comic side of this trope due to Dark already having a rather more competent nemesis. He does realise it would be out of character for Dark to kidnap someone though.
* Captain, later Commodore, Smoker in ''[[One Piece]]''. He's a marine, and catching pirates is his job - not wrongly so, since a lot of Pirates really are terrible criminals in this world. It just so happens our hero is also a pirate, if a really nice one that [[The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything|never pillages or hurts innocents]]. He catches plenty of other, less nice pirates along the way and {{spoiler|actually helps foiling the plans of the [[Big Bad]] in the Alabasta arc}}. Also notable in that Luffy stands no chance against him in a fight and he probably could take the Straw Hat in, but dumb luck, circumstance or help of allies always gets him out of Smoker's grasp.
* L from ''[[
** It should probably be noted that, though he does correctly finger Light as Kira ''and'' assert that he's never been more sure of a deduction in his life, he also asserts that he's only seven percent sure that Light is Kira, so he's kind of on the outer fringes of being a
*** Note that L's tendency to put percentages on everything is at least 50% bullshit. When he says "7% certainty", [[Word of God]] asserts that he's actually ''very'' convinced of Light being Kira.
*** It's not even that. [[Word of God]] says that whenever L gives a percentage, it's actually over 90%. Near sums it up the best. To paraphrase:
{{quote|
* Misaki Kirihara of ''[[Darker
* ''[[
* Several police persons appear in [[Hana
* The wearin a shirt called "Checkmate" from [[Tenjho Tenge]]
* Bright Honda in ''[[
* Meguro from ''[[
== Comic Books ==
* Lt. Kellaway from ''[[The Mask (
* Inspector Ginko in the Italian series ''[[Diabolik]]''.
* Finch in ''[[V for Vendetta]]'' is an effective and honorable detective, it's just that V, his opponent, is a master of [[Batman Gambit
* In [[The Incredible Hulk]] comic books, [[Genius Bruiser|Doc Samson]] kept trying to stop the Hulk when he was savage or grey. He ought to be good at it, since he's almost as strong as the Hulk, but as the grey Hulk put it: "You know what [being almost as strong as me] means? NOTHING!"
== Film ==
* Willem Dafoe's character in [[The Boondock Saints]] hits this trope. Perhaps averted later {{spoiler|when he attempts to imitate the Saints, and again when he flat out joins their cause.}}.
* Kenneth William's characters in the ''[[Carry On]]'' movies with Sid James as an outlaw (''Carry On Dick'' and ''Carry On Don't Lose Your Head''). Fits this trope rather amusingly, with Sid James as the [[Gentleman Thief]].
* Inspector Jacques Clouseau of ''[[The Pink Panther]]'' fame started out as this in the very first film pursuing [[Gentleman Thief|the Phantom]], who was the original protagonist. Clouseau became the [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] the subsequent films focused on, and he never gave up his determination to capture villains. This, combined with his chronic ineptitude, is what drove [[Da Chief|his superior]] Chief Inspector Dreyfus to madness. On the other hand, in ''Trail of the Pink Panther'', Charles Lytton (the Phantom himself) saw that determination as the secret to what success Clouseau had.
* Sheriff Beaufort T. Justice in the ''[[Smokey and
* [[Tom Hanks]]'s character Carl Hanratty in ''[[Catch Me If You Can]]''.
* Det. Prendergast in ''[[Falling Down]]''.
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* The nameless LAPD detectives of 1-Baker-11 in the original ''[[Gone in Sixty Seconds]]'' are a perfect example of this and [[Hero Antagonist]]. Maindrian Pace has been stealing cars, then, after being tipped off to his final theft and instituting a stakeout, Pace rams their car and flees from the scene after being signalled to stop. They are the only police car to chase Pace the entire pursuit, from beginning to end.
* Inspectors Castlebeck and Drycoff in the remake of ''[[Gone in Sixty Seconds]]''.
* Deputy [[Tommy Lee Jones|Samuel Gerard]] of the [[US Marshal
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* Most of the police officers who pursue ''[[The Saint]]'' fall into this category, especially Chief Inspector Claud Eustace Teal of Scotland yard and Inspector John Henry Fernack of the NYPD.
** Teal was so important to Simon Templar's early adventures that two collections were named after him. He also saved the Saint's life at least once.
* Porfiry Petrovich from ''[[
** What's so impressive about Porfiry is that the protagonist, while guilty, just manages through a combination of luck and [[Xanatos Speed Chess]] to make it so that there is very little evidence against him; the only way he could be convicted is if he confesses. Porfiry, knowing that the protagonist is guilty but not possessing enough evidence to convict, ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|manages to hound and mess with him enough to convince him to confess.]]''
** Interestingly, even while he was messing with the protagonist with such ideas as reduction of sentence and suicide, he seemed genuinely concerned for the protagonist's moral welfare. (Only after, however, he is utterly certain that the protagonist will confess. Knowing he's caught the right guy and clinched the case, he takes some time out to feel sorry for him.)
* Charlie Weston in the [[Nick Velvet]] stories
* Ben Price in the short story ''A Retrieved Reformation''
* [[Jakub Wedrowycz]]'s wannabe nemesis, officer Birski, who rarely succeeds in arresting him, and even then only manages to do so on charges of producing moonshine (as opposed to [[Heroic Sociopath|a whole lot of other outrageous things]] [[Crazy Awesome|Jakub tends to do]]).
* Captain Quarterblood in the ''[[
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* The various Army commanders (of which there were five or six) who pursued the ''[[
** [[Colonel Badass|Colonel Decker]] managed to embody both tropes, being a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]].
* Paul Ballard on ''[[Dollhouse]]'' spends most of the first season trying to uncover the titular operation.
** Many would consider him the true protagonist of the show, apart from Echo who is a victim he is trying to save.
* In ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'', Harry "Snapper" Organs's pursuit of the Piranha Brothers seems to be a spoof of this trope.
** Well, that and Inspector Leonard [[Aluminum Christmas Trees|"Nipper"]] Read, the guy who brought down [[London Gangster|the Kray Twins]] of whom the Piranhas were a parody.
* Jim Sterling on ''[[Leverage]]'', except he '''never''' looks foolish and the protagonists never manage to humiliate him, even when they get away, [[Magnificent Bastard|because he always manages somehow to get promoted after every encounter with them.]]
** Sterling is also an interesting example because he doesn't actually care all that much about capturing Team Leverage unless it somehow serves his own purposes and ambitions. Most of the time, he just leaves them alone.
* Hank Schrader of ''[[Breaking Bad]]'' is this to an elusive crystal-meth manufacturer known to him only as "Heisenberg." [[Dramatic Irony|Little does he know]] that "Heisenberg" is actually his brother-in-law Walter White, the [[Justified Criminal]] protagonist of the series.
* Doakes serves as the Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist in ''[[Dexter]]''
* Seasoned detective Kwak in the [[Korean Series]] ''[[Bad Boy]]''.
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Planet of the Dead", the detective pursuing [[Classy Cat Burglar|Lady Christina]] is mostly played for laughs, ignored by UNIT and other authorities, and in the end, the Doctor helps her escape as he watches in futility.
* Detective Carter in ''[[Person of Interest]]'' is a serious version, pursuing the vigilante protagonist. She does occasionally team up with Finch and Reese,
* Chief Inspector Teal in ''[[The Saint (TV series)|The Saint]]''.
* One episode of ''[[Burn Notice]]'' has a police detective, correctly, link Mike's group to various C4 explosions around town. {{spoiler|She lets him go when the group frames a group of criminals she could never pin anything on and is told investigating Mike further will require her freeing those criminals}}.
== Video Games ==
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** Carmelita is unique among Sympathetic Inspector Antagonists in that at the end of the series, {{spoiler|she DOES capture Sly...in a manner of speaking. The two of them end up romantically involved and Sly quits the thief business so they can be together. Of course, he does this by faking amnesia, so it's hard to say who really ends up on top here.}}
* In ''[[The Elder Scrolls|Oblivion]]'', Hieronymus Lex - one of the Imperial City's Watch Captains - is the Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist to the Gray Fox, leader of the Thieves' Guild in Cyrodiil. In fact, he is one of the only members of the Imperial Watch who even believes the Thieves' Guild exists, and has dedicated himself to becoming a perpetual, overzealous thorn in its side. {{spoiler|He mellows considerably after you inform him that he's been reassigned to the city of Anvil... although not without a brief rant about how the Gray Fox must have been behind that, too.}} {{spoiler|He's right.}}
** Although for fun,
*** So many layers of irony were in that 'reassignment'. {{spoiler|On one hand, Lex is now unwittingly working for the Gray Fox. On the other hand, it was the Gray Fox who, after so many years of cat-n-mouse evasion between them, hand-picked him to be his head of security. This actually reveals a huge respect for the man.}}
* Officer Denise Marmalade in ''[[Mega Man Legends
* The captain of the Schwann Brigade In ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]''. In a final side quest with him before the final dungeon, after Yuri escapes from him one final time, he even laughs and says "I wouldn't have it any other way".
* Luke Atmey plays the Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist to [[Gentleman Thief]] Mask*DeMasque in ''[[Ace Attorney]]: Trials and Tribulations.''
** And in ''Ace Attorney Investigations'' Detective Badd's spent ten years chasing a vigilante thief called the Yatagarasu and has become an expert on his techniques. {{spoiler|By which we mean he ''is'' the Yatagarasu, or at least one of the three people in the Yatagarasu group. Since he's the main detective on the case he can easily erase all evidence of the Yatagarasu's identity.}}
** Dick Gumshoe is usually this, but even moreso in ''Investigations'', where he's Edgeworth's assistant/sidekick. Though he's most used for comedic purposes, he has shades of [[Inspector Lestrade]], [[Determinator]], and [[Dumbass Has a Point]]. Notably, in the last case, he was able to deliver all the remaining evidence needed to incriminate the suspect without ''even being told what to look for''. If he pays more attention to Edgeworth, he could easily [[Took a Level
* Spectre Jondum Bau from ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' is a semi-example. He's not against Shepard, but he is trying to hunt down one of Shepard's friends, Kasumi Goto, [[Classy Cat Burglar]] extraordinaire. Both Bau and Kasumi have great respect for each other.
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[
* Robin in the ''[[Teen Titans (
** In ''[[Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo]]'', Commander Daizo appears to be another serious form of this, sternly chasing Robin once he "kills" one of Brushogun's ink constructs. He even ''looks'' like [[Lupin III|Zenigata]]. However: {{spoiler|He's actually the villain of the piece, using Brushogun as a slave to create criminals for him to capture.}}
* Commander Ulysses Feral will not stop before he's caught those ''[[
* Ganimard from ''[[Night Hood]]''.
* Ranger Smith from ''[[
* Maximus from ''[[
* The Sheriff from the Bunny and Claude ''[[Looney Tunes in
* Agent Li in ''[[
* [[Fat Bastard|Rancid]] [[Fat Idiot|Rabbit]] from [[
* [[Stupid Boss|Principal Pixiefrog]] from ''[[My Gym Partner's a Monkey
* Mr. Wilter and Principal Stringet from ''[[
* Ranger Stu from ''[[Squirrel Boy]]''.
* The Angry Cop from ''[[The Goode Family]]'' episode "Gerald's Way or The Highway".
* Benson from ''[[
* Gobsmack from ''[[
* Candace certainly ''thinks'' she is this to [[
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[[Category:Cops and Detectives]]
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