Character mistake: When Clouseau and Ballon are playing billiards, and Clouseau accuses Ballon of murdering the chauffeur out of jealously, he accidentally refers to Ballon as "Inspector Ballon". (00:46:20)
A Shot in the Dark (1964)
1 character mistake
Directed by: Blake Edwards
Starring: Herbert Lom, Peter Sellers, George Sanders, Elke Sommer
Other mistake: Subtitle (English) appears to be incorrect: "He is setting the scions of criminal investigations back 1000 years" should be "He is setting the science of criminal investigations back 1000 years." "Scions" is a description of the branches of a tree. (01:11:00)
Dreyfus: Give me ten men like Clouseau and I could destroy the world.
Trivia: Maria (Elke Sommer) cannot refrain from laughing at Peter Sellers' antics during the interrogation. She is trying to stifle her laughter. (01:31:40)
More questions & answers from A Shot in the Dark
Answer: In this particular film, he's referred to solely as "Commissioner" and is then Chief Inspector in every subsequent Pink Panther film in which he appears (up until "Son of the Pink Panther" [1993], Herbert Lom's last appearance in the role, when he is again Commissioner). If you're after a reason, there likely isn't an official one, though perhaps Dreyfus's murder spree and mental breakdown in this film led to his demotion.