Gotham City Police Department - Commissioners

Commissioners

• Commissioner Gillian B. Loeb — The corrupt commissioner of police during the first year of Batman’s operation in Gotham. In Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight, Loeb was a legitimate cop who was murdered by the Joker when poison was put into his drink.

• Commissioner Jack Grogan - he was Commissioner after Loeb and before Gordon. He was mentioned in the last page of Miller's Batman: Year One and has a one panel appearance in the Catwoman Year One Annual and also in Batman: The Man Who Laughs and Batman and the Monster Men #1.

• Commissioner McKeever — He is mentioned in Batman: The Black Mirror, (Detective Comics #875; May 2011). At this time James Gordon is still Lieutenant.

• Commissioner James Gordon — Replaced Grogan and worked with Batman in trying to clean up the Gotham police department. When he retired, he handed the GCPD over to Michael Akins, only to take the job back some years later. The father of Barbara Gordon, the original Batgirl and later Oracle.

• Commissioner Vane- Former Chief Inspector, only served as commissioner briefly when Gordon was demoted to patrolman in Detective Comics #121. During his brief tenure, he oversaw Dr. Hurt's experiments.

• Commissioner Peter Pauling — Another corrupt commissioner, appointed by Mayor Hamilton Hill. Like Hill, he was working for Rupert Thorne. Pauling issued a shoot-to-kill order for any police officer who spotted Batman, and secretly tried to have Gordon, who was working as a private detective, killed. Pauling eventually died at Thorne's hands and a desperate Mayor Hill re-instated Commissioner Gordon. Pauling may not have existed in the Post-Crisis DC universe.

• Commissioner Sarah Essen Gordon — The wife of James Gordon, appointed Commissioner by Mayor Krol while her husband was demoted. This put a great strain on her relationship with her husband and they split up for a while. Although she had previously been a critic of the Batman, she agreed to Mayor Krol's instructions that she use him. Mayor Krol sacked her after he lost his re-election bid against Marion Grange, replacing her with Andy Howe.

• Commissioner Andy Howe — A lawyer who served briefly as Commissioner during the lame-duck Mayoralty of Armand Krol. (Detective Comics #693, January 1996) When the "Clench" virus was released in Gotham and the city descended into anarchy, most police officers ignored Howe and took orders from James Gordon, at that point a private citizen. Howe lost his job when Marion Grange became Mayor and immediately re-instated James Gordon. (Robin #28, April 1996)

• Commissioner Michael Akins — Took over from James Gordon. After the events of the War Games arc, Akins declared all vigilante actions were now illegal, and issued a shoot-to-kill order for any sight of Batman or his associates. He left the position under unspecified circumstance.

• Commissioner Ellen Yindel - Replaces Gordon in the non-canon Batman: The Dark Knight Returns. In the sequel, Batman: The Dark Knight Strikes Again, she resigns.

• Commissioner Tolliver - Police commissioner in the alternate 1889 of Gotham by Gaslight. He is mayor when Batman first emerges and defeats Jack the Ripper. Claiming the victory as his own, Tolliver is then elected mayor in the sequel, Master of the Future.