Sign up ×  The CBI in the mentalist stands for California Bureau
of Investigation, initially I thought this was a regional office
of the FBI, but it doesn't seem to be (no FBI-labelled
jackets/body-armour etc...), it also seems only to be state-wide
(California) and fairly small.  Is it a made-up/based-on police
agency with state-wide powers or is there a CBI?  Apologies for
any incorrect assumptions, I'm from the UK, not the US.
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accepted  This group is based off an existing one that works in
California. The current name for the group is the Bureau of
Investigation (BI). CBI was its former name that is used by the
show. This is not the only group of its kind, I know my home
state of North Carolina has a similar group (State Bureau of
Investigation) whose purpose is similar to that of the FBI but
on the State level.  Like the US government system the police
system breaks out into many levels to ensure co-operation
between states or local government.