Hand out inspector's words of approval (10)
I believe the answer is:
distribute
'hand out' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'inspector's words of approval' is the wordplay.
'inspector's' becomes 'di's' (detective inspector's).
'words of approval' becomes 'tribute' (paying tribute expresses approval of something).
'dis'+'tribute'='DISTRIBUTE'
(Other definitions for distribute that I've seen before include "Deal out" , "Pass round" , "Supply" , "Give out" , "Hand or share out" .)