List of Chicago P.D. characters

Jay Halstead

Detective Jay Halstead previously appeared on Chicago Fire as an undercover cop assigned to take down a local mobster-cum-thug. He requests a transfer to the Intelligence Unit after the assignment ended with him getting shot but successfully arresting the mobster. Chicago P.D. begins a month following his transfer. Aside from the undercover assignment that served as a premise for his transfer to Intelligence, little is known about his early CPD career, except that he was already friends with Antonio Dawson prior to the transfer and that he had joined after serving in the military.

Halstead is the brother of Will, an attending at the (fictional) Chicago Medical Center and a main character in Chicago Med. Jay had previously stated that he had "no beneficiaries" and did not speak of any family members, implying that he either had no one or, if he did, was estranged from them. It was eventually revealed with the introduction of his brother that their mother had died of cancer. They are said to be estranged from their father; Jay had not spoken to him for "a year...probably two" while Will, although still maintaining contact with him, refers to him as "the old man" and chose to move in with Jay rather than their childhood home. Will had moved to New York City for medical school and was overseas doing humanitarian work in Sudan but hit a rough patch when his relationship with a girl did not work out. Their mother's death was a sore point as Jay still harbored some lingering resentment over the fact that Will was "out partying" (presumably to get over his ex-girlfriend). Otherwise, the brothers share a close relationship and look out for one another. The Halsteads are from a middle or working class Irish Catholic background, based on the fact that both brothers attended Catholic school and Will's statements about being an altar boy and growing up in Canaryville, a historically Irish neighborhood in the South Side of Chicago. Jay once mentioned to his partner Erin Lindsay that their grandfather has a cabin in rural northern Wisconsin. He briefly referenced being ostracized by his more affluent counterparts at a private school and it is very likely that he went to De La Salle Institute with Will, who had also been bullied at school (although for his academic prowess).

Halstead is a United States Army veteran and served with the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. With the introduction of his friend Greg "Mouse" Gerwitz as a recurring character, Halstead's military past is gradually revealed. On their last tour of Afghanistan they were both deployed to the notoriously hostile Korangal Valley and were in the lead Humvee of a convoy which was attacked, resulting in Mouse being given a medical discharge. Through brief references from Mouse and his brother Will and in his conversations with Lindsay, it is strongly implied that his experience in Afghanistan was quite traumatic and that he had difficulty readjusting to civilian life when he first returned home to Chicago. However, he is mostly reticent about his time in the military, once even shutting Mouse down at the mere mention of "Landigal". After leaving the military, he joined the Chicago Police Department. His military background and training is apparent, despite having left the service for quite some time. For example, his apartment is spartan and well-kept and he is very physically fit, highly proficient in close quarters combat and able to maintain his concentration on a subject from behind a sniper rifle scope for long periods of time.

Halstead is known for his bluntness, especially when interrogating suspects. In season 1 he sometimes rubbed his superior Detective Sergeant Hank Voight the wrong way for questioning the latter's actions. Despite his calm and collected demeanor, he can be brash in making split-second decisions and has a temper. However, Voight retains him in the Intelligence Unit as he recognized Halstead's skill and dedication to the job. Voight initially treats Halstead as if he was there because he was friends with Dawson but by season 2, it is apparent that he trusts Halstead and regards him highly, as shown in the episode "Push the Pain Away" where he specifically requests for Halstead as the marksman to cover for him despite the heavy presence of specialist SWAT officers. A highly skilled marksman Halstead is proficient with his standard issue Glock 17 and M4 firearms as well as a sniper rifle and has an extensive knowledge of ballistics and explosives. When a situation requires, he (or sometimes with Olinsky, who is also a military veteran) usually serves as the designated sniper to cover the rest of the unit.

Halstead has the tendency to blur the line separating his private and personal life, especially when people close to him are involved. For example, he conducts his own surveillance of Lonnie Rodiger, a young pedophile whom he correctly suspected of murdering young boys, including the younger brother of his high school girlfriend Allie. In the season 2 crossover with Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, when Will was called in for questioning by Detective Benson from the NYPD SVU and Voight as Will knew a victim, Halstead storms into Voight's office and tells them that they will get a written statement from Will and nothing more.

In the pilot episode, it is established that Halstead had been partnered with Erin Lindsay for the past month and they share a close relationship, which has evolved into a more intimate relationship at various times (which they have had to keep secret) but prevented from going any further due to Voight's dislike of "in-house romances". She tries to set him up on dates with her friends in the first several episodes of season 1 but soon realizes that she has feelings for him. He was presumably the first person Lindsay had confided her past to, in full detail. The two struck up a romantic relationship after Erin transfers to a federal task force, as they no longer had to worry about fraternization rules. After her return to the squad, their relationship cooled down on orders from Voight. When Lindsay spiralled out of control in the weeks following Nadia's death, he tried to help her, even after Voight had given up. She returns in the Season 3 premiere after his cover was blown during an undercover operation to nab a drug kingpin. She rescues him in the nick of time and decides to return to Intelligence, where she is again partnered with Halstead. They reconnect and rekindle their relationship. In the episode "You Never Know Who's Who", they go public for the first time by openly kissing while hanging out at Molly's. They generally maintain a professional front when at work; Burgess once told Lindsay that she "[forgets] sometimes that you and Jay are dating, 'cause you guys make it look so easy." It is established in the season 4 episode "A Shot Heard Round the World" that they are now living together.

Crossovers

Halstead first appeared on Chicago Fire as a recurring character before becoming a main character on Chicago PD. Within the Chicago franchise, the character has crossed-over to Fire and Med as part of the CPD investigation. He also appeared on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit to assist with cross-jurisdiction cases.

The character was introduced in season 2 as a regular customer at Molly's, a bar jointly run by paramedic Gabriela Dawson and her firefighter colleagues. He had fallen for Gabby but she breaks up with him upon finding out he was a "henchman" of Arthur, a local thug who had threatened to burn down Molly's. Although her brother Antonio tells her that Halstead was actually a cop, Gabby decides to end their relationship, as she had felt betrayed even though she understood that Halstead could not blow his cover. They part on friendly terms after Halstead successfully arrests Arthur and taking a bullet to his shoulder in the process. As a result, he opts out of undercover work and joins Antonio in the Intelligence Unit.

Halstead also appeared in later in the season as the investigating officer of a murder case involving Gabby's colleague at Firehouse 51. One of Lieutenant Severide's men Jeff Clarke was a suspect when the ex-lover of his wife was found dead. The ex-lover turned out to be a loanshark who repeatedly harassed the Clarkes to the point where Clarke has verbally threatened him and had gone to his house with a sniper rifle intending to kill him. Clarke, an Iraq veteran, later admitted that he tried to protect his wife because she had been there for him when he came home from his deployment, to which Halstead replied that he understood and could sympathize.

Awards and decorations

These are the medals fictionally worn by Halstead.

Adam Ruzek

Officer Adam Ruzek made his first appearance during the pilot episode "Stepping Stone", which was broadcast on January 8, 2014. Ruzek is a police officer in the Intelligence Unit of the Chicago Police Department. He has also made recurring appearances in Chicago Fire.

Ruzek parents divorced when he was a child, and he would split time between his father in Beverly and mother in Canaryville. His father, Bob Ruzek (Jack Coleman), better known as "Disco Bob", is a longtime patrol officer with the 26th District who had served with both Voight and Olinsky. Little is known about Ruzek's background as he rarely talks about his personal life and has made no mentions of any siblings, implying that he may be an only child.

In the pilot episode, Ruzek was still in the academy and about to graduate when he was handpicked by Detective Alvin Olinsky for an undercover assignment. The first season sees him trying to adjust to his new role in the Intelligence Unit. Although he was warmly welcomed by the team, his impulsive behavior has occasionally landed him into trouble with Voight and Olinsky and irked his more senior colleagues. His naiveté becomes apparent during his first stakeout, when he repeatedly looks at his phone and makes bathroom breaks. Olinsky temporarily had him transferred to uniformed patrol duty as a warning. Over time, he begins to settle in and becomes more mature and less impetuous. In the season 3 episode "Climbing into Bed", Ruzek has his badge temporarily revoked for going undercover without authorization. Platt reluctantly pulls some strings to lighten his punishment and Voight assures her that Ruzek was worth the risk. He strikes a friendship with Officer Kevin Atwater, who transfers to Intelligence from patrol in season 2, and they often banter with one another.

In season 1, Ruzek was engaged to a woman named Wendy. They are shown to have a close and playful relationship, sending racy photos of each other back and forth. He tries to keep his professional and private lives separate but has difficulty doing so. He tells her that he was assigned to a desk job at district headquarters, which she eventually discovers is not true after he was shot. That relationship fell apart, partially due his job and partially to his growing infatuation with patrol officer Kim Burgess. After Wendy calls off their engagement, Ruzek and Burgess pursue a romantic relationship. They share a playful relationship, with Ruzek often showing public displays of affection even at work. For example, he agrees to help her take "revenge" on Platt. He proposes to her in the season 2 finale and she happily accepts. It gradually becomes apparent to Burgess that Ruzek had commitment issues. She begins to doubt him after learning that he had an ex-fiancée before Wendy. At the end of "Looking Out for Stateville," she calls off the engagement in the same placed he proposed, leaving them both devastated. When Burgess and her partner Sean Roman appear to be flirting, he becomes jealous and their friendship becomes strained.

Crossovers

Kevin Atwater

Officer Kevin Atwater is a former patrol officer for the CPD. He was partners with Officer Kim Burgess. Atwater takes pride in his job as a patrol officer. Usually, he is the driver of a squad car in a "partnership arrangement". Before he was permanently transferred to the Intelligence Unit, he worked undercover with Alvin Olinsky.

Little is known about Atwater's background. His parents are either absent from his life or deceased and his younger siblings Jordan and Vanessa live with him as his "wards". Kim Burgess is one of his few colleagues whom they have regular contact with and it is implied that she has babysat Vanessa more than once. Like Joe Cruz from Chicago Fire, Atwater was raised in a gangster-infested neighborhood and had relatives and friends in prison but managed to avoid following them into a life of crime. He is known to the firefighters at 51 for throwing "great parties" and was once roped in to help organize a fundraiser at Molly's to help one of Lieutenant Severide's men.

Both Atwater and Burgess are constant targets of Desk Sergeant Platt's sarcasm. However, they are generally able to laugh it off after shift. There was a running gag where Platt would assign them a different squad car if they talked back to her sarcastic remarks and mishaps would take place. Atwater uses an old connection from his neighborhood to fix the mirror.

At the end of season one he is promoted to Hank Voight's Intelligence unit.

In "Prison Ball", he took a case personally when a 10-year-old girl was murdered by a suspect that she was supposed to be testifying against him.

In "There's My Girl", he is demoted back to being a uniformed officer following a suspect's suicide while in custody, when he left the soda can with the suspect in the interrogation room.

In "Born into Bad News", after the Internal Affairs cleared him of the interrogation room incident, he is quickly promoted back to Intelligence.

Sean Roman

Officer Sean Roman made his first appearance during the first episode of the second season "Call It Macaroni", which was broadcast on September 24, 2014. Roman is a police officer in the Chicago Police Department's 21st District. He has also made recurring appearances in Chicago Fire.

He is a brash patrol officer who partners with Burgess after transferring to the 2-1 from District 31. He transferred out because of his relationship with Jenn Cassidy, who is now a K-9 officer, to avoid breaking fraternization rules. He has his own private security company on the side.

Roman runs a security business and recruits cops who wish to earn extra money after hours. He offers Antonio a job as he knew the latter was going through a divorce and was mortgaging the house to pay for lawyer fees. In "Assignment of the Year", Roman didn't know Asher was a felon, and his immaturity shows in his inexperience. Since Roman was heavily involved with the unit on this case, he had to cooperate with the unit in apprehending Asher's killer, which was his own wife seduced her errand boy, Terry, in committing the murder and allowing herself to escape prosecution.

In "Prison Ball", while he and Burgess unknowingly supervising three juvenile delinquents in the Police Explorers program, Olinsky bumps into them, Roman gives Olinsky attitude and he demands to know what Roman's problem is. It was revealed that years ago, while in District 31, in an undercover sting his partner and him were both shot and Olinsky was there. Roman's partner bled out and died because Olinsky didn't help him and thought it was more important to chase after the shooter. While Roman is having a meltdown, he loses the Police Explorers. Burgess and Roman learn that the Explorers were actually juvenile delinquents, and they stole the commander's squad car.

In "Called in Dead", when Roman and his ex-girlfriend, Jenn Cassidy now a K-9 officer, was arguing outside. Burgess gets shot while investigating a call when she rang the doorbell, which was connected to the trip wire to the shotgun shell. In "Shouldn't Have Been Alone", upon investigation it was revealed that the house itself was booby trapped, was for the police by the murderer, Spencer York. During the investigation, Adam Ruzek and Roman got into a confrontation because Ruzek believes that it was Roman's fault that Burgess is in the hospital. In "We Don't Work Together Anymore", while Burgess is on desk duty to take care of herself, Roman was partners with Sergeant Platt.

In "What Do You Do", Burgess and Roman (while on meal break) investigate a suspicious activity in a warehouse, which was later revealed to be a drug deal. Roman had medical experience when he was forced (held at gunpoint) to help a suspect that was shot and was in serious condition. Roman was seriously injured during the whole ordeal, they was saved eventually when Ruzek, while he and his unit was getting a mandatory taser certification, noticed that Burgess had not called responded to his messages.

In "The Three Gs", Roman gets into a physical altercation with a fellow officer, Officer DeLuca, while deciding on methods of how to save the girl's life, via patrol car to the hospital, when she was shot by a stray bullet in the midst of the gunfight between the suspect with connections to the human trafficking case and Olinsky. He was suspended in the process when DeLuca decided to file a formal complaint against him but it was lifted when Hank Voight forced him to drop the complaint.

Roman's father is a Vietnam veteran who served in the 5th Marine Regiment. In "There's My Girl", it was revealed that Sean has a cousin that works with the stone carving business when the department turns down to carve a stone for Nadia.

Crossovers

He has appeared on Chicago Fire to apprehend suspects.

Sheldon Jin

Sheldon Jin was the Intelligence Unit's "tech wizard" and analyst. He is highly skilled in using technology to aid the investigations. He is the only member of the team who does not routinely carry a firearm or go out to the field and is usually in his office at the 21st District headquarters, only going to the crime scene when his expertise is needed.

Towards the end of Season 1, it is revealed that an IA officer has been blackmailing Jin into "spying" on the Intelligence Unit, particularly Voight. Jin's father had accumulated a large gambling debt and the IA officer threatened to deport his father back to China if he (Jin) didn't cooperate. Voight was initially furious upon finding out about Jin, although it lessens some after he discovers the link with IA, whom Voight had a history of bad blood with. Prior to his death in the season finale, Jin mailed Halstead a thumbdrive with information incriminating the IA officer. Jin was honored with a plaque outside the 21st District headquarters.

Trudy Platt

Sergeant Trudy Platt is the desk sergeant at District 21. As the desk sergeant, she is the immediate superior of the district's patrol officers. She was previously a training officer (Antonio Dawson was one of her trainees during his days walking the beat) and had passed the detective's exam twice but had to take a desk job after being shot. She is known for her sarcasm and deadpan humor. She sometimes comes off as cold and heartless, however, she deeply cares for the officers under her command and is shown to go to great lengths to defend them. This is greatly shown when an officer she assigned to guard duty is executed, she feels very guilty but is moved when many officers show up at the district to support the grieving family. At the beginning of season 1, she often tries to bully Officer Kim Burgess into running errands for her. When Burgess finally tells her off, Platt intentionally assigns Burgess and partner Kevin Atwater to a smelly squad car for the day. Burgess's new partner Sean Roman once called Platt a "pain in the ass".

In the episode "Turn the Light Off", it is revealed that Platt comes from a wealthy family. Her family disapproved of her decision to become a police officer. Every now and then, she would bring a "fiancé" to convince her father to give her more money. She convinces Adam Ruzek to play the fiancé and Ruzek takes the opportunity to eat at an expensive restaurant. She also has history with Voight and Olinsky, she once told Antonio that Voight is the best cop in the city, they hold a close working friendship, and despite Olinksy being her subordinate he is shown calling her by her first name.

Platt meets firefighter Randy "Mouch" McHolland at Chief Boden's wedding at Firehouse 51 and strike up a friendship almost immediately. He eventually proposes marriage and Platt is sure her dad will spare no cost for his daughter's wedding. Their wedding plans are thrown off course when her father reveals that he was bankrupt due to bad deals and investments gone wrong, meaning that she would have to rely on her own finances. It is also implied that while Platt is financially independent, she has long relied on her family's money for backup and now has to lean solely on her usual police pay. They eventually marry in an intimate ceremony at Molly's in the Chicago Fire episode "On the Warpath" and had their honeymoon in the Wisconsin Dells.

Crossovers

Platt also appears in Chicago Fire as a recurring character. She meets firefighter Randy "Mouch" McHolland in season 2 and they begin a relationship. Mouch has also appeared in Chicago P.D..

Alvin Olinsky

Alvin Olinsky is a seasoned detective in the Intelligence Unit and Voight's most experienced team member. Before joining the force, Olinsky served in the United States Army and was at one time stationed in Vicenza, Italy with the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. Olinsky mentions in "Called in Dead" that he has 8 confirmed kills in the line of duty. He is one of two military veterans in the Intelligence Unit – the other being Jay Halstead, an Afghanistan veteran – and the duo sometimes exchange banter about each other's service.

In Season 1, Olinsky becomes estranged from his wife, who made him move into the garage for some time, before husband and wife eventually reconciled and he is allowed to move back into the house. When Lexi is falsely accused of possessing marijuana, Olinsky is quick to help his daughter out. Even though she is suspended from school, the two have a father/daughter dance in the garage. When an ill-fated party ends in a gang member's shooting death, Lexi is the only witness. Olinsky tries to prevent Lexi from becoming a witness as it would endanger her life. However, when the shooter refuses to confess, Lexi volunteers. Olinksy has a long history with Voight having been partnered with him in a gang unit years earlier. Olinskys partner was killed by a man named Browning and Olinksy and Voight "took him for a boat ride". Although usually calm and reserved he has been shown to have a temper and is not above using questionable tactics to bring a suspect to justice.

Because Olinsky's desk is behind Halstead and Atwater, there is a running gag where Voight and the rest of the unit would miss him entering the room. Voight would brief the team and tell them to pass on the information to Olinsky "when he gets here", only for Olinsky to roll out on his chair and say "Here".

Crossovers

Like many Chicago P.D. characters, Olinsky has appeared in Chicago Fire. He was the handler of Leon Cruz, younger brother of CFD firefighter Joe Cruz, and was assigned to make sure Leon, who was undercover in a gang, was safe. He also was a guest at Platt's and Mouch's wedding in "On the Warpath".

Family members

Police officers and CPD employees

Criminals and informants

Other

Minor characters

Chicago Fire

Chicago Med