Lennie Briscoe

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Lennie Briscoe
Title Detective D.A. Investigator
Affiliation New York City Police Department District Attorney's Office United States Army
Division Homicide Department
Precinct 36th Precinct
Current status Deceased
First Appearance L&O: "Point of View"
Last Appearance TBJ: "41 Shots"
Played by Jerry Orbach

Detective Leonard W. "Lennie" Briscoe was a member of the New York City Police Department for more than thirty years, starting as a so-called "beat cop" in the late 1960's. Even though his father was Jewish, he was raised in his mother's faith, Catholicism. He was married and divorced twice, and had a rather cynical view about marriage and fidelity. He had two daughters named Cathy and Julia, and his nephew, Ken Briscoe, was also an NYPD detective. Briscoe was an excellent pool player and a recovering alcoholic.

He had served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War, and attained the rank of corporal.

Briscoe first teamed with Detective Mike Logan after Logan's partner Phil Cerreta was shot by a black-market arms dealer and was forced to retire. Since Logan was expelled to Staten Island in 1995, Briscoe has worked with Detective Reynaldo Curtis and later Ed Green.

His daughter Cathy was arrested for drug possession, and was murdered after testifying in court against the dealer. (L&O:"Damaged")

He briefly considered attending Brooklyn Law School to become a lawyer. (L&O: Nowhere Man)

After leaving the homicide division of the NYPD, Briscoe joined the District Attorney's office, becoming a DA Investigator alongside Hector Salazar. He died in 2005, after only a couple of months at that post.