Law and Order
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This page is about the police squad who are the focus of Law & Order: Criminal Intent. For the Criminal Intent episode, see "Major Case".

The Major Case Squad is a division within the New York City Police Department. The squad is located at One Police Plaza in Manhattan, New York City.

The squad investigates homicides, kidnappings, burglary, larceny, and robberies that occur within the five boroughs of New York City. While these are normally handled by precinct detective squads, these squads have the ability to completely hand a case over to MCS if they think it is high-profile enough to justify their involvement. Such cases include the murder of a New York City Deputy Mayor (CI: "Bright Boy") and the kidnapping of a retired Pittsburgh police officer's daughter. (CI: "The Pilgrim")

Detectives[]

Commanding officers[]

The real Major Case Squad[]

The NYPD has a Major Case Squad, but unlike the Major Case Squad on Law & Order: Criminal Intent, they only handle the following types of cases:

  • Kidnappings, as directed by the chief of detectives
  • Burglary or attempted burglary of a bank or bank safe
  • Larceny by extortion, or attempted larceny by extortion, from a bank
  • Robbery, or attempted robbery, of a bank by an armed perpetrator
  • Burglary of a truck contents over $100,000
  • Larceny of truck contents over $100,000
  • Truck hijackings and robbery of contents
  • All robberies in warehouse depots, or similar locations, where the objects of the crime is a truck or its contents
  • All commercial burglaries in which the value of the property stolen exceeds $100,000
  • Art theft
  • Murder

The Major Case Squad does not normally investigate homicides: Those are generally conducted by precinct detective squads and borough homicide squads; the exceptions involve homicides committed by violent criminal organizations that fall under larger federal RICO investigations and prosecutions, as well as the murder of police officers. On the matter of the homicides of police officers, the Major Case Squad was originally formed in response to the wave of assassinations of police officers in the late 1960s and early 1970s by radical groups like the Black Panthers. Ultimate responsibility for any homicide case in NYC rests with the precinct detective squad concerned, but the Major Case Squad has historically played a large and important role in the investigation of any homicide of an NYC police officer.

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