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Odafin "Fin" Tutuola (born 1962) is a detective on Manhattan's Special Victims Unit.

He was partnered with John Munch from 2000-2007, until Fin was switched to Chester Lake in the middle of that year. After Lake killed a crooked cop, Stabler's and Lake's betrayal convinces Fin to consider transfer out of SVU in early 2008. (SVU: Cold) But in September 2008, Fin's transfer proposal was scrapped because of an ex-friend back in Narcotics was now dealing with handling transfer papers. Seeing the transfer as a bust, Fin returned as Munch's partner. His relationship with Stabler after this was somewhat hostile for a time, but it appears to have warmed again recently.(SVU: Trials)

Fin came from Narcotics where he was an undercover often for months. Fin came when his partner took a bullet meant for him. He doesn't tell Munch this until after a year of working with him, indicating that he does not like talking about his feelings.

Fin is shown to be calm in the interrogation room. Shown in Anchor where a racist killer calls him a slur. He only says back "That the best you got?" Though outside the interrogation room he is known to be violent. He assaulted a trafficker who smuggled Nigerian children.

He does not like Stabler because Stabler accused him of helping Lake when Lake was wanted for murder, though they have recently gotten better.

In November 2004, Tutuola took sick leave. Fin's relationship with Det. Olivia Benson is better. In the season nine episode "Undercover", Benson poses as an inmate in a women's prison to investigate an alleged rape by a corrections officer. While there, the corrections officer in question attacks her and attempts to force her to perform oral sex on him. She is rescued by SVU colleague Fin Tutuola who gets there just in time to stop the rape. In season ten, Benson is seen struggling with now being a victim of sexual assault herself. She is attending group therapy, something she has not shared with anyone but Tutuola. In another episode Fin snaps at Benson. His son was found digging in an empty lot and was arrested. Instead of calling his father, he called Benson, causing friction between the two.

In June 2009, Fin and Elliot were chasing Peter Harrison. Harrsion set a gas trap that nearly killed Detective Odafin Tutuola and Detective Elliot Stabler. Ryan O'Halloran told them they are lucky to be alive (Zebras)

Family

Currently, he has a son in college, an ex-wife who is out of town because of the machinations his nephew, Darius, did to his family and to his colleagues back in early 2007. (SVU: Screwed)

Early life

Tutuola had served in the US Army in 75th Ranger Regiment and once was deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia, during the conflict there. (SVU: PTSD)

Notes

  • The origin of his name (Tutuola) is of the Yoruban people of West Africa.
  • It is said Tutuola was six during the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. making his birth at 1962 which means he is 51 years old.
  • In "Scorched Earth" He mentions having a grandmother who was a maid
  • His name is taken from the book The Palm Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutola.
  • His badge number is 3198.
  • Fin's political party is Republican, as mentioned in "Secrets".
  • He is currently the second longest running character still on SVU after the retirement of Captain Craigan in 2014. The longest running is Olivia Benson.
  • Ironically, Ice-T, the actor who plays Fin, produced a song titled "Cop-Killer" in 1990 and released it in 1992, which was a song about killing police officers. The song was widely controversial, even being criticized by President Bush.
  • When Det. Amanda Rollins arrives as his new partner in "Scorched Earth", they soon gain a good relationship as seen throughout the following seasons.
  • He was the first person Det. Amanda Rollins revealed her gambling addiction to.
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