List of Chicago P.D. characters

This is a list of fictional characters in the television series Chicago P.D. The article deals with the series' main, recurring, and minor characters.

Main characters

Overview

Hank Voight

Jay Halstead

Detective Jason "Jay" Halstead first appears on Chicago Fire as an undercover cop assigned to shadow and take down a local mobster who is harassing Gabriela Dawson, one of the owners of Molly's bar. He requests a transfer to the Intelligence Unit after the assignment ends 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 joined after serving in the military.
Halstead is the younger brother of Will Halstead, an attending at the Chicago Medical Center and a main character in Chicago Med. Their mother died of cancer and they had a very difficult relationship with their father Pat, who initially disapproved of his sons not following the expected practice to immediately find work locally after high school; instead, both his sons left Chicago to find their own career paths, Will for medical school and Jay for the military. Will 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 is a sore point as Jay still harbors some lingering resentment over the fact that Will was not around during that time and "out partying". Otherwise, the brothers share a close relationship and look out for one another. The Halsteads are from a 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 mentions to his partner Erin Lindsay that their grandfather has a cabin in rural northern Wisconsin. He briefly references 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 was also bullied at school.
Halstead is a second-generation 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. During one of their tours in 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. In the season 9 episode "The One Next to Me", a former army buddy reveals that Halstead was known as "Ricky", short for ricochet, for his uncanny ability as a sniper to hit the target by ricochet. His experience in Afghanistan was quite traumatic and he still exhibits symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder, specifically insomnia, nightmares and flashbacks. With no familial support, he had difficulty readjusting to civilian life when he first returned stateside and spent a period of time "doing nothing but drink, smoke, screw, fight". However, he remains mostly reticent about his time in the military, although cases involving veterans and children still affect him personally. 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 rubs 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 because he recognizes Halstead's skill and dedication to the job. Voight initially treats Halstead as if he is 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 to be the marksman to cover for him despite the heavy presence of specialist SWAT officers, and in the season 5 episode "Reform", where he goes to great lengths to defend Halstead's innocence to an alderman. 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 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 suspects 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 is called in for questioning by Sergeant Benson from the NYPD SVU and Voight because 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. Likewise, in season 6, he disobeys Voight's order to stay on desk duty upon hearing that the fire his father died in was an arson and continues to pursue the case by himself.
In the pilot episode, it is established that Halstead has 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 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 strike up a romantic relationship after Erin transfers to a federal task force, as they no longer have to worry about fraternization rules. After her return to the squad, their relationship cools down on orders from Voight. When Lindsay spirals out of control in the weeks following Nadia's death, he tries to help her, even after Voight has given up. She returns in the season 3 premiere, after his cover is 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 tells Lindsay that she " 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 living together.
In episode "Remember the Devil", it is revealed that Halstead was married to a woman named Abby, whom he met while deployed in Afghanistan and married in a drunken one-night stand. It causes a rift in his relationship with Lindsay, and he moves out of their apartment at the end of the episode. At the end of the episode "Fork in the Road", he is seen making a call to Lindsay to propose to her, but she doesn't pick up. It is later revealed that she was leaving for New York City after a series of incidents from the episode essentially led to her accepting a job there and escape further scrutiny from the CPD.
In the season 5 premiere "Reform", Halstead is partnered with Hailey Upton and their partnership continues to be rocky. He is a subject in an investigation and receives scrutiny from the public when a drug deal goes wrong. When a young girl is shot during the ordeal, it is revealed that the bullet came from his gun.
In "Care Under Fire", it becomes known that he is still having nightmares about his tours in Afghanistan. He goes undercover to infiltrate a kidnapping crew composed of military veterans and strikes up a friendship with Luis Vega, his "target", due to their shared background as former Rangers who had been deployed to Afghanistan. When the target is killed, his flashbacks came up causing him to come dangerously close to shooting Upton. During the episode, he starts a relationship with Camila Vega, Luis's sister. He continues to pose as Ryan and does not reveal his true identity to her.
In "Rabbit Hole", the relationship between Halstead and Camila takes a dramatic turn when he unintentionally gets himself in the middle of a drug operation and a murder of an undercover DEA agent. He later finds out that Camila is a person of interest. But later in the investigation, she confesses that she was recruiting people to become drug dealers. When Voight sees that Halstead is acting strange, he asks him if he is in a relationship with her, but he lies and denies it. But when the sting in getting the murderer to confess falls apart, his colleagues rush in the garage and as she is getting arrested, she realizes that he is a cop. As she is sitting in a jail cell, Upton convinces Camila to not see Halstead again and to not speak of their relationship to anyone or face spending years in prison. In the following episode, "Confidential", he is placed on desk duty by Voight and ordered to see a psychiatrist. He eventually returns to the field and admits to Upton in the episode "Chasing Monsters" that he found therapy helpful and is finally addressing his PTSD.
After a rocky start to his new partnership with Upton in season 5, the duo become close friends and confidants, often supporting one another after difficult cases. In "Endings", after his father was declared brain dead, he investigates the person responsible for the fire. During the investigation, it becomes known that Daniel Mendoza, a drug cartel member, is the one responsible. When attempting to take his brother, Juan Mendoza, into custody, Halstead almost gets into an altercation with him, only for Upton and Ruzek to stop him. Voight benches Halstead due to his personal connection to the case. Jay is so enraged by this that he insults Upton's dad, saying she's projecting her own father issues. Upton, tired of him using her as a punching bag, demands he hand the keys to her. He calls Severide to give him a radio and a ride. He then takes a radio from a uniformed officer and chases after Daniel on foot, he is shot and wounded by Mendoza who is attempting to evade police. Halstead, in return, shoots and killed him. Voight berates him for going against his orders and tells him that their conversation is not over.
In the season 6 episode "Trigger", he was visibly affected by the fact that a fellow veteran would frame a local imam and kill innocent people in a deluded quest to prove that the imam was financially supporting terrorist activity; for the first time, Halstead speaks at length about his time in the military and comments that he has learned to live with his PTSD and move on with life, unlike the perpetrator.
In "Outrage", while working undercover in a drug bust, it goes sideways when the team identifies the suspect as Matthew Garrett, a perp who Halstead thought was in prison. Jay tries to bail before any trouble starts, but Garrett has also recognized him and publicly calls him out, leading to a brief confrontation. As he leaves the club, Jay describes the guy as “the devil.” A paperwork SNAFU leads to Garrett getting a huge payoff for wrongful arrest, and now he is using it to fund his drug operation. Halstead particularly hates him because Garrett killed a 17-year-old girl. With Halstead benched by Voight over an official complaint against him, they go ahead of the drug bust. Instead of Garrett, his two henchmen are there. Upon finding out the location, Halstead is the first person through the warehouse door and finds Garrett shot in the neck. He dies shortly thereafter, leaving Jay without the location of the murdered girl's body. When investigated by Internal Affairs, Voight instructs Halstead to lie and say Garrett died before he got there, instead of in front of him. Kelton, along with everyone, is convinced Halstead is the prime suspect in his murder. Voight goes to his old friend, former Detective Gus, for answers. While there, he confesses to murder and tells him to look the other way. When he can't, he gives him "some time alone" in which he commits suicide and Halstead is off the hook.
In the season 11 premiere, "Unpacking", Hailey and Jay have gotten divorced as Hailey filed the divorce papers as she walked out of the station.