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Every time someone steps up and says who they are, the world becomes a better, more interesting place.

―Holt in "Game Night"

Deputy Commissioner Raymond Jacob Holt is one of the main characters of the show. He was the Captain of the 99th Precinct and was formerly a uniformed officer, he is the husband to Kevin Cozner. Outwardly he is strict, hardworking, stoic, staunchly professional, and a stickler for the rules. Inwardly, he is a warm, empathetic, devoted, and kind-hearted man who cares deeply about the officers and employees under his command and frequently participates in office antics, competitions, and pranks. Though he is often lampooned by his colleagues for his lack of displaying emotion or facial expressions, he is held in the highest regard by them and has developed close relationships with most of them.

Physical Appearance

Holt is a tall, aging dark-skinned man with thin grey hair. He is usually portrayed with a white shirt, black tie, the captain's insignia on both collars, with the NYPD's captain badge. When he was demoted to being an officer in Season 7, his collars had the number "99" on them to represent his precinct. He has 4 breast bars, which includes the WTC bar and the Medal of Valor. He is also sometimes shown with a black jacket and a captain's hat.

Personality

Holt is strict and does not show much emotion, like Rosa. He does, however, show that he cares for his friends. At the start of the show, he is shown to follow rules to a T and was called a robot by Jake Peralta due to his nature. He is calm, collected but has been shown to get very angry when somebody hurts him, his friends, husband, his dog, etc.

Biography

Holt's age and birthday have never been established but he is described by Det. Peralta as being of "advanced age". He is from Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in an upper-middle-class household with his sister Debbie, his mother Laverne Holt—a judge on the ninth circuit court—and his unnamed father. An introverted child, Holt largely kept to himself and developed a personality similar to that of his mother. Very little else has been revealed about his upbringing; however, he does reveal that when he was seven years old, he would sneak into his father's study and peek at his father's antiqued globes as a substitute for playing with toys. Holt also kept a diary in his youth.

When Holt grew up, he went on to join the NYPD around 1977 and was promoted to detective after 1 month. He came out as gay in 1987. As a black, gay police officer, Holt experienced an avalanche of discrimination, profiling, homophobia, and slander for many years but fought through it all anyway with his head held high and even went on to marry Kevin Cozner, a classics professor. In addition to decades of police work, during which time he arrested over six hundred people and caught a number of very high profile criminals (e.g. The Disco Strangler), Holt spent eight unhappy years in the public affairs office all the while fighting to become eligible for a command of his own.

Season One

Holt got his long-time wish in 2013 when he was promoted to Captain and assigned to Brooklyn's 99th Precinct following the retirement of Capt. McGintley. Holt immediately made his presence felt on his first day by taking the brash Detective Jake Peralta down a peg and issuing new directives to restore some professionalism in the precinct. Having learned about his staff from Sgt. Terry Jeffords, Holt resolved to curtail some of Peralta's more childish habits, making him a better detective in the process and helping him become more mature, thereby making the 99th even better.

Season Two

At the end of Johnny and Dora, he announces he is leaving the Nine-Nine, taking Gina along with him to fulfill his promotion. He is replaced by Seth Dozerman.

Season Three

In New Captain, Holt's first duty is overseeing that the new mascot for NYPD gets named. He is later made to wear the suit by Wuntch.

In The Oolong Slayer, Jake Peralta bribes Chief Garmin into bringing him back to the 99th Precinct.

Season Five

In 99, he is considered for promotion to the position of Commissioner, which he tries to sabotage because his secret dealing with gangster Seamus Murphy compromised him. He is afraid of what he would demand once Holt is in such a high position. Jake, however, convinces him to go for it nonetheless and work out the problem with Murphy as a team. Through a spectacular show of knowledge on Amy's part, they manage to arrive just in time for Holt's interview.

Season Six

In The Suicide Squad, Holt appears to be serving a temporary sentence as a low-ranking patrolman by order of acting-Commissioner Wuntch. Wuntch demotes Holt after finding out that he was promoted to detective without having served the correct amount of time as a regular officer beforehand. (It could be assumed that this temporary change was in return for Lt. Jeffords being allowed to stay at the Nine-Nine because Wuntch is Captain Holt's nemesis and would be unlikely to do him that favor without taking something in return).

Season Seven

In Manhunter, Holt adjusts to his new position as a uniformed officer and is put on a case with Jake and Charles as his superiors.

In Captain Kim, Holt is invited to Julie Kim's house and is with the squad at the party.

In Pimemento, Holt is with the squad (minus Jake and Charles) in a Workplace Conflict Seminar.

In The Jimmy Jab Games II, Holt competes with Rosa in the competition to win the day off so he can spend it with Kevin. However, after finding out Rosa broke up with Jocelyn, he throws the competition along with Rosa, and they are last seen sitting at the bar listening to death metal music.

Season Eight

In The Good Ones, Holt was revealed to have separated with Kevin in 2020. However, they confessed they still had feelings for each other in The Lake House and get back together in Game of Boyles, remarrying in Renewal.

New York Herald clipping

Openly Gay Captain Appointed
By Karen Mitchell – Staff Writer
Captain Ray Holt was just appointed as the first openly gay homosexual active police captain in New York City.
Detectives at Precinct 99 in Brooklyn New York will now be under Holt's command in what many city officials are calling a brave move towards equality in one of the nations most controversial police communities.
Capt. Holt began service with the rank of Probationary Police Officer, alternatively referred to as PPO, or informally within the department, as a Probie.
After six months of training at the Police Academy and after successfully completing various Academic, Physical and Tactical tests Capt. Holt graduated the Police Academy and was promoted to the rank of Police Officer and receive a corresponding pay grade increase.
[Details about NYPD rank structure]
"Cap ppointment [sic] by the upper brass of the New York Police Department is definitively a welcome shift in hiring procedures which our city so desperately needs," said Council Member Junita Martin.
Many critics and proponents of openly gay police officers will be watching Capt. Holt's department closely and he is expected to undergo many departmental reviews over the next month as the city increases inspections.
Detective-Investigators are the type most people associate with the term "detective" and are the ones most frequently portrayed on television and in the movies.
"Turner and Hooch, that is my favorite detective movie of all time," said Capt. Holt on Tuesday at a press conference in Brooklyn.
[More generic text on the work of a detective]

Trivia

  • His favorite color is beige.[1]
  • He saw John William Weichselbraun perform "Bach's oboe Sonata in G Minor" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, before being escorted out for gasping too loudly.[2]
  • He is the founder of the African-American Gay and Lesbian New York City Policeman's Association (AAGLNYCPA).[3]
  • Holt has two tells for when he's lying.
    • The corner of his mouth moves.[4]
    • He uses contractions.[5]
  • He is likely lactose intolerant: milk upsets his stomach.
  • He has a tattoo on his lower back of Kevin's head on Cheddar's body.
  • He is right-handed.
  • Turner and Hooch is his favorite detective movie of all time
  • He hates the use of the word 'bone' in a sexual context.
  • Holt is a skilled dancer.
  • His sidearm is a revolver as opposed to the standard pistols used by his colleagues.
  • He requires glasses to read.
  • On his first day as a police officer, one of the older officers blatantly asked him if he was there to turn himself in.[6]
  • He and Kevin attend a class for hula-hooping.[7]
  • Holt previously had a gambling addiction.[8]
    • He used to bet on horse races. He bet on children's talent shows when his addiction resurfaced.
    • His addiction put Kevin through a lot.
  • He briefly had a Twitter account, before it was deactivated due to Twitter thinking that he was a bot.[9]
  • He and Kevin made an Instagram account where they post photos of Cheddar, which has over 14K followers.
  • He and Kevin belong to the Park Slope Racquet Club, where they had taken home the trophy two years in a row in the annual squash doubles tournament.[10]
  • Holt's regular breakfast is room-temperature water and one hard-boiled egg yolk.[11]
    • Holt only eats omelets on vacation.[12]
  • Both Jake and Amy have accidentally referred to Captain Holt as their dad.
  • He doesn't believe in jinxes.
  • He only has one dream a year, always on Tax Day, wherein he has to file for extension.
  • He starts and ends a text message with "Dear" and "Sincerely, Raymond Holt".
  • He is multilingual, apart from his native language- English he knows: French, Spanish, Greek he is also fair with Portuguese and Flemish.[13] He said multiple sentences in fluent Ukrainian in the finale.
    • He also picked up Russian after talking to a Russian woman at a coffee stand every day for 6 months.[14]
  • He has a fear of being trapped in an elevator, which stemmed from when he read the municipal code as a child and learned that elevators get inspected only once every five years.
  • Holt wears a September 11 first-responders badge, displayed simply as "WTC".
  • He is a foil fencer.
  • He has made multiple pill-popping jokes throughout the show.
  • He and Kevin have an incredibly intelligent and disciplined corgi named Cheddar.

Quotes

I apologize, Marshall Boone, for Detective Peralta's actions, something I find myself doing quite frequently. (Sal's Pizza)


Rosa Diaz: Angry Amy is right. All you have to do is say a few nice comments during the memorial.
Holt: As god said when Wuntch tried to sneak past the gates into heaven, "It ain't happening honey."


Holt: Are you saying my life matters less, because I don't conform to society's heteronormative child-centric ideals?
Terry Jeffords: Are you really playing the gay card right now?
Holt: Yas queen. *snaps fingers* (The Big House Pt. 1)


No way that's true. As Wuntch says when she sees deodorant, "I'm not buying it."(Ding Dong)


"That's my favourite part of a woman. There's nothing more intoxicating than the clear absence of a penis."(The Big House Pt. 2)


Jake Peralta: You played me.
Holt: Like France Bruggen plays the flute.


HOT DAMN! (Jake and Sophia)


Wuntch time is over! (Stakeout)


Boooooooooone? (Skyfire Cycle)


My fluffy boy!

Gallery

Notes


fr:Raymond Holt

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