My name is Robert Goren and I'm a detective for the Major Case Squad in the New York Police Department (NYPD), badge number is 4376. I speak German, Dutch and some Cantonese, always carry both a cloth handkerchief and a switchblade, played basketball as a child, am left handed, and wear a size 13 shoe.
After college, I served in the Criminal Investigation Division of the U.S. Army, stationed in Germany and South Korea, before joining the NYPD. I spent four years in the Narcotics Division, running three sting operations that resulted in 27 arrests and 27 convictions. I was further mentored in criminal profiling by Dr. Declan Gage
I am partnered with Detective Alexandra Eame, although I was temporarily partnered with Detective G. Lynn Bishop in 2003–2004, while Eames was on maternity leave. Eames is practical, while I am often portrayed as intellectual, yet there is little evidence of conflict between us. (I later learned that Eames had petitioned the department for a new partner soon after they were paired together, but she soon withdrew the petition.)
I am a skilled interrogator, able to elicit confessions from calculating killers with his insight into their minds and my imposing physical presence.
My mother, who suffers from schizophrenia, is hospitalized, and diagnosed with lymphoma. I visit her every week. It's true I openly flinch whenever my mother or father, who abandoned our family, is mentioned.
I'm often compared to detective Sherlock Holmes as we both latch onto certain clues that seem minor but end up breaking the case. We both possess the ability to come up with a complete theory of a crime based on little evidence, and sustain that theory based on what we do find.
