User Profile

For mun knowledge only. Will contain spoilers for current episodes.

Family/Educational background of character:
Father: William Goren, biologically Mark Ford Brady- both are deceased
Mother: Frances Goren- deceased
Brother: Frank Goren- deceased
Nephew: Donny Carlson (19)
Niece: Molly Fry (7)

Bobby's father, Richard, passed away a number of years ago. His father was an alcoholic with a gambling problem and cheated on his wife constantly, abandoning his mother while she was sick. He was indifferent towards his son, not giving him the love and attention he deserved. Most likely, his attitude towards Bobby is because of the affair his mother had with Mark Ford Brady, which resulted in her son. Bobby resents his father and harbors a great deal of lasting anger towards him for abandoning his mother.

Frances, his mother, after a long battle with lymphoma, passed away in May of 2007. She also suffered from schizophrenia and had since Bobby was 7. She was a librarian and it was from her whom he learned to love books. Her relationship with Bobby was far from typical due to her illness, but they had a good one nonetheless. Bobby is highly protective of his mother as a result of his father having abandoned her. He visited her every Saturday and called every day.

His brother Frank has a gambling addiction and was homeless for a while, relying on the church for food and shelter. Frank rarely ever comes to visit his mother. Recently, Frank came to Bobby asking for help. He then told Bobby about his son, Donny, whom Bobby had no prior knowledge of. Donny had be incarcerated at Tates Correctional Facility in the psychiatric ward. Donny escaped and Frank seems to know where he is now, but won't tell Bobby. Frank also has started using drugs again, which Bobby discovered at his apartment, prompting Bobby to cut all ties with Frank.

After high school, he applied to NYU, where he was accepted and thus received his B.A in Psychology. But what he’d learned in his undergrad classes wasn’t enough to satiate his thirst for knowledge, so he applied for graduate school at NYU. He received his Master’s degree in Psychology with a specialization in Forensic Psychology.

When he finished school, he decided to enlist in the army. He had a desire to better himself, to improve upon his already strong foundation. He served in the Army's 202nd Military Police Group (Criminal Investigative Division) and was stationed in Germany as well as South Korea. While stationed in Korea, then Sergeant Goren met Declan Gage who would mentor him in criminal profiling and continued to be mentored by Gage after Gage’s “meltdown”. In 1990, he spent time in the Persian Gulf during the Gulf War seeing combat and subsequently being injured. As a result of being wounded, he has a long scar on his back, but also received the Purple Heart as well as a medical discharge.

Upon his discharge from the Army, he returned to New York and attended the police academy. He spent four years in Narcotics where he ran three sting operations resulting in 27 arrests with a bookend set of convictions. He soon became disillusioned with Narcotics and transferred, ending up where he is at present.

In December of 2007, he took on an undercover investigation at Tates Correctional Facility, where his nephew Donny was incarcerated. This investigation wasn't sanctioned by the NYPD and only his partner knew about it beforehand. He used the alias William Brady and got himself arrested in order to be incarcerated and to witness his nephew's claims first hand. While incarcerated, he was placed in isolation for upwards of 24 hours as well as being taken to a room called "Heaven". Heaven is next to the boiler room, and thus is unbearably hot. He was restrained and denied water for upwards of 18 hours. Because of this unauthorized investigation, he was placed on suspension without pay pending a psychological exam. In addition to the suspension and because of an existing predisposition, he is currently suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Following a second undercover assignment in June 2008, in which he revealed the identities of dirty cops, he was reinstated. There are a few within the department who consider him a rat.

His predilection for knowledge carried over and he became fluent in German. In addition to fluent German, he speaks Dutch, Spanish and some Cantonese thanks to his army experience. He can read some Russian and knows some American Sign Language, but not enough to carry a conversation. He knows some vague Latin leftover from his days as an altar boy.
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Psychology
Personality--likes/dislikes:
He tends to be reserved, not letting people get to know him that well. He’s not particularly shy, just guarded and very private. He’s confident, but not to the point of arrogance, although some people might think otherwise. He’s determined, going to great lengths to grasp what it is he’s reaching for, but never deliberately crossing the line into insubordination. Due to his childhood and the relationship with his father, he has issues with authority figures. He's intimidated by them but also tends to go against them.

He keeps to himself, enjoying solitary activities and tends to not socialize as much as would be considered socially acceptable. He likes to read a lot and doesn't stick to one particular genre. He also enjoys modern art and is quite knowledgeable about it, like many other subjects. He doesn't watch a lot of TV, but enjoys an occasional football or baseball game.

Traits, Weaknesses, Quirks:
He has more quirks than he can count, probably some he don’t even know about. His style for interrogation can be considered a quirk all its own. He tilts his head, gets down on their level, and invades their space, all while delighting in pulling the blocks from their precariously constructed Jenga tower. They wobble, shake, and eventually collapse under his harsh scrutiny. He sets up moves like a chess master, always thinking five steps ahead. He is extremely detail-oriented and he’s known for noticing the small things and the things everyone else missed. He’s often compared to Sherlock Holmes and Columbo. Holmes because of his ability to focus on minor, yet vital details and Columbo because he often appears incompetent. He’s left-handed and this by itself makes him unique. There are theories about the thinking processes of right-handed and left handed people. Left-handed people are believed to process information in a “visual simultaneous” method, processing several things at once. Left-handed people also utilize the “synthesis” method of analysis, which is looking at the whole problem and trying to use pattern-matching to solve it.

Everyone has weaknesses and flaws, whether they like to admit it or not. His home situation growing up is his biggest weakness, whether it’s his apathetic father or his sick mother. He likes to be in control, to have the actions and outcome clutched in his hands, able to dictate how they change. Occasionally, he’ll come across someone who exploits his weaknesses and flaws and thus rips the control from his hands. He’s rarely wrong in his deductions, but when he is, he gets flustered and shaken.

This is a character journal and everything in it is purely fictional. Robert Goren and the Law and Order franchise belong to Dick Wolf.

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