23 Facts About Andy Sipowicz

Andy Sipowicz was a New York City police detective working in the detective squad of the fictitious 15th Precinct of the NYPD, placed on the lower east side of Manhattan.

Andy Sipowicz was a major character of the show during its twelve-year run, and the only one to have been a regular cast member in every episode.

Andy Sipowicz is from Brooklyn, where his father, a World War II veteran of Polish-American ancestry who worked as a meter reader for ConEd, originally raised the family in temporary Quonset housing.

At some time in the mid-1950s, Andy Sipowicz's father moved the family to a new, mostly white housing project in which he was able to purchase a federally subsidized apartment.

Subsequently, the neighborhood became more diverse and a young Andy Sipowicz was frequently in verbal and physical conflict with his black peers.

Andy Sipowicz worked in a local candy store as a boy, later returning under sad conditions when a son of the shop owners organized a robbery that led to his mother's death.

Andy Sipowicz's father was an alcoholic whose frequent drunkenness cost him his job as a meter reader.

Andy Sipowicz defiantly returned to finish his route after dark, but was hit in the head with a hammer by a black man who mistook him for a burglar, causing him to lose one eye.

Andy Sipowicz claimed that the black man had tried to rob him; Andy grew up hearing the story, which was the basis for his racism.

Andy Sipowicz once became incensed when an obnoxious fellow cop named Sgt.

In 1979, Andy Sipowicz received the gold shield of Detective Third Grade and briefly worked in the Robbery Squad at the 28th Precinct alongside John Clark Sr.

Andy Sipowicz was promoted to Second Grade two years prior to the start of the series in fall 1993, and was promoted to First Grade in late 2001.

In conversations during the show, Andy Sipowicz has alluded to working in Queens Homicide and alongside Roy Shaughnessy at the 20th precinct, and in Manhattan North, at some point prior to 1993.

In 1994, Andy begins to date Assistant District Attorney Sylvia Costas, with whom he previously clashed due to professional differences.

Andy Sipowicz stops drinking, focuses on the job, and rebuilds his relationship with his son.

Fancy states outright that he was prepared to have Andy Sipowicz removed from the force on the day of his shooting and only gives him another chance, starting with restricted desk duty, because of the incident.

Andy Sipowicz eventually comes to terms with his homophobia, mainly due to his initially grudging friendship with precinct Police Administrative Assistant John Irvin.

Andy Sipowicz survives a serious bout with prostate cancer in 1998.

Andy Sipowicz has to deal with the fact that he had been instrumental in putting an innocent black man in prison for 18 years for the murder of a teenager, remembering that he had no experience as a detective and deferred to a lazy veteran cop.

Andy Sipowicz is the only cop to apologize when the man is released.

In 2003, Andy Sipowicz marries for the third time, this time to a fellow detective named Connie McDowell, who had recently joined the squad.

The baby survives, so Connie and Andy Sipowicz take custody of the child and name her Michelle, after her mother.

Later that year, Andy Sipowicz overcomes a personality clash with new Lt.