Connie McDowell

Connie McDowell

Connie McDowell is a former detective in the New York City Police Department. She is played by Charlotte Ross.

Background

McDowell was from upstate New York, where her father had been the chief of police for the city of Saratoga Springs. She began her detective career as a "floater" working temporary assignments in whichever precinct was shorthanded until receiving permanent assignment to the 15th Precinct.

Throughout the Series

Soon after her arrival at the 15th Precinct, Lieutenant Arthur Fancy was promoted to captain, and McDowell did not hit it off with his intended replacement, Susan Dalto. Upon asking if it was too late for her transfer out of the 15th Precinct, Fancy counselled her to stay, so that she didn't develop a reputation as someone who couldn't get along with her superiors. Fancy ultimately solved the problem by engineering Dalto's transfer out; her replacement was Lieutenant Tony Rodriguez, with whom McDowell got along well. McDowell partnered first with Diane Russell, and later with Rita Ortiz.

McDowell dealt with some dysfunction in her family; she had a baby when she was 16, and her parents insisted she give the girl up for adoption. She later contacted her daughter, by then a teenager, by arranging a fake arrest for smoking marijuana; the attempted reunion was unsuccessful. McDowell was told by her doctors that she could not become pregnant again; still desiring to be a parent, she began to help Andy Sipowicz by babysitting his son Theo. McDowell also had a sister, Michelle, who was in an abusive relationship; after several unsuccessful efforts by McDowell and her co-workers to stop the abuse, Michelle's boyfriend Frank killed her. McDowell ended up as the adoptive parent of her sister's child, after successfully fighting Frank's parents for custody.

After McDowell became the adoptive mother of her niece, her relationship with Andy continued to blossom; soon afterwards, McDowell became pregnant, despite her previous medical prognosis. Despite their age difference, they decided to marry, and she gave birth to a son, Matthew. After giving birth, McDowell left work to stay at home and raise the three children in the blended family she and Sipowicz had created.

Trivia

• In reality, McDowell's pregnancy and departure from the show coincided with Ross's real life pregnancy
• She was played by Charlotte Ross from Season 8 to 11. Ross had previously guest starred on the show as another character in two episodes of Season 5.
• In January 2008, the FCC announced that they would seek a $1.4 million fine against ABC for the opening sequence, in which Theo Sipowicz walks in on a nude Connie in the bathroom preparing to take a shower. The scene featured full rear nudity and partial frontal nudity on the part of actress Charlotte Ross. The complaint alleged that the nude shot of Ross was held onscreen longer than it should have been, and that Ross' character didn't react fast enough to cover herself. The fine was the largest against a network in recent history. ABC said they would appeal the fine on the grounds that it came over five years after the episode was originally broadcast. If they failed, each of 52 affiliates would pay $27,500 for broadcasting the episode. On January 4, 2011, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the fine, citing FCC rules as 'unconstitutionally vague and chilling'. [ABC, Inc., et al. v. Federal Communications Commission, No. 08-0841-ag(L) (2nd Cir.)]