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Catching Up With Elliot Stabler
Longtime Law & Order: Special Victims Unit fans will recall it had been ten long years since Stabler mysteriously left the precinct without even saying goodbye to his close friend and former partner, now Captain Olivia Benson (Mariska Hargitay) who he affectionately calls “Liv”. Stabler has now returned on a new spinoff, Law & Order: Organized Crime where he is going after mobsters and the mafia, and trying to find the murderers of his wife. Off screen, Meloni left the show due to a contract dispute, whereas Stabler had retired from the force due to a malpractice incident, although he was later actually rehired but as the years wore on, no one in the NYPD knew about it.
Stabler was hired as the New York Police Department’s liason in Rome, Italy and he and his family moved to Rome as a result. This is likely where his feud with the mafia began, and when Stabler and his family moved back to New York where he joined a task force bearing down on organized crime, he and his family were targeted. Now, let’s get to those ten things that you never knew, or, perhaps had forgotten about Elliot Stabler.
#1 Where Did Elliot Stabler Grow Up And Live Before Rome?
Before moving to Rome, he and his family lived at 72-12 Castleside Street in the Glen Oaks neighborhood in the borough of Queens in New York City. This was his address for most of his career and was first confirmed in season six of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit in an onscreen glimpse of Stabler’s police file. He was born in a different neighborhood in Queens, Bayside.
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#2 Elliot Stabler Was In The Military And Served In A War
Stabler and Benson investigated two police officers who had attacked their wives in a season six episode called “Goliath”. The two officers had been veterans who had served in the military in Afganistan, and Stabler suspected that the abnormal behavior might be a side effect of a malaria drug they would have been given in the Middle East. Then Detective John Munch (Richard Belzer) explained that Stabler had been in the military – as part of Operation Desert Storm, which of course took place in Afghanistan. The timing is a little off in the minds of the writers, since in real life Operation Desert Storm took place from 1990-1991 and Stabler was already a detective at that time. However, Stabler does have the United States Marine Corps emblem of a globe, an eagle, and an anchor tattooed on his arm.
#3 Elliot Stabler Can Boast Of A 97% Case Closure Rate
Stabler rarely has ever left a case unsolved, and can boast of a 97% case closure rate. Stabler has been in the police force for over thirty years, and it is the best among all the officers in the show. In an episode where a man who had been accused of kidnapping his daughter sued Stabler for wrongful arrest, he turns out to be guilty after all and the lawsuit was dropped. As for the little girl, she was returned to her stepfather who had the parental custody.
#4 Elliot Stabler’s Badge Number Is 6313
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A close viewing of Stabler’s badge shows his badge number is 6313. Several officers’ badge numbers have been revealed over the years, Benson’s being 4015 as a detective and 01139 as a sergeant. Munch’s number was 0231, Detective Odafin “Fin” Tutuola’s (Ice-T) is 3198, former detective Nick Amaro’s (Danny Pino) was 0840 and Detective Amanda Rollins’ (Kelli Giddish) is 0458.
#5 Elliot Stabler And Olivia Benson Bonded In A Conversation About Organ Donation
Although longtime SVU fans know it’s no secret how bonded Stabler and Benson still are even after ten years apart, many may not remember when it all began. In a season eight episode called “Choreographed” they had tried a new partner with him but it didn’t work out and he figured he was better off working alone. Benson came back to join him in a case involving a love triangle, and although at first they were tense around each other, they bonded over a victim requiring organ donation to live. Benson told him it was strange she had never known his blood type considering how many years they had worked together. He told her his blood type was A positive, and she was glad because hers was actually the same.
#6 Elliot Stabler Hates Travelling And Moving And Didn’t Have A Passport
It was revealed in an episode requiring Stabler to go to Czechoslovakia that he didn’t have a passport, and it was mentioned he didn’t like traveling – he didn’t like moving either, which explains why most of his life has been based in Queens. It was a case involving an international sex trafficking ring in the Czech Republic where he was tasked with working with the Czech authorities to take the trafficking ring down. The department wound up having to get Stabler a passport in order to help in this case. However, his stance on travelling and moving appears to have changed over the years, since he returned to the NYPD from Rome.
#7 Elliot Stabler Has Been In Law Enforcement For 25 Years
Stabler has been in law enforcement for 25 years. Of that 25 years, he’s been a detective for 22 years, having been promoted after only 3 years on the force. Of that time, he served in SVU for 19 years. In season two’s episode “Wrong Is Right” it was revealed that he joined the force in 1986 and was promoted to detective in 1989. In the season three episode, “Rooftop” it was revealed he joined the Special Victims Unit in 1992. Then he retired on August 11, 2011 before joining the Organized Crime Unit in 2021.
#8 Elliot Stabler Hates Sushi
In one episode, there was a psychotic NYPD technician who murdered two people and framed some of the officers for the murders. Stabler soon figured out what Dale Stuckey (Noel Fisher) was up to but Stuckey overpowered him and then held him hostage and tortured him. Benson, worried when Stabler didn’t show up for work, called him and Stuckey answered his phone. He told her Elliot wasn’t there and had gone out for sushi. That was Stuckey’s big mistake – Elliot hates sushi and Benson knew it, so she traced the phone signal and rescued Elliot and then Stuckey was taken care of!
#9 Elliot Stabler Wanted To Be An Architect-Or Astronaut-Or Police Officer As A Child
In a case where Stabler reached out to his estranged mother for help, involving one of his daughters, his mother said he wanted to be an architect when he was little, loving to make towers out of blocks when he was a child. Stabler told his son in a case involving the murder of an astronaut that he wanted to be an astronaut as a child. But in the same episode as his mother said he wanted to be an architect, he said he wanted to be a police officer. But then, little children are known for changing their minds about what they want to be when they grow up quite frequently!
#10 Elliot Stabler Broke The Law As A Young Man
During his late teen to early adulthood years, Stabler worked at his uncle’s bar as a bartender, apparently. He didn’t have such a good experience there because of constantly being harassed by customers. He revealed in a session with Dr. George Huang (BD Wong) that he beat up two teenagers after they insulted him and he had refused to give them drinks because they had no IDs. He was arrested! Apparently, the arrest had gone off public records by the time he entered the police force!
Stay tuned to Law & Order Organized Crime, and keep checking Law & Order: Organized Crime spoilers frequently for all the latest news, updates and developments!