Detective Dominick "Sonny" Carisi, Jr. transfers to Manhattan Special Victims Unit after Sergeant Olivia Benson put in a request for an "experienced, empathetic Detective" following the temporary demotion of Nick Amaro to patrol officer. Carisi also took Nick Amaro's place as the lead male of the SVU. He was in Staten Island SVU for two months, Brooklyn for almost a month and Queens for a week (before that, he was a patrol officer on Staten Island). Though his brash and argumentative attitude has placed him at odds with Benson and the others, he's shown a knack for interrogations, by pretending to empathize with suspects and getting them to open up to him.