George Barnfather
Encyclopedia
George Barnfather is a fictional Deputy Commissioner in the Baltimore Police Department on Homicide: Life on the Street
, played by Clayton LeBouef
.
Barnfather first appeared in the series as a Captain whose command was over the Homicide Section. He was then promoted to Colonel and was often the mediator between the Homicide Section Shift Commanders and the Deputy Commissioner of Operations. A career oriented college educated officer and bureaucrat, he often disagreed with Homicide Shift Commander (Lieutenant) Al Giardello
("Gee") whom the Deputy Commissioner James C. Harris
saw as a renegade in terms of valuing the department's objectives and chain of command. On one occasion, Barnfather enraged Gee when he prohibited Steve Crosetti
from having a funeral honor guard because of Crosetti's suicide. Because of this, Barnfather advances in the department much more quickly than Giardello, despite Gee's greater experience, age, and time in the department (Barnfather is at least 10 years younger than Gee). His concerns were primarily political in nature, which was a cause of constant friction between him and Gee, whose top priority was always supporting the detectives under his command.
Barnfather demoted Megan Russert
three ranks from Captain to Detective after he strongly disagreed with her handling of the Hangman Sniper case. Throughout the series, Barnfather comes to disagree with actions undertaken by Harris, and he says he can no longer look away from the truth about Harris after the siege on, and mass suicide of, a black militant group led by Harris' one time partner Burundi Robinson. His relationship with Gee then improves as Harris' days as Deputy Ops become numbered, and he was generally more supportive of Gee and the Homicide Unit in Seasons 6 and 7, and rarely pressured Gee to bring results on unreasonable time frames (or, when he was pushing for an immediate arrest of Georgia Rae Mahoney after the office shootout near the end of Season 6, his urgency was reasonable).
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...
, played by Clayton LeBouef
Clayton LeBouef
Clayton LeBouef is an African American actor, best known for his recurring role as Colonel George Barnfather in Homicide: Life on the Street...
.
Barnfather first appeared in the series as a Captain whose command was over the Homicide Section. He was then promoted to Colonel and was often the mediator between the Homicide Section Shift Commanders and the Deputy Commissioner of Operations. A career oriented college educated officer and bureaucrat, he often disagreed with Homicide Shift Commander (Lieutenant) Al Giardello
Al Giardello
Alphonse Michael Giardello, Sr. is a fictional character from the television drama Homicide: Life on the Street. The character was played by Yaphet Kotto...
("Gee") whom the Deputy Commissioner James C. Harris
James C. Harris
James C. Harris is the fictional Deputy Commissioner of Operations of the Baltimore Police Department on Homicide: Life on the Street, He was played by Al Freeman Jr.-Biography:...
saw as a renegade in terms of valuing the department's objectives and chain of command. On one occasion, Barnfather enraged Gee when he prohibited Steve Crosetti
Steve Crosetti
Det. Steve Crosetti is a fictional character on the television drama series Homicide: Life on the Street portrayed by actor Jon Polito for the show's first two seasons. He is believed to be based on Baltimore Police Department Det...
from having a funeral honor guard because of Crosetti's suicide. Because of this, Barnfather advances in the department much more quickly than Giardello, despite Gee's greater experience, age, and time in the department (Barnfather is at least 10 years younger than Gee). His concerns were primarily political in nature, which was a cause of constant friction between him and Gee, whose top priority was always supporting the detectives under his command.
Barnfather demoted Megan Russert
Megan Russert
Detective Megan Russert is a fictional character on Homicide: Life on the Street played by Isabella Hofmann. At the time of her introduction in the premiere episode of the third season, she is a lieutenant who takes charge of the homicide unit's second shift after the previous commander's retirement...
three ranks from Captain to Detective after he strongly disagreed with her handling of the Hangman Sniper case. Throughout the series, Barnfather comes to disagree with actions undertaken by Harris, and he says he can no longer look away from the truth about Harris after the siege on, and mass suicide of, a black militant group led by Harris' one time partner Burundi Robinson. His relationship with Gee then improves as Harris' days as Deputy Ops become numbered, and he was generally more supportive of Gee and the Homicide Unit in Seasons 6 and 7, and rarely pressured Gee to bring results on unreasonable time frames (or, when he was pushing for an immediate arrest of Georgia Rae Mahoney after the office shootout near the end of Season 6, his urgency was reasonable).