Howard Hunter

Howard Hunter runs the precinct's SWAT-style tactical unit with a soldier's zeal that the rest of the squad room treats as a running joke. He wants order, firepower, and a chance to deploy both, favoring military jargon and elaborate contingency plans for problems that usually don't require them. Earnest and unbending, he's the first to suit up.

Sikking plays him utterly straight, which is the joke and also, occasionally, not the joke — Hunter's zealotry can tip into genuine competence or genuine danger depending on the episode. The writing uses him as comic relief and pressure valve, but never lets him become pure buffoon; he believes in what he's doing, and that sincerity is what makes him endure.