Brooklyn Nine-Nine: 5 Times Gina Was A Cop (& 5 Times She Did Her Actual Job)

Gina Linetti, the beloved Brooklyn Nine-Nine character famous for her epic burns and dance moves, graced the show with her enigmatic presence for a majority of the show’s 6 seasons. Unlike the other series’ regulars, Gina was a civilian administrator and Holt’s PA. However, this left some questions as she would be seen performing duties that went beyond her role.

Even when she was doing her actual job, it was never in the way most administrators would do it. This has left fans wondering whether Gina had a deep desire to be a cop or she was just liked to be involved in the detective’s work for the drama alone?

10 Cop: Rescued Jake and Holt

In season 4, episode 3 “Coral Palms: Part 3,” Gina and the squad went on a mission to save Jake and Captain Holt, who were in witness protection. The trip took Gina far away from her office desk, where an administrator would usually spend their workday.

Since Holt was injured during the episode, Gina was tasked with looking after him while the rest of the squad went after Figgis. While she wasn’t part of the main action, Gina did have her shining moment when she crashed into Figgis’ car with the truck she was driving, hence stopping him before he could get away.

9 Administrator: Fixed Holt’s P.R. Campaign

Due to Holt and Wuntch’s rivalry, Holt was sent to work in the NYPD Public Relations office for a while. During his time there, he was tasked with heading a campaign to improve the image of the police force in the public’s eyes (“Boyle’s Hunch”). Holt’s idea for the re-brand was to have pictures of one of New York’s finest, Detective Santiago, on posters to be placed around the city. Gina immediately told them it was a bad idea but they didn’t listen to her.

Gina was proven right when all the campaign posters were vandalized. Of course, she rubbed this in with a t-shirt printed “Gina Told You So,” before giving her approval on a new and improved campaign that assured the public that their voices mattered and would be heard.

8 Cop: Apprehended A Robber

For Gina, getting caught up in dangerous situations was an occupational hazard of hanging around cops. Season 3, episode 10 “Yippie Kayak,” portrayed this when Gina got caught in the middle of a robbery while she was in a store with Jake and Charles. The two detectives tried to keep her safe from the robbers, but she was captured and held hostage with a bunch of others.

After the robbers were apprehended and the hostages released, one of the robbers slipped away and tried to make a run for it. Gina stopped him with a makeshift flame thrower made from a can of hairspray and a lighter, keeping the criminal from escaping like any good cop would do.

7 Administrator: Got The WiFi Fixed

When season 5, episode 10 “Game Night,” aired, Gina was on maternity leave and the Nine-Nine was having troubles with their internet because the Cybercrime Unit had moved into the building and hogged the bandwidth. All of the squad’s attempts to get them to “fix” their internet were unsuccessful, so they turned to the only person they knew could get the job done.

After initially refusing to help, Gina ended up going to the precinct and exposing some embarrassing facts about Devin (the Cybercrime guy), blackmailing him into fixing the squad’s WiFi so she wouldn’t reveal more.

6 Cop: Interrogated A Perp

Gina always showed off that she could get anything out of anyone and she proved this many times. One example was season 3, episode 11 “Hostage Situation” when Holt and Rosa enlisted her help to interrogate a perp, who said he wouldn’t talk unless it was to her.

Although Gina confidently said she’d get the perp to admit to crimes he hadn’t even committed, the interrogation went terribly. Of course, this is mostly because she’s not actually a cop. She’s even more surprised when the perp tells her he asked for her because they went to school together and even made out a couple of times.

5 Administrator: Saved The Nine-Nine

In season 4 episode 15, “The Last Ride,” Holt announced that crime numbers were down across the city, so some precincts were being closed down. Unfortunately, the Nine-Nine was among those under consideration for closure. Most of the episode revolved around Jake and Charles working their last case together, Amy getting a last mentoring session from Holt, and Terry trying to beat the precinct’s arrest record.

Gina, naturally, spent her time pulling pranks on the squad and recording them drinking cement. While she was recording, she captured a heartfelt speech delivered by Holt about protecting the citizens of New York, and her viewers—the Ginazon—overheard it and asked what they could do to help. Thanks to Gina, they contacted the commissioner’s office and requested that the Nine-Nine remain open.

4 Cop: Interrogated Terry

When the Nine-Nine was being audited and at risk of being closed down in season 4 episode 14 “Serve and Protect,” the team all did what they could to save it. Jake and Rosa worked on a case related to their favorite cop show while Boyle and Holt practiced blackmailing the Commissioner.

Gina and Amy interrogated Terry about his breakup with Veronica, who was auditing their precinct and was determined to shut them down. As with a true perp, the interrogation was done in an interrogation room and Gina asked hard questions until they got the truth out of Terry and solved the case.

3 Administrator: Interviewed I.T. Specialists

Back in season 1 episode 9 “Sal’s Pizza,” the precinct’s computer server was hacked by a young man known as Savant. His mother snitched on him and he was brought in for questioning, revealing that he infected the Nine-Nine’s computers with a virus because he was bored. Holt tasked Terry and Gina with hiring an I.T. Director to prevent them from being hacked again.

During the interviews, Gina annoyed the candidates with irrelevant questions and gross actions. Afterward, Terry told Holt the interviews didn’t go smoothly as he put forward the candidate he thought would be good for the job. Gina immediately dismissed all of them, with valid reasons, revealing that everything she’d done during the interviews was to test if they could handle working in a police station. In the end, she advised them to hire Savant and left them with the epic parting words, “If I had a mic right now I’d drop it.”

2 Cop: Created Blackmail Files

Gathering evidence on people was such a cop-thing for Gina to do, even though the reason behind it was to blackmail them in the future. Season 5, episode 10 “Game Night,” revealed that Gina had blackmail files on Amy, Charles, and many others. She even managed to gather information on Devin from Cyber Crimes and used it to get him to fix the internet for her squad.

Gina told Devin that she’d found all that information with a quick search and she could find a lot more if she dedicated a few hours to it. Her investigating skills in this episode were truly quite impressive and worthy of a badge.

1 Administrator: Got The Precinct Cleaned Up

After an attempt to clear the precinct of rats went wrong in season 4 episode 13 “The Audit,” the station was a huge mess. Holt tried to request a cleanup crew from the Facilities department, but he was laughed off. As a Plan B, he sent in Gina, who was still recovering from being hit by a bus and was wearing a metal contraption called a halo, drilled into her skull.

He figured no one could say “no” to her because of her condition, and luckily, it worked. All Gina had to do was walk in with her halo and say “I got hit by a bus,” in a monotonous voice and the job was done. Once again, she saved the day, a recurring theme in her story arc.

About The Author

Tricia Mawire
(172 Articles Published)

Tricia is a List Writer for Screen Rant with a background in creative writing and a love for all things film and TV. She fell in love with reading at the age of 10 after discovering that her favorite movie, Matilda, was based on a novel. That led to her first in-depth analysis of literary work to her mom and anyone who’d listen. If she’s not reading or writing stories with crazy plot twists, she’s bingeing a new series and ranting about character arcs and plot holes. Or she’s eating French fries.

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