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Joseph "Joe" Stabler, Sr. was a detective with the New York City Police Department. He was also the husband of Bernadette Stabler and the father of Detective Elliot Stabler. Bernadette and Joseph had six children.

History[]

Joseph physically and emotionally abused Elliot. According to Elliot, his father never approved of a single thing he did. (SVU: "Rooftop") He was also said to be friends with another cop, the father of Frank Donnelly. (OC: "...Wheatley Is To Stabler")

Sometime during his career, Joseph was awarded the Combat Cross for shielding a fellow officer and partner, Gus Hanson, from a bullet with his own body. However, he may have actually been shot in the leg by his own partner to justify Hanson's shooting of an unarmed child. When Elliot first became a detective, Joseph gifted the medal to him. Elliot remembered this as the first time he ever felt that his father was proud of him. (OC: "Guns & Roses")

Elliot visited a psychologist and talked about how he and his father worked on a shoebox diorama in the fifth grade. After the next morning, Elliot moved a tree and Joseph found out, so he beat Elliot with his belt after stomping on the diorama, causing Elliot to get an F on the project for not turning it in. (SVU: "Ripped")

Joseph liked to collect stamps. He eventually sold his collection and used the money to buy Maureen's bassinet and to help pay rent. (SVU: "Uncivilized")

Elliot revealed that, after a bar brawl, his father pulled in a favor to get him off the hook, even though he was only defending himself. (SVU: "Class")

Elliot mentioned his father took him to a police camp every summer. (SVU: "Florida")

He once had Bernadette committed to a psychiatric facility after she went for his service gun during a fight. Bernadette also hinted to Olivia Benson that Joseph often ogled nurses. (SVU: "Swing", OC: "Deliver Us From Evil")

Little else is known about Joseph's later life, other than that he and his wife were active in the early lives of their first two grandchildren, as his granddaughter Kathleen mentioned a time where she and Bernadette once used his fedora hat and last Cuban cigar for a snowman, something that he was "pretty pissed" about. Kathleen also said that Bernadette told Joseph to get "stuffed" once and to try and not curse in front of her. (SVU: "Swing")

It is unknown exactly when Joseph died, but it is most likely around the time his twin grandchildren, Richard and Elizabeth, were born and when Elliot joined the Special Victims Unit.

While Elliot was undercover investigating The Brotherhood, he watched several old videos of himself with Joseph and Bernadette back when he was a child. Bernadette revealed that he committed suicide after being suspended from the job. (OC: "Sins Of Our Fathers")

Appearances[]

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