who plays the female detective in person of interest
List of Person of Interest characters Jocelyn "Joss" Carter (played by Taraji P. Henson) is a detective in the New York City Police Department (NYPD) 8th Precinct Homicide Task Force. She is a single mother of one son, Taylor, whom she is close to. Formerly a Warrant Officer and an interrogator in the U.S. Army, she did two tours of duty, one in Iraq and one in Afghanistan. She passed the bar examination in 2004, but gave up practicing law to become a police officer. In 2005, she had graduated from the police academy and started working in the NYPD as a patrol officer. In 2008 she was promoted to a detective and since 2010 she has worked in the Homicide Task Force at the 8th Precint. Carter crossed paths with homeless John Reese ("Pilot") following his encounter with a group of young men on a New York City subway, but she later reconnects with him as the mysterious man in a suit. Carter is initially determined to apprehend Reese as a person of interest (a person not formally accused of a crime) even after Reese saves her and her son on separate occasions. However, when the CIA tries to assassinate Reese without due process, she gradually revises her views and starts helping Reese and Finch instead.