<P> John Reese (played by Jim Caviezel) is the name adopted by the former U.S. Army Special Forces soldier and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer who serves as Finch's armed enforcer used to stop future crimes . Presumed dead following a failed CIA operation in China, Reese's real name is unknown . He was nicknamed "The Man in the Suit" by law enforcement, who know him only in terms of the description given by witnesses . </P> <P> Harold Finch (played by Michael Emerson) is a reclusive billionaire software engineer who built a machine that predicts future crimes and outputs either the victim's or perpetrator's Social Security number . He is known by a series of bird - themed aliases such as Harold Wren, Harold Crow, and Harold Swift . Finch is very secretive and highly conscious of digital security, and has successfully erased his own digital footprint . A frequent companion of Finch is a dog named Bear (played by Graubaer's Boker). Bear is a Belgian Malinois with military training who Reese rescues from Aryan Nationalists, who were using him as an attack dog . </P> <P> 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 . </P> <P> For nine episodes in season 3, Carter is demoted to a beat officer after the crime organization HR frames her for shooting an unarmed suspect at the end of season 2 . This incident, and the death of two her fellow detectives--Bill Szymanski and Cal Beecher--motivate her to go against HR and arrest its mastermind, Alonzo Quinn, without resorting to the vigilante justice of Reese and Finch . By doing so, she restores her status as a detective . Tragically, soon afterwards, she is killed by Patrick Simmons, the last surviving member of HR, who was trying to ambush Reese . Her death sends Reese and Shaw on a bloody vengeance spree . During most of her screen time, she is unaware of the Machine's existence and does not know where the tips come from . Only after Carter's status as a detective is restored does she conclude that Finch must be receiving his info from a computer . </P>

Who plays the female detective in person of interest