John Munch is a fictional character played by actor Richard Belzer. Munch first appeared on the American crime drama television series on NBC. A regular through the entire run of the series, Munch is a cynical detective in the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide unit, and a firm believer in conspiracy theories. He is originally partnered with Det. Stanley Bolander (Ned Beatty). On the cancellation of Homicide in 1999, Munch became a regular on the Law & Order spin off, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, after Belzer was offered a regular role on the show, and appeared in the first fifteen seasons of that series. On SVU, Munch becomes a senior detective in the New York Police Department's Special Victims Unit, and is first partnered with Brian Cassidy (Dean Winters), followed by Monique Jeffries (Michelle Hurd), and Fin Tutuola (Ice-T). In the ninth season premiere, Munch is promoted to the rank of Sergeant and occasionally takes on supervisory functions within the department. In season 14, Munch is temporarily reassigned to the Cold Case Unit, after solving a decade-old child abduction case in the episode "Manhattan Vigil." He returns to the squad in "Secrets Exhumed," in which he brings back a 1980s rape-homicide cold case for the squad to investigate.