Victoria Gates
Vital Statistics
Title	Captain
Gender	Female
Status	Alive
Character Information
Appearances	Victoria Gates - List of Appearances
Portrayed by	Penny Johnson Jerald

Captain Victoria Gates is a high ranking NYPD officer, currently in charge of the 12th Precinct's homicide division. She was formerly with the Department of Internal Affairs, earning the name "Iron Gates" for her uncompromising personality. She cares little for unorthodox tactics and prefers to play by the book under nearly all circumstances.

She was transferred to the 12th Precinct as the new captain, replacing Roy Montgomery after his death in the line of duty. She has a strong dislike for Castle, on policy grounds and also due to their clashing personalities. Gates doesn't believe a novelist should be working in the precinct to begin with. She takes a dim view of his theorizing; in her mind, he simply throws out all kinds of zany ideas until something sticks. While his antics are entertaining to her officers, they are a needless distraction which impedes their effectiveness. His tendency to "go rogue" infuriates her. Gates would ban Castle from her precinct if she could; however, his friendship with the mayor forces her to tolerate him until she can find a way to rid herself of him.

Gates' father was also a police officer, as were her uncles. She believes fervently in the mission of the police, but is also very alert to corruption and malfeasance; as she explained once to Beckett, her patrol partner was assaulted by a police sergeant who was able to hide behind his authority. This drove her to work for Internal Affairs. Gates believes that cops must be held to a higher standard than the populace they police, making her, perhaps, the answer to Juvenal's eternal question "Sed quis custodiet ipsos custodes (But who watches the watchmen themselves)?" ("Dial M for Mayor") Gates was furious by misconduct on the part of Esposito and Beckett and, after saving their lives with a response team, suspended them both. ("Always")

While a skilled administrator, she is alert to the political implications of her decisions. She noted to Beckett that she was the second youngest female to be promoted to Detective, Beckett having beaten her by six weeks ("Rise"), and explaining that "someone's always keeping score". When the team discovered that Officer Ann Hastings moonlighted as vigilante Lone Vengeance, Beckett speculated that Gates's motives for keeping this information secret were to avoid a scandal for herself and the precinct. ("Heroes and Villains")

Her motives in pressing Beckett to get a warrant on the Mayor are more ambiguous. ("Dial M for Mayor") Whether was she attempting to undermine the Mayor to eliminate Castle from the precinct or even working with the conspiracy that was framing him, or whether she was simply determined to uncover the facts regardless of political considerations remains unclear.

Quotes from Victoria GatesEdit

Gates: If my mother drops by you can call her Ma'm, call me Sir or Captain. ("Rise")

TriviaEdit

• Gates is a collector of Gemini dolls. ("Secret's Safe with Me")
• It is revealed in Still that Gates has known about Castle and Beckett's relationship all along, despite the two trying to keep it a secret from her.

ReferencesEdit

External LinksEdit

• Captain Victoria Gates Bio - Castle at ABC