Karen Vick

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Karen Vick
Psych character
Kirsten Nelson as Karen Vick
First appearance	Pilot
Created by	Steve Franks and Andy Berman
Portrayed by	Kirsten Nelson
Information
Gender	Female
Age	40s
Occupation	Santa Barbara Police Chief
Family	Husband
Children	Infant daughter

Chief Karen Vick is a character on the American comedy detective drama Psych played by Kirsten Nelson.

1 Characteristics
2 History
- 2.1 Promotion
3 References

[edit] Characteristics

She was impressed by Shawn Spencer's display of psychic-like insight into her police officer's lives after she tried to arrest him for being an accomplice in a series of crimes which were solved with Shawn's tips. She is suspicious of his psychic abilities, but is not above using any tool at her disposal to solve tough cases.

[edit] History

According to Head Detective Carlton Lassiter's weblog, Vick replaced Police Chief John Fenich upon his retirement about a month prior to Shawn's arrival at the SBPD. However, in Poker? I Barely Know Her, she references an event known as "The Secret Santa Debacle of 2005", suggesting that she has been involved in the Santa Barbara Police Department at least since December of that year. Vick's relationship with Lassiter seems strained by the fact that she is "an outsider" who was chosen by "the powers that be in City Hall" to take the position over "someone from within our own ranks." Vick's decision to allow a self-proclaimed psychic so far into official police investigations has done little to assuage Lassiter's misgivings. Eventually, Lassiter's attitude towards both Shawn and Vick soothed.

On her way to non-lethal weapons training with Lassiter, Vick's water broke and Lassiter rushed her to a hospital where she gave birth to a daughter.

Since Nelson was pregnant during the filming of the pilot episode and gave birth shortly thereafter, for continuity she had to wear a fake pregnancy prothesis for several of the following episodes.^[1]

[edit] Promotion

For Seasons 1 and 2, her position as Police Chief was described as 'Interim.' At the very end of Season 2, Vick announced that she would step down due to the fact that her position as Chief was not solidified by the mayor, but she received a call from the mayor, soon after, effectively giving her the position. This was mainly because her replacement had been exposed as an adulterer by Shawn.