Ice-T Answers Role call on ‘SVU’

After spending the first couple of episodes revving up his glowering presence in a supporting role, cast member Ice-T grabs center stage in tonight’s episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit� at 10 on NBC.

Ice-T, whose busy acting career has pushed his visibility as a Grammy-winning hip-hop artist onto the back burner, plays Det. Odafin “Fin� Tutuola, a Harlem-raised hard guy who lends a streetwise sheen to the unit.

“Special Victims Unit� is actually the fourth project on which Ice-T has worked with executive producer Dick Wolf, having previously starred in the 1997-98 series “Players,� as well as “Exiled: A Law & Order Movie� and guest stints in Wolf’s former series, “New York Undercover.�

In tonight’s taut episode, “Rooftop,� Tutuola is drawn into an investigation involving the rape and killing of a string of young black girls in his former neighborhood. When he sees that the incidents have failed to raise even a blip with the media, he also begins questioning whether racial factors are responsible for what he perceives as the muted response of his own department.

But when he pledges his commitment to the case to the brother of one of the victims, and then reminds the man of their shared heritage, he is rebuffed.

“We were the same color,� said the man, “until you turned blue.�