We follow the trio right from the beginning of their investigation to their interrogation of the arrested GTTF members Momodu Gondo (McKinley Belcher III), Jemell Rayam (Darrell Britt-Gibson), and Maurice Ward (Rob Brown). The chief investigation is led by the police corruption task force made up of federal prosecutor Leo Wise (Lucas Van Engen), FBI agent Erika Jensen (Dagmara Domińczyk) and BPD officer John Sieracki (Don Harvey). Once you get on its wavelength, the show rewards your patience. There are moments when you are not sure who’s when and where. To trace the rise and the fall of the GTTF, the episodes cover a time period from 2003 to 2017 to draw the whole picture. What’s worse is the establishment continued to protect and serve these rogue policemen, despite repeated complaints filed by the apprehended criminals and the general public. The show presents a demoralising account of how the public’s trust in the police, the elected officials and the government is destroyed when those meant to protect and serve are the very ones habitually violating people’s constitutional rights. The GTTF’s blatant abuse of power was the subject of Baltimore Sun journalist Justin Fenton’s book, We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops, and Corruption, and now its adaptation by Simon and frequent collaborator George Pelecanos. The reign of terror ended with federal indictments, with eight members sentenced to prison. The reality was far different: these officers pocketed the money during seizures, sold stolen drugs, planted evidence, robbed law-abiding citizens, and made overtime claims for unworked hours. Epitomising the incurable malady afflicting the city this time around is the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF), an elite Baltimore Police Department (BPD) unit tasked with getting guns and drugs off the street. David Simon, the Baltimore Sun reporter who was the creator of the HBO series, returns to the corners, the streets and the police precincts to sound another warning about a system in paralysis.īaltimore stays on as the lead character in Simon’s new miniseries, We Own This City.
The bleak reality of the city shaped five seasons of The Wire, which remains one of the most incisive feats in longform storytelling on TV. Reading about its drug, homicide, policing and administrative problems can take you into a rabbit hole you can’t get out of. The truth about Baltimore’s systemic dysfunction has always been stranger, uglier and knottier than fiction.
0 kommentar(er)
