Ervin Burrell
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| Ervin Burrell | |
|---|---|
 |
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| First appearance | The Target (episode 1.01) |
| Statistics | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 50s |
| Occupation | Commissioner of Baltimore Police department |
| Title | Commissioner |
| Portrayed by | Frankie Faison |
| Created by | David Simon |
Ervin Burrell is a fictional officer in the Baltimore Police Department played by Frankie Faison on the HBO drama The Wire. Burrell is a careerist and has ascended from Deupty Commissioner of Operations to Commissioner over the course of the show.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Character History
As Deputy Commissioner, Burrell has long served as no.2 in the Baltimore Police Department, surviving by protecting the departments reputation as well as his own. Burrell is a believer of Chain Of Command in the department and has knowledge of corrupt activities of its officers and commanders.
[edit] Season 1
Burrell was Deputy Commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department in season one. His main aim as Deputy Commissioner was to ascend to Police Commissioner. He consistently showed more interest in making headlines than cases.
Burrel hastily assembled a task force under Lieutenant Cedric Daniels' command in order to placate Judge Phelan, who was furious that Avon Barksdale's men had been able to beat a murder charge in his courtroom by buying off a witness. From the beginning, Burrell was unsupportive of the unit, hoping to make a few quick arrests to satisfy the judge and then bury the case. He ordered premature seizure raids that tipped the Barksdale organization to the detail's efforts and prompted them to change their operating structure to hinder further investigation.
When Daniels' team began investigating donations from Barksdale's organization to local politicians, Burrell realised the political implications. He grew increasingly hostile towards them, threatening to expose Daniels' shady past if he didn't close down the investigation. When the task force seized Barksdale money being carried by a state senator's driver, Burrell ordered Daniels to return it in order to avoid embarrassing the senator. Burrell was responsible for ordering a failed sting operation which resulted in the shooting of Detective Kima Greggs. Burrell was deputy to commissioner Warren Frazier throughout the first season. Burrell usually acted independently but when Greggs was shot Frazier became involved. Frazier and Burrell's main concern was sending a message to the community that the police department remained strong by seizing a large amount of narcotics. In retaliation for the shooting, Burrell insisted that Daniels' detail raid the Barksdales' main stash house, an act which caused Avon's people to stop using pay phones altogether - effectively nullifying the detail's wiretaps. Burrell also bribed Detective Ellis Carver with a sergeant promotion to feed him information from inside the detail. When the Barksdale case ended, Burrell reassigned Daniels to evidence control as punishment for defying him.
[edit] Season 2
He later went on to become Acting Commissioner in season 2, when he was forced to bring Daniels out of evidence control and place him in command of his former team, in order to secure the support of Major Stan Valchek in his campaign to become commissioner.[1]
[edit] Season 3
In season three Burrell promoted William Rawls to his old position of Deputy Commissioner. The two presided over harrowing weekly comstat meetings where they pressured their district commanders to return the favourable crime rate figures the mayor was hoping for. During the season Burrell worked with councilman Tommy Carcetti to obtain more resources for the police department.
Burrell finally secured his term as Commissioner by bargaining with Mayor Clarence Royce over the handling of Major Howard "Bunny" Colvin's Hamsterdam zone. He offered Colvin as a scapegoat and was ruthless in demoting him to lieutenant and forcing him out of the department.
[edit] Season 4
Burrell continued as police Commissioner and remained a key member of Royce's inner circle. When the major crimes unit served subpoenas against key political figures Royce ordered Burrell to prevent any more surprises from his department. When Burrell failed to bring a murdered witness to the Mayor's attention before it became a campaign issue Royce ordered Burrell to downplay the story to the press and take the political fallout on himself. Royce also asked Burrell to slow the investigation down to suppress information about the motive for the murder until after the election to prevent it being proved that the killing was carried out because of the victim's witness status.
Burrell ordered Colonel Raymond Foerster to reassign the vetern primary investigator, Ed Norris, and replace him with Greggs, now a rookie homicide detective. This proved to be a serious mistake as the change of investigators was leaked to the press. Royce met Burrell's failure with a promise to dismiss him after the election.
Once Tommy Carcetti was elected he wanted Burrell to resign as commissioner, as they talked over lunch, Burrell said that Carcetti will have to fire him and that if he retires, he will not go quietly. Carcetti at the same time could not fire Burrell without having ready an African American replacement due to political reasons. Carcetti decided to strip Burrell of all his power as commissioner and give all decision making up to Deputy Commissioner Rawls while leaving Burrell as a puppet for the press and ministers. Burrell was in the meantime more angered at Cedric Daniels promotion whom he viewed as being nothing more than Mayor Carcetti's "Boy," his African American loyalist whom he helped promote to police colonel. With Daniels' short promotion from Major to Colonel, Burrell's future in the department appeared to be less and less certain. [2][3]
[edit] References
- ^ Dan Kois (2004). Everything you were afraid to ask about "The Wire". Salon.com. Retrieved on 2006-07-12.
- ^ Character profile - Acting Police Commissioner Ervin Burrel. HBO (2004). Retrieved on 2006-07-22.
- ^ Org Chart - The Law. HBO (2004). Retrieved on 2006-07-22.
