Police of The Wire
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Police of The Wire includes many starring characters who play a major role in the fictional HBO drama series The Wire. The fictional Baltimore City Police Department has been examined in great detail across several departments and there are also many supporting characters in the Department.
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[edit] Command
The department is led by a Police Commissioner assisted by Deputy Commissioners of Operations and Administration. The Police Commissioner answers directly to the city mayor and outlines the departmental goals enforced by the Deputy Commissioners. The Deputy Ops wields a great deal of power and is responsible for the day to day activity of the department's district and investigative unit commanders. The Admin Deputy is another position mentioned on the show that oversees the Internal Investigations Division and other similar units. The department is ranked in the order of Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner of Operations, Deputy Commissioner of Administration, Colonel, Major, Lieutenant, Seargent, and Officer. Detectives fall into a rank that coincides with their administrative position. The Criminal Investigations Division commanded usually by a Colonel is the division responsible for Homicides, Narcotics, and Major Cases amongst other areas of investigation. Each respective unit in CID is ran by a Major. The individual districts are usually commanded by Majors and responsible for patrolling the city's nine districts- the Central, Northern, Northeastern, Eastern, Southeastern, Southern, Southwestern, Western and Northwestern districts.
[edit] Current Department Commanders
[edit] Ervin Burrell
Burrell is a by the book careerist officer who has reached the level of Commissioner of Police for Baltimore City. Initially appointed as an Acting Commissioner, his primary responsibilities include executing out orders of the Mayor's office and overseeing the department's general activities. His Deputy Commissioners deal more with the individual interaction of various Unit Commanders under his orders. On tumultuous terms with the City's Administration due to Baltimore's high crime rate, Burrell is a demanding bureaucrat who is willing to lie the department's problems on individual commanding officers in order to keep his appointed position as police commissioner. He has been considered for termination as commissioner by former mayor Clarence Royce and current mayor Tommy Carcetti, however due to his race (It has been advised that Carcetti who is white not fire an African American police commissioner in majority African American Baltimore) and the support of selected Baltimore ministers and influential politicans, he has been able to keep his position as commissioner.
[edit] William Rawls
Rawls is the Deputy Commissioner of Operations for the Baltimore Police Department, responsible for overseeing the day to day activities of the District and Investigation Division commanders. A careeerist like Burrell, Rawls is loyal to the department's chain of command easily annoyed by officers who go around it to accomplish something. He is a hateful, foul mouthed and ruthless commander whom the individual commanders fear. Quick to berate officers for their poor performance, Rawls is one of the most dangerous commanders to attempt to cross in the department. It is widely believed that he has reached the highest position he can, because he is white, unlike the majority of the population of Baltimore.
[edit] Stanislaus Valchek
Valchek is the former Southeastern district commander who has been promoted to Deputy Commissioner of Administration. He was promoted to the post because of his friendship with Mayor Carcetti. Well connected with the city's politicians, Valchek has been able to get what he wishes more easily than other commanders despite the unianimous dislike that Burrell and Rawls share for him.
[edit] Cedric Daniels
Daniels is the Criminal Investigations Division Colonel in the Baltimore Police Department. He was a direct commanding officer of many of the show's characters in earlier seasons. One of the department's more unianimously prefered commanders, he experienced a long delay in recieving his deserved promotion to Major that was quickly compensated by his promotion to Colonel via Mayor Carcetti. It is largely believed that Carcetti is grooming him to be the next Police Commissioner, but Burrell and Senator Davis plan to use evidence of Daniels' previous illegal activity against him to counter this.
[edit] Bobby Reed
- Played by: Tony A. Head
- Appears in:
- Season one: "The Buys"; "Lessons" (uncredited); "The Hunt" and "Cleaning Up".
- Season three: "Time After Time"; "Dead Soldiers"; "Reformation"; "Middle Ground" and "Mission Accomplished".
- Season four: "Misgivings" (uncredited)
Reed is a Major in the Baltimore Police Department and commands the Internal Investigations Division. He is very loyal to Ervin Burrell's command often more emphasized in protecting Burrell's command status than rigorously investigating individual officers. He often appears with discharge evidence for officers as blackmail at Burrell's request.(These are best seen through Reed protecting a corrupt state senator in Clay Davis but helping build dirt on Lieutenant Daniels).
In the first season Reed investigates the brutality charges made against Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski for blinding a teenager in one eye. Reed dismisses the witnesses based upon their criminal records but suspends Prez from Street Duty pending a Grand Jury hearing. Reed then intervenes when the Barksdale detail stop State Senator Davis's driver (who received a bag full of cash from a Barksdale soldier) and again when Daniels tries to withhold the location of a Barksdale stash house to protect his investigation.
In the third season, Reed attends the weekly comstat meetings of Ervin Burrell and William Rawls appearing as the department's third in command during both the meetings and the "Hamsterdam" issue. In the fourth season, Reed briefly appears when Burrell is contemplating the best method to keep his appointed position as commissioner.
[edit] Former members
[edit] Warren Frazier
- Played by: Dick Stilwell
- Appears in:
- Season one: "The Hunt".
Frazier is the Commissioner of the Baltimore Police Department in season one. He gives the order for city-wide raids following the shooting of Kima Greggs. As actor Dick Stilwell died after the filming of this episode, the character retires and is replaced by Ervin Burrell as commissioner.
[edit] Raymond Foerster
- Played by: Richard DeAngelis
- Appears in:
- Season one: "The Target"; "The Detail"; "The Buys"; "The Wire"; "The Cost"; "The Hunt" and "Sentencing".
- Season three: "Time After Time "; " All Due Respect "; "Dead Soldiers"; "Straight and True"; "Homecoming"; "Slapstick" and "Mission Accomplished".
- Season four: "Refugees"
Raymond Foerster was a Major and unit commander of the Baltimore narcotics division in season one. According to Season 4, he served 39 years on the force suggesting he joined the BPD in 1967. When Judge Phelan questioned Deputy Commissioner Burrell about the Barksdale operation, it was Majors Foerster and Rawls who faced his subsequent wrath and demands for more information. Foerster's response was to ask his shift lieutenant Cedric Daniels for a report and he then assigned Daniels and his team to the Barksdale detail.
When Daniels' investigation became drawn out and relied upon wiretaps and surveillance, Foerster took the side of Deputy Commissioner Burrell against Daniels when he tried to explain the necessity of this technique to reach the heads of the organization. Foerster's and Burrell's insistence on using buy busts led to the operation that resulted with the shooting of Detective Greggs. Foerster visited Greggs in the hospital with many other command officers and appeared anxious when trying to find a tape recorder to replay the last transmissions before she was shot.
Foerster was promoted to colonel and took over as commander of the criminal investigations division when Rawls was promoted to deputy commissioner of operations. He was replaced as the Narcotics Major by George Smith, an associate of Major Colvin. He attended Rawls' weekly comstat meetings and worked with Sergeant Jay Landsman in running the homicide division. He was put under intense pressure to keep the murder rate down.[1]
In season four, Foerster continued to command CID. He was involved with the management of the murder of a state's witness that became a politically important case. Burrell ordered Foerster to replace veteran investigator Ed Norris with Kima Greggs, now a rookie homicide detective. Foerster realized Burrell hoped to slow the investigation to prevent revealing that the motive for the killing was the victim's witness status. Foerster argues with Burrell and Rawls about the decision and discussed it with Jay Landsman. Foerster suffered from cancer during this time and was often absent from work. Repeated course of chemotherapy failed to cure the disease. Landsman announced the Colonel's death to the homicide unit claiming that he served 39 years in the department without leaving a trace of bitterness or hatred with any officers, a miraculous career by BPD standards. A police wake was held at an Irish bar in his honor. He was replaced as C.I.D. colonel by Cedric Daniels at a promotion ceremony following his death.
Actor Richard DeAngelis died of cancer after filming scenes for the fourth season.[2]
[edit] Major Case Unit
The Major Case Unit was established by Cedric Daniels in season three as part of a prior agreement with Commissioner Ervin Burrell. The unit's main responsibility is to build cases against high profile targets responsible for murder, drug distribution and money laundering in Baltimore. The unit was originally formed by a group of detectives dumped upon Daniels by shift Lieutenants to make a case against Avon Barksdale. It is currently under the command of the Criminal Investigation Division and is run by Lester Freamon even though on paper it is commanded by Lieutenant Asher.
In the first season the detail's office is located in the basement of a downtown building where the only redeeming features are working telephones and electricity. In the second season, the detail is moved into an old building located at 1911 South Clinton Street in the southeastern part of town leased by the transit police courtesy of Major Valchek. The office remains the permanent location of the unit when it is formed in season three.
[edit] Current members
[edit] Command
[edit] Jimmy Asher
- Played by: Gene Terinoni
- Appears in:
- Season four: "Boys of Summer"; "Home Rooms" and "That's Got His Own."
Asher is a lenient lieutenant who is a friend of Lester Freamon. He was handpicked to command the Major Crimes Unit by Freamon with the approval of Cedric Daniels. He normally lets the detectives do as they wish while working on his beach house in Delaware. He was briefly reassigned to a telephone unit and replaced by Lieutenant Charles Marimow for purposes of properly "supervising" the Major Crimes Unit under the orders of Deputy Commissioner Rawls. With Daniels promotion to C.I.D. colonel, Asher is reinstalled as commander the unit again as Freamon feels he will effectively let the detectives do what they need to make a case without interference from the commissioner's office.
[edit] Lester Freamon
Freamon is a quiet and methodical older detective who makes major contributions to the series investigations. He is the unit's true commander as he lays out their investigative strategies and purposely chose Lieutenant Asher to be the shift Lieutenant due to his lenient non-conflicting attitude.
[edit] Thomas "Herc" Hauk
Herc was a capable narcotics detective but his tendency towards brutality and acting without thinking held up his career progression as a member of the Barksdale and Sobotka details. To improve his chances of making sergeant he transferred to the Mayor's security detail. He returned to the Major Case Unit as a newly promoted sergeant. Herc is currently suspended from the department with pay pending an Internal Investigation Division hearing.
[edit] Detectives
[edit] Kenneth Dozerman
- Played by: Rick Otto
- Appears in:
- Season three: "Time After Time;" "All Due Respect" and "Back Burners".
- Season four: "Refugees;" "Alliances;" "Know Your Place;" "Misgivings;" "That's Got His Own;" "Final Grades".
Dozerman is a plainclothes officer in the Baltimore police department. In season three he worked narcotics in Sergeant Ellis Carver's drug enforcement unit squad in the Western District. He became friends with Herc and Carver while working in the squad accompanying them in various activities off duty. Dozerman was shot and injured in a buy bust operation gone awry and decommissioned from duty for the rest of the season. His attempted murder was the catalyst for Major Colvin's "Hamsterdam" experiment as Colvin wanted to reduce crime and not see any more of his men get hurt. His service weapon was also stolen prompting Bunk Moreland to have to search for it. When the weapon was found it was returned to Dozerman at a press conference.[1]
In season four, Dozerman transferred to the Major Case Unit when his friend Herc transferred in, filling the gap left by Greggs and Freamon leaving. Dozerman took part in Lieutenant Charles Marimow's first series of failed raids as unit commander. Following these raids he helped Herc to set up video surveillance of Marlo Stanfield. Dozerman remained in the unit as an ally to both Herc and Leander Sydnor and was still in when Marimow left and the unit was recreated under the leadership of Lester Freamon.
[edit] Caroline Massey
- Played by: Joilet F. Harris
- Appears in
- Season three: "Time After Time"; "All Due Respect"; "Dead Soldiers"; "Reformation" and "Middle Ground".
- Season four: "Boys of Summer"; "Soft Eyes"; "Refugees".
Officer Massey joined the show in season three as a member of the major case unit under Lieutenant Cedric Daniels. Massey is a world-weary officer with a penchant for sarcasm and cutting coupons. She was particularly adept at deciphering the slang used by Barksdale drug dealers on wiretaps of cellular phones. Her diligent work manning wiretaps earned the respect of Lester Freamon when she was part of his successful undercover operation to supply pre-wiretapped phones to the Barksdale organization.
In season four, Massey continued to work with the Major Case Unit and settled into her role. When the unit was assigned Lieutenant Marimow as a commander, Freamon transferred out. Massey and Sydnor were left to face Marimow closing down their wiretaps and ordering raids on weeks old targets.[1][3]
[edit] Jimmy McNulty
McNulty is a dedicated Baltimore police officer with many personal problems.
[edit] Leander Sydnor
Sydnor is a young, married detective in the Baltimore major case unit with a talent for investigative work and the stomach for drawn-out cases. Although Sydnor has little dialogue, he has been part of the Major Case Unit throughout all four seasons of the show.
[edit] Former Members
[edit] Command
[edit] Cedric Daniels
Daniels left the unit when he was promoted to Major, taking the District Commander post in the Western.
[edit] Charles Marimow
- Played by: Boris McGiver
- Appears in season four: "Home Rooms"; "Refugees"; "Alliances;" "Misgivings;" "That's Got His Own."
Marimow is a lieutenant in the Baltimore police department. He is installed as the commander of the major crimes unit by William Rawls based on his reputation as a "unit killer." Rawls needed a Shift Lieutenant to properly supervise the unit's detectives and prevent them upsetting politicians. Marimow renews the unit's focus on more obviously violent drug dealers and closed down their wiretaps on Marlo Stanfield. His caustic command style drive away Lester Freamon (who referred to him as a virus) and Kima Greggs, the unit's best two detectives, leaving him with only Leander Sydnor and Caroline Massey. His unit's staffing problems are solved when Sergeant Herc Hauk transfers back, bringing Officer Dozerman with him. Marimow and Herc develop an immediate mutual dislike which worsened over their tenure.
Marimow prides himself on being a streetwise commander and having worked his way up through the ranks. He believes it would be easy to topple Marlo Stanfield, but his first series of raids failed spectacularly because he underestimates his targets. Marimow orders his men to take Stanfield down, leading Herc to break several rules by hiring a lip reader to spy on Stanfield, and using a video camera without a court order or Marimow's approval. Marimow accurately suspects Herc of lying to him about the source of his information. Herc also has Internal Inevestigations Division (IID) complaints sent to the office for attempted arrests based on misinformation. Marimow vows to Herc that he would be happy to attend his "execution" at an IID trial if he could prove he was lying. Marimow leaves the Unit when Cedric Daniels becomes the Criminal Investigtions Division colonel and reinstalls Lester Freamon and Lieutenant Asher.
[edit] Detail members
[edit] Ellis Carver
A detectice on Daniels narcotics shift who followed him into the Barsdale detail and Sobotka details. He left the detail in season 2 for a drug enforcement unit sergeant posting in the Western District.
[edit] Patrick Mahone
- Played by: Tom Quinn
- Appears in season one: "The Detail"; "The Buys" and "Old Cases".
Mahone was an elderly detective from the property unit who briefly worked with the Barksdale detail. Dubbed as a departmental "hump", he and his partner Polk had not made a single case in property crimes over their last ten years. The two were also regarded as a pair of drunks who were incapable of driving soberly. He is punched by Bodie Broadus, a young drug dealer, when the detail raid the low rise projects. Mahone takes early retirement following his injury, and is last seen encouraging Polk to do the same.
[edit] Augustus Polk
- Played by: Nat Benchley
- Appears in
- Season one: "The Detail"; "The Buys"; "Old Cases"; "The Pager" and "The Wire".
- Season two: "Collateral Damage" and "Hot Shots".
Polk was an aging detective from the property unit who worked briefly in the Barksdale and Sobtoka details. He is often called Auggie by his partner Pat Mahone. He is generally regarded as a "hump", since he has not made a single case in property crimes over their last ten years. He is also an alcoholic.
After his partner Mahone retired due to injury, Polk considers deliberately injuring himself to follow in his partner's footsteps. Unable to follow through on his plan, he becomes despondent and goes on a drinking binge. He misses several days work and finally shows up drunk at 9AM. Lieutenant Daniels tells him to take sick leave for his alcohol problem or work "wet". Polk opted for sick leave and is off until the case is closed.
In the second season, he is briefly assigned to the first Sobtoka detail under Lieutenant Grayson. When Major Valchek complains about the unity being full of humps, Daniels is put in command and Polk is moved back to property.
It is unclear whether the name of the pair, "Polk/Mahone", is intentionally homonymic with the Irish expression "pogue mahone" ("kiss my ass"). It could make sense though as the pair appeared Irish with an uncommitted attitude towards Police Work.
Michael Santangelo
For a full character description see Western District section, below.
Original Barksdale detail member partnered with Jimmy McNulty. He was dumped from homicide by Major Rawls for refusal to act as an insider in on Rawls behalf. Santangelo took a post driving the narcotics wagon in the Western District.
[edit] Unit members
[edit] Shakima "Kima" Greggs
Daniels' female protege who mentored Herc and Carver while in Narcotics. She transferred to homicide when Lieutenant Marimow came into the unit as he was a caustic commander who was difficult to work for. When Marimow left, she remained in homicide due to the higher pay.
[edit] Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski
Prez was the son-in-law of deputy commissioner Stan Valchek who had a knack for tracing phone patterns and money accounts but was inept on the streets. Prez left the department after accidentally shooting a plainclothes African American officer Derrick Waggoner.
[edit] Homicide unit
The Homicide Unit of the Baltimore City Police Department is responsible for the investigation of all unexplained deaths that take place within Baltimore City. (They are also responsible for investigating all police-related shootings, and, because the homicide unit is generally regarded as containing the best detectives on the police force, they are often given high-profile cases which are not necessarily homicides.) A clearance rate of 50% or more for the year is aimed for and the Unit is amongst the most demanding in the Criminal Investigations Division. Sergeant Landsman's squad is typically the focus of the show, though there is at least one other squad (according to David Simon's book, there are typically three homicide squads in Baltimore, on rotating shifts). The unit is currently under the C.I.D. supervision of Colonel Cedric Daniels.
Like the real department described in David Simon's Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, the unit uses a red-black system of tracking cases where red is the color for an open/not cleared case and black is the color for a closed/cleared case (green, the color for cases left open longer than one year, does not appear to be in use on The Wire's board). Additionally similar slang such as "dunkers" (easy cases), "whodunits" (difficult cases), and "redball" (media attention gaining cases) are used to describe the various cases.
A running practical joke within the unit is to cut a sleeping detective's necktie with scissors and pin them to a notice board in the unit office. Detectives often fall asleep in the office (or on stakeout) because of the overtime demands and have at times worked double and triple shifts as they have dealt with multiple murders. This was used most prominently in the third season.
[edit] Current members
[edit] Jay Landsman
Landsman is a squad sergeant in the homicide unit who must divide his loyalties between his men and his superiors.
[edit] Michael Crutchfield
- Played by: Gregory L. Williams
- Appears in:
- Season three: "Moral Midgetry;" "Back Burners;" "Slapstick" and "Mission Accomplished."
- Season four: "Home Rooms;" "Soft Eyes;" "Refugees;" "Alliances;" "Margin of Error;" "Unto Others;" "Corner Boys;" "A New Day" and Final Grades".
Crutchfield is an African American detective in the homicide unit whose name is mentioned earlier in the series but whose appearance is not shown until season three of the series. He was the primary detective at the murder that took place in Major Colvin's "free zone" and withheld the investigation at Colvin's request. Colvin then helped create a "dunker" case having his suspect turned in after threatening the drug dealers in the "free zone".
In Season four, Crutchfield played a bigger role appearing with Vernon Holley getting an identification of Omar Little as a murder suspect from Old Faced Andre. When Bunk Moreland wanted to re-examine the case, Crutchfield displayed his anger over Bunk wanting to reverse one of his clearances. Crutchfield then promised to reverse a clearance of Bunk's as payback for going back on a solved case. Crutchfield ended season four investigating murders at the hands of the Stanfield Organization.
[edit] Kima Greggs
Greggs is a tenacious investigator and a rookie homicide detective. She was a key member of the major case unit and proved herself on both the Barksdale and Sobotka investigations. She struggles to balance her life as a police officer with her role as a potential mother with her partner.
[edit] Vernon Holley
- Played by: Brian Anthony Wilson
- Appears in:
- Season one: "The Wire" and "The Hunt".
- Season two: "Port in a Storm".
- Season three: "Amsterdam"; "Slapstick"; "Reformation" and "Mission Accomplished".
- Season four: "Soft Eyes"; "Alliances"; "Margin of Error"; "Unto Others"; "Corner Boys", "A New Day" and "Final Grades".
Holley is an African American detective in the Baltimore Police Department homicide unit under the command of Major Rawls and later Colonel Foerster followed by Cedric Daniels. Holley often works with Norris, Bunk, or Crutchfield and is one of the unit's more short tempered and physically intimidating detectives. He first appeared with partner Ed Norris and caught the case of the murder of Omar Little’s boyfriend Brandon. They recognized a connection to the recent murder of Omar’s crew member Bailey because both corpses were found in Kevlar vests. They called in their colleague Jimmy McNulty and the Barksdale detail's work secured a conviction for the murder against soldier Wee-Bey Brice.
Following the shooting of detective Kima Greggs, Holley found her confidential informant Bubbles paging her from a payphone. Holley assumed he was a suspect and had uniformed officers bring him in for an interrogation. Believing Bubbles to be the shooter, Holley came into interrogate Bubbles in an accusatory and threatening manner and when Bubbles was unable to respond to his questions, Holley quickly lost his temper and started to beat him. The beating kept on until Seargent Landsman restrained Holley with Bubbles asking for McNulty. When Jimmy came up, the situation was cleared up and Holley lied about Bubbles trying to attack him as a means of justifying the beating.
In season two Holley was briefly seen investigating the murder of Frank Sobotka. In season three he is assigned to investigate the murder of Tosha Mitchell and Tank and later the shooting of Stringer Bell, both working with Bunk Moreland. During this season, he was also seen called to duty for other investigations as the city's homicide rate was rapidly approaching 300 murders for the year.
In season four, Holley initially works as the secondary investigator on Norris' case of a murdered state's witness named Braddock that becomes a "red ball" case. Later in that investigation, he is replaced by Kima Greggs for political reasons. Holley and Crutchfield are then seen catching the case of a delivery woman murdered in the convenience store of Old Face Andre. They interview Andre who quickly identifies Omar Little as the killer in a photo array. When Omar is arrested he manages to convince Bunk Moreland he is innocent and Bunk asks Crutchfield and Holley to re-open the case. Crutchfield refused to entertain the idea[1] but Holley agrees that Andre was a possible drug dealer and went with Bunk to the crime scene reluctantly. At the scene revisitation, Bunk viewed evidence confirming Omar's innocence in the shooting as he stated that Andre's store was a drug stash house, Andre's story made no sense, and he most likely did the implication of Omar for ripping of his stash. Holley and Bunk then reappeared with a grand jury summons where at the courtroom, Holley managed to intimidate Andre both physically and legally to have him confess his role in lying about the murder. Holley ends Season 4 assisting Crutchfield, Norris, and Bunk in the investigations of murders caused by Marlo Stanfield's crew.
According to Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, there was actually an African American detective in the Baltimore Police Department homicide division named Vernon Holley.
[edit] Bunk Moreland
Bunk is a well liked and proficient member of the homicide unit. Although he is a great detective, Bunk is a known alcoholic with a penchant for infidelity.
[edit] Ed Norris
- Played by: Ed Norris
- Appears in:
- Season one: "The Cost"; "The Hunt" and "Sentencing".
- Season two: "Stray Rounds"
- Season three: "Time After Time"; "All Due Respect" and "Dead Soldiers".
- Season four: "Boys of Summer"; "Soft Eyes"; "Alliances" (uncredited); "Margin of Error"; "Unto Others;" "A New Day".
Ed Norris is a homicide detective. Norris and his squad mate Vernon Holley were assigned the case of the murder of Omar Little’s boyfriend Brandon. They recognized a connection to the recent murder of Omar’s crew member Bailey because both corpses were found in Kevlar vests. They called in their colleague Jimmy McNulty and the Barksdale details work secured a conviction for the murder against soldier Wee-Bey Brice.
Norris was also lead detective on the shooting of Wendell "Orlando" Blocker and Kima Greggs this time working with Detective Ray Cole. This case was also solved when Wee-Bey confessed to the shooting.
In season two he appeared briefly when investigating the shooting of a child by a stray bullet. In season three he attended the wake of his colleague Ray Cole. Norris remains with the homicide unit in season four when he is the lead investigator in the politically important murder of a state's witness. He is briefly taken off the case and replaced with Greggs, now a rookie in the squad, in order to slow progress because of pressure from the Mayor. Norris is soon reinstated when this story is leaked to the press. He works alongside Greggs to maintain a coverup story that they were always working together. Norris secures an informant for the witness murder, but his attempt to break the story right before the election leads to him and Greggs being sent off to a security detail at a polling station for the day. Norris continues to pursue this lead after the election, however Greggs solves the case with a careful recanvassing of the crime scene before he is able to make progress. She earns Norris' respect with her work although he responds to the knowledge that the shooting was random with incredulity because of the political ramifications it had.[1]
Norris is played by convicted felon and ex-police commissioner of Baltimore Ed Norris. His cameo appearances are a source of irony on the show, and he is often given dialogue bemoaning the state of the Baltimore police department.[4]
[edit] Former Members
[edit] Ray Cole
- Played by: Robert F. Colesberry
- Appears in:
- Season one: "The Target" (uncredited); "The Detail" (uncredited); "The Wire"; "The Cost" and "The Hunt".
- Season two: "Ebb Tide"; "Collateral Damage" and "Undertow".
Cole was a somewhat inept member of Sergeant Landsman's homicide squad under the command of Major Rawls.
Cole was the lead investigator of the death of Anton "Stinkum" Artis. His colleague Bunk Moreland told him that there was information about the case as part of a wiretap investigation that Bunk's partner Jimmy McNulty was involved in. The information would jeopardize the wiretap so they promised they would give it to Cole when the case closed. McNulty never intended to give Cole the information because the perpetrator was his informant Omar Little.
Cole was second detective on the shooting of Wendell "Orlando" Blocker and Detective Kima Greggs working with lead investigator Detective Ed Norris. This case was solved when Wee-Bey Brice confessed to the shooting.
Cole was initially assigned the fourteen Jane Doe homicides that Rawls had tried to dodge. McNulty was responsible for the cases reaching Rawls desk and when discussing Cole's misfortune with Bunk he called him collateral damage. Landsman reassigned the case to Bunk and Lester Freamon because he felt he needed his most capable detectives on it.
Cole died unexpectedly and the department held a wake for him. Landsman gave a eulogy for Cole at the wake.[1]
Cole was played by the show's late executive producer Robert F. Colesberry and the character's wake was in part a tribute to the actor who portrayed him.
[edit] Lester Freamon
Freamon is an older methodical detective who was very skilled at homicide investigations but was once kicked out of the unit for angering the Deputy of Operations. He was let back in by William Rawls on two occasions transferring out on both to be of more assistance in leading the Major Case Unit.
[edit] Jimmy McNulty
McNulty was one of the homicide unit's better detectives until his insubordinate back burning attitude drew the ire of his commander Major Rawls. Rawls had him transferred out of homicide permanently at the end of season one.
[edit] William Rawls
Rawls was a Major in homicide promoted to Criminal Investigations Division Colonel and then Deputy Commissioner of Operations. He was a ruthless and feared commander of the unit who expected nothing less than unwavering loyalty and competence from his detectives.
Michael Santangelo
(for full character description see Western District section, below)
Santangelo is a former homicide detective who was unable to meet Major Rawls' clearance demands. He transferred to the Western District where he then drove a patrol wagon.
[edit] Western District
The Western District of Baltimore is the city's most violent district and centered in the middle of West Baltimore at 1034 North Mount Street. This district has been examined in greater depth than any other on The Wire and was the epicenter of the major investigations in seasons one, three and four.
[edit] Current staff
[edit] Command
Currently, the Western District is without a District Major as Howard Colvin was forced into retirement and Daniels was promoted to C.I.D. colonel.
[edit] Dennis Mello
The Baltimore-accented Administrative Lieutenant currently in command of the Western District.
[edit] Ellis Carver
Sergeant Carver is the Western District's drug enforcement unit commander. He is responsible for commanding several plainclothes officers in the district.
[edit] Uniformed Patrolmen
[edit] Brian Baker
- Played by: Derek Horton
- Season three: "Time After Time"; "All Due Respect"
- Season four: "Misgivings;" "A New Day" (uncredited).
Baker is a rookie patrolmen assigned with Castor to the Western District under the command of Bunny Colvin in Season three. He and Castor are both forced by Colvin to carry a compass until they can correctly identify the north direction. In Season four, Baker teams with officer Jimmy McNulty to arrest two people for a string of felony church burglaries. McNulty allows him credit for the arrest, later concurring with Bunk Moreland that Baker could be "good police".
[edit] Bobby Brown
- Played by: Bobby Brown
- Season one: "The Target" and "The Cost".
- Season four: "Refugees;" "Know Your Place;" "A New Day" (uncredited).
Brown is a Western Uniform officer. He was the first officer on scene at the shooting of William Gant. He was later present with Sergeant Ellis Carver to both warn and arrest Namond Brice for selling drugs on a pre-indicted corner.
Brown is played by the real Bob Brown who according to The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood was a patrolman in the Western district of the Baltimore Police Department.
[edit] Aaron Castor
- Played by: Lee E. Cox
- Season three: "Time After Time"; "All Due Respect"; "Moral Midgetry"
Castor is a rookie patrolmen, assigned with Baker to the Western District under the command of Bunny Colvin in Season three. He and Baker are both ordered by Colvin to carry a compass until they can correctly identify the north direction. He is apparently the nephew of former Baltimore Police officer Lloyd Castor, whom Major Colvin has dubbed as "good police."
[edit] Michael Santangelo
- Played by: Michael Salconi
- Appears in
- Season one: "The Target"; "The Detail"; "The Buys"; "Old Cases"; "The Wire"; "One Arrest"; "Game Day"; "The Cost"; "The Hunt"; "Cleaning Up" and "Sentencing".
- Season two: "Port in a Storm".
- Season three: "Straight and True"; "Homecoming"; "Slapstick" and "Mission Accomplished".
- Season four: "Boys of Summer;" "Margin of Error;" "Misgivings;" "A New Day".
Officer Michael "Sanny" Santangelo is an Italian American officer responsible for driving the district arrest van in the Baltimore Police Department's Western District.
In season one, "Sanny" was a detective in the Homicide Unit who was sent with Jimmy McNulty into the Barksdale Detail in order to spy on him for William Rawls. Rawls sent him to the detail because "Sanny" was one of the unit's more inept homicide detectives, with a less than 40% clearance rate whose excuse for his performance is a lack of "dunker" cases (easy cases). He tries to resist, stating that it isn't his job to inform on a fellow cop and Rawls orders him to solve one of his open cases, all of which are "Whodunits" (difficult cases), inform on McNulty or leave the Homicide Unit altogether. Sergeant Landsman recommends a psychic, Madame LaRue, and Santangelo desperately tries her. "Sanny" follows her instructions to bury a doll at the cemetery. That evening, McNulty solves one of the open cases, and Santangelo doesn't understand why a different case got solved. Landsman informs him that Bunk and McNulty did his work for him through a witness Omar Little. With the clearance, Santangelo is able to refuse Rawls's demands and is grateful enough to inform McNulty that Rawls actively wants to fire him.
He is demoted to patrol officer at the end of season one for failing to give Rawls anything else useful. In season two, he is seen briefly as a beat officer, arresting Bubbles and Johnny Weeks when they try to steal medical supplies from an ambulance responding to an overdose. In season three, he drives the narcotics wagon in Major Colvin's Western district - a large prisoner transport vehicle used to round up drug dealers. When he encounters former Barksdale Squad members McNulty and Kima Greggs, Santangelo mentions that he is apparently happy at being a patrolmen as his job is easier. As he is no longer a detective, he no longer deals with commanders such as Rawls and still takes home the same pension thus making him happier. He remains a partrolman in the Western District in season four, when McNulty transfers in alongside him. During a counter-terrorism seminar, he was the first officer to point out the uselessness of Western District officers learning anti-terrorism tactics in a crime ridden district. Santangelo is also one of several officers present for the arrest of Omar Little on a murder warrant.[1]
[edit] Eddie Walker
- Played by: Jonnie Louis Brown
- Appears in:
- Season four: "Soft Eyes;" "Margin of Error;" "Unto Others;" "Misgivings;" "A New Day."
Walker is a corrupt African American patrolmen in the Western District. He appears very hateful towards poor African Americans (He told the children to "get back on the reservation") and is known as being both crooked and antagonistic on the street. He is feared and loathed by Namond, Michael, and the other young drug dealers as he is seeing brutalizing them often with or without provocation. He is first seen stealing money from Randy. Later, he steals bootleg DVDs from Bubbles. He is the arresting officer for Omar Little, stealing a ring from him in the process. After Walker breaks Donut's fingers merely for giving him more paper work to do after a car chase, Michael orchestrates an act of revenge on him, robbing him at gunpoint of money (and the ring) and throwing yellow paint on him. Walker tells fellow officers that he was attacked by Bloods. Walker's attitude earns him the respect of more zealous officers and the dislike of officers such as Jimmy McNulty.
[edit] Plainclothes Officers
[edit] Anthony Colicchio
- Played by: Benjamin Busch
- Season three: "Time After Time;" "All Due Respect;" "Dead Soldiers;" "Amsterdam;" "Straight and True;" "Homecoming;" "Back Burners;" "Moral Midgetry;" "Slapstick" and "Mission Accomplished".
- Season four: "Boys of Summer;" "Alliances" (uncredited); "Margin of Error;" "Misgivings;" "That's Got His Own."
Anthony "Tony" Colicchio is a narcotics officer in Sergeant Ellis Carver's drug enforcement unit squad in the Western District of Baltimore. He was often partnered with fellow squad members Herc Hauk and Lloyd "Truck" Garrick. Colicchio is part of the operation that resulted in the shooting of Officer Dozerman. Along with the rest of the squad, Colicchio is involved in policing drug tolerant zones set up by his district commander Major Colvin without the knowledge of his superiors. It is Colicchio who inspires the name "Hamsterdam" after citing Amsterdam's liberal drug laws as a metaphor for Colvin's new policies. As Colicchio is zealously committed to using brute force to fight the war on drugs, he describes the drug-free zones as "moral midgetry."
Colicchio remains in Carver's squad in season four, and Carver tried to bring him around to his new way of doing things - getting to know the street dealers and cultivating informants. Colicchio takes part in Lieutenant Marimow's failed raids in the Western district. Colicchio is also present for the arrest of Omar Little on a murder warrant, relishing finally bringing in the legendary criminal.[1] Colicchio is one of the more thrilled officers to participate in the arrest hike that Commissioner Burrell ordered to appease the city politicians. He appears outside of a bar with other officers causing a near riot for the "quality of life violation" arrests they were making against people with open containers. Major Colvin compared "Hamsterdam" to the practice of not enforcing violations of open container laws.
[edit] Lloyd "Truck" Garrick
- Played by: Ryan Sands
- Appears in:
- Season three: "Time After Time"; "All Due Respect"; "Homecoming"; "Back Burners"; "Moral Midgetry"; "Slapstick"; "Reformation" and "Mission Accomplished".
- Season four: "Boys of Summer".
Garrick is a narcotics officer in Sergeant Ellis Carver's squad in the Western District of the Baltimore Police Department, often partnered with fellow squad members "Herc" Hauk and Anthony Colicchio. Garrick was part of the operation that resulted in the shooting of Officer Dozerman. Along with the rest of the squad Garrick was involved in policing drug tolerant zones set up by his district commander Howard "Bunny" Colvin without the knowledge of his superiors. He was with Herc when he phoned the paper to report Colvin's actions and again when he met with a reporter.[1]
[edit] Lambert
- Played by: Nakia Dillard
- Appears in:
- Season three: "Time After Time"; "All Due Respect"; "Homecoming"; "Back Burners".
Lambert is an African American narcotics officer in Sergeant Ellis Carver's Drug Enforcement Unit in the Western District of the Baltimore Police Department, often seen with fellow squad members Herc, Anthony Colicchio, and Lloyd "Truck" Garrick. He was part of the operation that resulted in the shooting of Officer Dozerman. After Dozerman's shooting the D.E.U.'s hand to hand operations were suspended as Major Colvin did not want to see anymore of his men come close to death over a minimal amount of drugs.[1]
[edit] Former staff
[edit] Major Howard "Bunny" Colvin
Colvin was the veteran Major and District commander who was forced out of the department due to his "Hamsterdam" experiment that de-criminalized drugs, despite this causing a reduction in felonies.
[edit] Kenneth Dozerman
Dozerman was a friend of Carver and Herc in the DEU that moved into the Major Case Unit in season 4.
[edit] Thomas "Herc" Hauk
A former D.E.U. member who was a partner of Ellis Carver. He left the Western District to work on the Mayor's security detail.
[edit] Jimmy McNulty
McNulty was a former beat officer who became a detective. He returned to patrol in season 4 but after the death of an informant, he rejoined the Major Case Unit.
[edit] Others
The following are former officers or assistant police not part of a District, Administrative, or Criminal Investigation Division.
[edit] Claude Diggins
- Played by: Jeffrey Fugitt
- Appears in season two: "Ebb Tide"; "Collateral Damage"; "Undertow"; "All Prologue"; "Duck and Cover"; "Storm Warnings" and "Port in a Storm".
Diggins is a Baltimore police department Marine Unit officer who partners Jimmy McNulty when he is assigned to the unit. He advises McNulty on how to make the best of the situation, but McNulty hates the fumes. Diggins is forgiving of McNulty's time away from the unit and shares his own boat with Bunk Moreland and McNulty to pose as a fishing craft when observing Spiros Vondas.
[edit] Randall Frazier
- Played by: Erik Todd Dellums
- Appears in
- Season one: "The Detail"
- Season two: "Collateral Damage"; "Hot Shots" and "All Prologue"
- Season three: "All Due Respect"
Frazier is a Baltimore police department medical examiner. He is involved in the investigation of the death of William Gant. Later he was responsible for the autopsies of fourteen unidentified women found at the Baltimore docks. He helped Jimmy McNulty to prove that the deaths occurred in the city jurisdiction by establishing time of death based on the air supply in the container the bodies were discovered in. He also linked the bodies to a specific plastic surgery clinic by identifying a breast implant type that several of the women shared and tracing the serial number. This information helped the detectives to establish that the women were sex trade workers.
[edit] Beadie Russell
Russell is a port authority police officer and a single mother who develops an interest in case work following a chance discovery.
[edit] SWAT team leader
- Played by: Derren M. Fuentes
- Appears in
- Season one: "The Hunt", "Cleaning Up"
- Season two: "Stray Rounds"
- Season three: "Middle Ground", "Middle Ground"
The SWAT team leader is an unnamed African American officer who appears in charge of the BPD SWAT team when they are required for raiding and arresting various criminals. He first appeared in Season 1 leading the search for Savino and then commanding the unit to surround Avon Barksdale's strip club during his arrest. In Season 2, he appeared leading the raid on the Franklin Terrace towers when a nine year old kid was accidentally shot and killed by an off target bullet. In that raid he had the unit arrest everyone in "The Pit" as he assumed them a suspect for being around that area. In Season 3, he appeared at the rank of Major commanding the SWAT forces citywide but was in uniform duty no longer physically participating in the raids. He then appeared leading the officers to shut down "Hamsterdam" at the orders of Deputy Rawls. He was present with Rawls finding the body of drug addict Johnny Weeks who was then wheeled off in a squad car as a means of preventing the media from discovering anything else about the "Hamsterdam" experiment.
[edit] Marvin Taylor
- Played by: Barnett Lloyd
- Appears in
- Season three: "Time After Time"; "All Due Respect"; "Dead Soliders"
Taylor is an African American Major who was the acting commander of the Eastern District. Under pressure from the Mayor's office, Ervin Burrell is told to start coming down on the department to reduce the crime rate by any means possible. As Taylor's district had a low number of felony arrests and handgun confiscations in addition to a high number of homicides in a very short period of time, Deputy Rawls angrily tells him that he had eight hours to get a grip on his district or he would be fired. Cedric Daniels and Jimmy McNulty then arrested an eastside drug dealer named "Cheese" whom they suspect of being responsible for some of the murders in his district. When insufficient evidence against "Cheese" or any other suspected murderers is present, Rawls berates him one last time at a Comstat meeting, after which Commissioner Burrell relieves Taylor of command. This is intended as an example to all the other commanders in the department, that if they did not improve their statistics they will also be replaced.
[edit] Relatives
[edit] Cheryl
- Played by: Melanie Nicholls-King
- Appears in
- Season one: "The Target"; "The Cost"; "The Hunt" and "Sentencing".
- Season two: "Ebb Tide"; "Hot Shots"; "Hard Cases"; "All Prologue"; "Storm Warnings" and "Port in a Storm".
- Season three: "All Due Respect" and "Back Burners".
- Season four: "Know Your Place"
Cheryl is Kima Greggs' live-in partner; she works in the television news industry and often worries about Kima's safety as a police officer. She hopes that Kima will take a less dangerous job and start a family with her. She also appears to do most of the cooking and cleaning in the relationship.
After Kima's shooting, Cheryl insists that she take a desk job. Kima acquiesced for a time, but eventually returned to investigative work in the second season. Cheryl finds this hard to understand, until Kima showed her the conditions in which fourteen girls were murdered. Cheryl jealously insists on accompanying Kima when she went to interview a contact in a strip club.
In season two, Cheryl becomes pregnant by artificial insemination, and in season three, the couple have a young baby boy. Kima begins to spend less time at home, and Cheryl was left to deal with motherhood alone. Kima eventually realizes she does not want to be a parent, and moves out of their shared home. Kima is behind on her child support for much of season four, but gets some overtime in homicide and visits Cheryl, who is now happy with her new partner.
[edit] Elena McNulty
- Played by: Callie Thorne
- Appears in:
- Season one: "Old Cases" and "The Cost".
- Season two: "Hot Shots"; "Hard Cases"; "Undertow"; "All Prologue" and "Backwash".
- Season three: "Time After Time"; "Amsterdam" and "Straight and True".
- Season four: "Misgivings"
Elena is Jimmy McNulty's estranged wife. They have two children together Sean and Michael.
Elena is angered by Jimmy due to catching him in bed with another woman. She uses her lawyer to try to destroy Jimmy throughout the first season as much as she can. She is also protective of her sons and worries that Jimmy is a dangerous influence on them because of his drinking. When he exposed them to danger by having them tail the subject of his investigation, Stringer Bell, she filed for an emergency order to prevent him from seeing the boys. At the court hearing the judge convinced them to work out arrangements between themselves.
In season two Elena was seen at work as a realtor showing a house to Nick Sobotka. Jimmy tried to initiate a reconciliation with Elena and considerably cleaned up his drinking habits and behaviour. The two slept together but in the morning Elena asked Jimmy to leave as she felt it would be unfair on her sons for them to see him in the house.
In season three, Elena is established as seriously dating a man named Dennis, who wears a suits to a baseball game.
In season four, Elena saw that Jimmy was becoming more stable as a patrolmen and stated to him that "If I knew you were going to be a grown up, things may have worked differently."
[edit] Sean McNulty
- Played by: Eric G. Ryan
- Appears in:
- Season one: "The Wire"; "Lessons" and "Sentencing".
- Season two: "Hot Shots".
- Season three: "Time After Time"; "Straight and True" and "Slapstick".
- Season four: "Misgivings"
Sean is Elena and Jimmy McNulty's oldest son. He lives with his mother and his brother Michael following his parents separation but still sees his father. Jimmy teaches his sons the front and follow technique and when he spotted Stringer Bell in a market he had them follow him. Michael and Sean managed to record Stringer's number plate, which aided their father's investigation. In a brief appearance in the fourth season, he says he wants to be a rock star.
[edit] Michael McNulty
- Played by: Antonio Cordova
- Appears in:
- Season one: "Old Cases"; "The Wire" and "Lessons".
- Season three: "Time After Time"; "Amsterdam"; "Straight and True" and "Slapstick".
- Season four: "Misgivings"
Michael is Elena and Jimmy McNulty's younger son. He lives with his mother and his brother Sean following his parents separation but still sees his father. Michael plays soccer and Jimmy tries to attend his games. Jimmy teaches his sons the front and follow technique and when he spotted Stringer Bell in a market he had them follow him. Michael and Sean managed to record Stringer's number plate, which aided their father's investigation. In a brief appearance in the fourth season, he says he wants to be a video game designer.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Org Chart - The Law. HBO (2004). Retrieved on July 22, 2006.
- ^ Actor De Angelis of 'The Wire' Dies at 73. Yahoo! News (2006). Retrieved on January 1, 2006.
- ^ Character profile - Officer Caroline Massey. HBO (2004). Retrieved on July 22, 2006.
- ^ Character profile – Detective Edward Norris. HBO (2006). Retrieved on October 29, 2006.
