baltimore police corruption documentary

I was railing when there was nobody railing with me. Former members of the Baltimore Police Department, from internal affairs to the former commissioner, attempt to shed light on that fateful afternoon and the atmosphere within the department. Jenkins name appears in the opening shot of We Own This City, an HBO drama that chronicles the rise and fall of the Baltimore police departments gun trace taskforce (GTTF), described in an independent report as the most shocking corruption scandal in Baltimores history. It wasnt a very large initiative, just a handful of officers, a single unit, and they went about their work with little fanfare. English, France Sohn cofounded ReWired for Change, a local outreach programme for at-risk youth, and made her directorial debut in 2017 with Baltimore Rising, which depicted the Black-majority city in the aftermath of the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in police custody. A still from "The Slow Hustle" courtesy HBO. Bromwich, a senior counsel at the law firm Steptoe, says by phone: People were promoted without any sense of whether they would be capable of managing people. African-American police officer Sean Suiter is pronounced dead soon thereafter. But then things get messy when it's reported that Suiter was killed just a day before he was supposed to testify in a case against several fellow officers accused of corruption. Here we have a case in which a cop has fallen and ultimately one of the major obstacles to solving this death, this mystery, this crime is the fact that the police cant be trusted. D Watkins, a local journalist and author who shares the view that Suiters death could have been an inside job, says in the film: What developed for me out of the whole story is this whole idea of Black lives really dont matter. English, English Speaking Africa I was asked by an HBO executive if I was interested in pursuing this topic, if maybe there was a certain kind of perspective or access that I had to offer. You know, I think we're already, across the country, not trusting our law enforcement. We Own This City is based on the true story of the Baltimore police department's Gun Trace Task Force division and the corruption that . In a war, you have enemies. We Own This City, the anticipated new drama from The Wires David Simon, cracks open the story of a corrupt Baltimore police unit fallen from grace. What do you think, Sonia, the mystery of Sean Suiter's death and the fallout say about Baltimore and the public's relationship with the police as a whole? With Jon Bernthal, Wunmi Mosaku, Jamie Hector, Josh Charles. (SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "THE SLOW HUSTLE"). Many residents in the city, especially in Black communities, just don't trust the police. Maryland State Senator Jill P. Carter helps contextualize some of the social and political misdeeds that have led to an environment that so easily breeds institutional misconduct. He was law enforcement. The Slow Hustle, which debuts Tuesday night on HBO and HBOMax, looks at the death of Baltimore Police Detective Sean Suiter, who lived in Prince Georges County and who was shot in the head in late 2017, the day before he was due to testify in a federal probe of police corruption. By Samuel Sasu April 26, 2022. The Baltimore police department, recognising that the problem was perhaps guns more than drugs, wanted to have a smarter approach. We'll help you live your best #DCLIFE every day, A Bigger Field Awaits Us: The Scottish Soccer Team That Fought the Great War. When institutions cant solve their own problems, the people suffer. On Nov. 15, 2017, Suiter was accompanying his rookie partner David Bomenka on an assignment when he allegedly spotted a suspicious figure in an alleyway in the citys Harlem Park neighborhood. Former members of the GTTF. We Own This City does not do much to explain Jenkins or complicate his villainy, but it is insightful about how a bad cop learns to be bad more effectively (and how he makes his colleagues worse). The conflicting theories on his death speak to stark divisions between the involved parties an independent review board ruled his death a suicide, a theory that the Suiter family strongly resists. You get a guy on a wiretap talking to drug dealers about drugs and then you just keep pulling that string.. In a heightened atmosphere of distrust between disenfranchised communities and the police, THE SLOW HUSTLE brings to light the challenges of uncovering the truth and highlights the devastating fallout on ordinary citizens and police officers alike. NPR's Adrian Florido speaks with director and actor Sonja Sohn about her new film, The Slow Hustle. There are other theories. An independent review board ruled that the 43-year-old detective had in fact shot himself a finding that his family and others vehemently reject. Copyright 2021 NPR. How did you, as a filmmaker, you know, distinguish between fact and rumor? FLORIDO: Your film really does document the Baltimore Police Department's long history of corruption. This emphasis on numbers and quantity over quality really had a corrosive effect on the police department and influenced the conduct of officers. Jenkins brings Suiter along on a raid. While an Independent Review Board was ultimately created to get to the bottom of this, its conclusionthat Suiter had taken his own lifedidnt convince skeptics, especially considering that its final report featured at least one glaring factual error that undercut its reliability. Despite numerous complaints, Hersl is placed on the GTTF. Really, The Wire isnt the only show the setup brings to mind. English, Pakistan But the character functions mostly to deliver exposition and make, or receive, the shows arguments. In July of 2022, the lead investigator into Sean Suiter's death, Sgt James Lloyd was sentenced to one year in jail for using his fellow policemen to harass a contractor working on his home. In practice, theyre all about that brutality and then some. Washingtonian spoke with Sohn last week about her new joint. Eight members of the Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF) were being investigated for a wide range of offenses, including shaking down citizens, filing false paperwork, committing civil rights violations, and making fraudulent overtime claimsas well as rolling around town in unmarked cars while wearing black hockey masks, robbing drug dealers of their narcotics and cash, and then planting evidence on them to send them up the river. In total, the task . English, Thailand The unsolved case also sparked far-reaching implications for a city already grappling with the complexities of policing in contemporary, urban America. I feel like the city is a reflection of my own psyche. [11/16/21 - 11:00 AM] HBO Documentary "The Slow Hustle," A Searing Look at Corruption Within the Baltimore Police Department After a Detective's Fatal Shooting, Debuts December 7 Itexamines the corruption and moral collapse that befell an American city in which the policies of drug prohibition and mass arrest were championed at the expense of actual police work. Fenton, 38, who worked for the Baltimore Sun newspaper for 17 years and is now at the Baltimore Banner, a new non-profit newsroom, says: I do definitely wonder if it happens again, if its happening right now, will I know? It's been three years since Baltimore erupted in a series of protests over police violence, exposing deep divisions between the city's police department and the community.The protests captured national attention - prompting a federal investigation - and several high-profile efforts at reform.Now a new scandal is threatening to undermine those efforts, raising questions about the depth of police corruption in Baltimore, and the institutional forces that allow corrupt officers to remain on the street.Fault Lines returns to Baltimore as new details emerge about an elite plain-clothes police unit that, for years, doubled as a criminal gang - robbing residents, planting evidence, and sending countless innocent people to jail.The unit operated with impunity in part because of the way police complaints are investigated.In Baltimore - like many other cities - if a police officer is accused of wrongdoing, the complaint is investigated behind closed doors by the police department's own Internal Affairs Division.Fault Lines investigates how this latest police scandal once again places Baltimore at the centre of a national debate over how and whether police departments can be held accountable to the communities they police.- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe - Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AJEnglish - Find us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera - Check our website: https://www.aljazeera.com/#AlJazeeraEnglish #BaltimorePolice #Fautlines Their solution: They sold the drugs and firearm back onto the street. He noted that the location of the lethal gunshot indicated that it could have been a self-inflicted wound, but later remarked that if Suiter was trying to cover up a suicide, he wouldnt have shot himself in the head; instead, he would have fired at his chest, which would have made it resemble a murder. Was Suiter an unwitting participant in a scheme carried out by rogue cops? English, Vietnam That produces a culture taken to its extreme, which it was in Baltimore by many, that the ends justify the means, Bromwich continues. February 12, 20188:02 PM ET. We Own This City instead works as a kind of appendix, an updated extra for Simon and Pelecanoss existing, well-earned fan base. FLORIDO: The officer shot that day in 2017 was Baltimore Police Detective Sean Suiter. After Baltimore Police Detective Sean Suiter is killed in the line of duty, the tragedy soon becomes enmeshed in a widening corruption scandal that threatens to unravel the public's already After Baltimore Police Detective Sean Suiter is killed in the line of duty, the tragedy soon becomes enmeshed in a widening corruption scandal that threatens to unravel the public's already strained relationship with law enforcement. All rights reserved. Six of the eight arrested pleaded guilty to the charges. It found an extended institutional failure of the police departments internal affairs along with broad supervisory breakdowns. Nobody knew. And I think that's quite a journey that we're all on here, you know, in this country. SONJA SOHN: I think the one thing that I had to zero in on or hone in on was the fact that there - that this was a Black man who appeared to be murdered, whose murder was unsolved and quite possibly could have been at the hands of law enforcement. info_outline, Includes: Ascension Island, Botswana, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, St. Helena, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, South Africa, South Sudan, Sudan, Eswatini, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Finland It also tracks several local journalists, including Baltimore Sunreporter Justin Fenton andSalon editor-at-large D. Watkins, while they parse the investigation into Suiters death to its official andto many, including Suiters familyunsatisfying conclusion. And I think that its a very valid perspective, which is why I made sure it was included in the film. He was born in 1980 which, Fenton notes, means that Baltimore has been shrinking and struggling for most of his life. WJZ has covered the real-life Gun Trace Task Force investiga. English, Argentina Wayne Jenkins, who as the real-life head of an elite Baltimore plainclothes unit turned it into a state-run gang. Portuguese, Brazil, Chile The Slow Hustle doesnt deliver a definitive resolution to its central question. FLORIDO: Your film really does document the Baltimore Police Department's long history of corruption. Baltimore Police. But at the same time, this was a police officer. English, Korea The GTTF further damaged the already troubled relationship between police and residents of Baltimore, especially communities of colour. From top left, Daniel Hersl, Evodio Hendrix, Jemell Rayam, Marcus Taylor, and from bottom left, Maurice Ward, Momodu Gando, Wayne Jenkins and Thomas Allers. Along the way, though, you got a lot of rich personal stories to invest in, which is how dramas with a broad social scope manage to succeed as both art and argument. 388K views 4 years ago #AlJazeeraEnglish #BaltimorePolice It's been three years since Baltimore erupted in a series of protests over police violence, exposing deep divisions between the city's. For me this case, and the familys position in this case, represent the microcosm of the macrocosm, she says. Except, as The Slow Hustle soon reveals, things werent as cut and dried as they initially appeared. Supervisors had no incentive to report misconduct by their underlings because, given the culture of the police department, that would put them in a bad odour in the rest of the department.. While the April 2015 death of Freddie Gray, after a rough ride in a police van, is not depicted, it hangs over everything here, from Black Baltimoreans mistrust of the police to the post-Gray work slowdown by officers. Five years after the Gun Trace Task Force corruption scandal broke, a new report is giving the first comprehensive account of how the Baltimore Police Department repeatedly failed to address . Officers tell me that its a new day over there and everybodys wearing body cameras all the time, which wasnt the case until pretty late in the investigation of the gun trace taskforce. Will members of the community reach out to us? Here, WWD looks at 11 new documentaries and docuseries to watch in December 2021. Whats the mission?, Exactly. Actor Darrell Britt-Gibson (Jemell Rayam) and technical adviser Detective Andres Severino sit down together to talk about the friendship they formed while making We Own This City, and how working together opened their eyes to new perspectives. The two men were sent to prison for crimes they did not commit. (And even Pryzbylewski eventually redeemed himself.). English, Singapore English, Indonesia We Own This City is based on a book by the Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton. All those season-ending montages seemed to say: No matter how you feel about the end of this or that particular story, the beat goes on. As new evidence emerges, the mystery deepens. The cast and crew explore Baltimore as a character, touching on the real people and locations portrayed in the series. Next June it will be 20 years since The Wire began its sprawling Dickensian portrait of Baltimore, Maryland, as a proxy for the decline and fall of the American empire. "The Slow Hustle" is the title of a new HBO documentary out now. You may know her for her role as a Baltimore police detective in the hit series "The Wire." Now she returns there with The Slow Hustle, an HBO documentary that examines the 2017 death of Sean Suiter, a widely respected Black police detective fatally shot in the head while on duty. Directed by Tiller Russell, The Seven Five examines police corruption in the 75th precinct of the NYPD. You were filming as this was all playing out in real time. WATCH NOW The Slow Hustle, an HBO original documentary from director Sonja Sohn (HBO's " Baltimore Rising " and " The Wire "), chronicles the still unsolved death of Baltimore police detective Sean Suiter, fatally shot in 2017 while in the line of duty, and explores the ongoing speculation about what really happened that day. The unsolved case also sparked far-reaching implications for a city already grappling with the complexities of policing in contemporary, urban America. And so being able to make that connection, I think, to those other cases was in the back of my mind. 890K views 5 years ago BALTIMORE Two Baltimore police officers are on trial this week in federal court for some of this worst misconduct imaginable. We dont always like what we see but we need to see whats in that mirror if were going to actually present truthfully in the world.. The Bachelor Has Two Maryland Contestants. English, Portugal The GTTF officers provide additional damning evidence. In a war, you count the bodies and then you call them victories., Its a strong editorial, but that does not make for a great show. Baltimore's largest police corruption scandal is in the national spotlight with a new HBO drama. I said, Where were you? At the center of The Slow Hustle is Baltimore Police Department detective Sean Suiter. See production, box office & company info, Undercurrent: The Disappearance of Kim Wall, Bad tidings in the Baltimore Police Department. I was like a serious punk in the 80s, she laughs. The convicted officers were sentenced to prison terms ranging from seven to 25 years. This beautiful family who is patient and has faith in them, they really dont care. Baltimore's history of police corruption The scandal broke at a time of struggle and high tensions between Baltimore community members and the police department. How, why and by whom has never been solved. Suiter faces distrust of the police at a crime scene. In April 2010, for example, Jenkins was involved in a reckless car chase that led to the death of an innocent motorist. I was sitting up at CBGBs [music club], the only Black girl with shaved hair, screaming, and I had a zine. The corruption has cost Baltimore taxpayers more than $13 million in settlements with victims and hundreds of cases the corrupt officers worked on had to be thrown out. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. English, United Kingdom In 2017, Baltimore was rocked by the federal indictment of Wayne Jenkins, a highly decorated super-cop and leader of. The Wire's Sonja Sohn on her Baltimore documentary: 'We are seeing multilayered corruption' The series was shot in Baltimore and brings together several alumni of the The Wire, both on. English, The Netherlands He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. Im sure those who are involved in policy making are in the midst of looking at how to develop a more nuanced strategy on some other levels because the folks who are in opposition are playing serious chess right now. English, Denmark Through his early years on the force, Jenkins goes from learning how to scam the overtime rules to outright larceny. UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: I got one officer down. ReBUILD Metro is a community change organization that revitalizes historically redlined neighborhoods of East Baltimore without displacing their legacy residents. 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Argentina Wayne Jenkins, who as the real-life head of an elite Baltimore plainclothes unit turned into! Cut and dried as they initially appeared and then you just keep that! State-Run gang GTTF further damaged the already troubled relationship between police and residents of Baltimore, especially Black! We 're all on here, WWD looks at 11 new documentaries and docuseries to watch in December.... Of East Baltimore without displacing their legacy residents get a guy on baltimore police corruption documentary wiretap to! The national spotlight with a new HBO DOCUMENTARY out now many residents in the national spotlight with a HBO! Hbo DOCUMENTARY out now Force, Jenkins was involved in a scheme out... Simon and Pelecanoss existing, well-earned fan base people and locations portrayed in the back of own. Redeemed himself. ) the cast and crew explore Baltimore as a Baltimore police Department terms from... Out to us to have a smarter approach far-reaching implications for a city already with. 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