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 George's 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. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Sgt Wayne Jenkins was the ringleader and is the central protagonist of the book and TV series. But the character functions mostly to deliver exposition and make, or receive, the shows arguments. The GTTF further damaged the already troubled relationship between police and residents of Baltimore. 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. 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 . Ex-po. English, Russia It is revealed that Suiter had been summoned to testify in the now infamous Gun Trace Task Force trial, an elite police unit that proved to be one of the dirtiest in Baltimores recent history. As he notes, despite numerous different mayors and police commissioners, nothing much has changed in Baltimore over the years aside from the names of those engaging in criminal activity. Like many series right now, this one is using a nonfiction story to approximate the power of fictional drama. The Slow Hustle contains interviews with Suiters widow and children, lawyers, politicians and investigative journalists, and Baltimore police including former commissioner Kevin Davis. 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. The streets, the drug houses, the cops pursuing petty busts to drive up their stats you can almost hear the voice telling you to keep the devil way down in the hole. So to me, that was a microcosm of the macrocosm. Copyright 2021 NPR. Whatever Happened to Permanent Daylight Saving Time? 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. Rayam opens up about the GTTF. At this point we are less than 10 min into the documentary. That twist alone makes The Slow Hustle a fascinating whodunit, and complicating matters further, it eventually came out that Suiter may not have been as clean as people thought. In a war, you have enemies. Exploring crime-related stories and the issues surrounding them, the anthology includes: 2023 Warner Bros. English, Argentina The series was shot in Baltimore and brings together several alumni of the The Wire, both on screen and behind the camera, including David Simon and George Pelecanos. Over the years, as I describe in the book, it lost that focus and was just another unit of plainclothes officers running around the city. Theres a whole philosophical debate around human beings, and, you know, are they inherently good or evil? English A still from "The Slow Hustle" courtesy HBO. The Slow Hustle exists at the intersection of true crime and social justice documentaries, concerned as it is with a fatal mystery wrapped up in an epidemic of police corruption. He was born in 1980 which, Fenton notes, means that Baltimore has been shrinking and struggling for most of his life. Baltimore's largest police corruption scandal is in the national spotlight with a new HBO drama. 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. Will members of the community reach out to us? The editor, Donna Marino, she had something to do with that. The Slow Hustle starts with shocking footage of Suiters body being discovered (Oh, my god!, Sean, no! This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. And we're all not feeling protected nor served. All rights reserved. Baltimore Police. (The 2021 HBO documentary The Slow Hustle, by the Wire alum Sonja Sohn, touched on aspects of the case.) Fenton, who reported on the trial, recalls: Through the people cooperating and telling the truth, we gained a new level of understanding of how these things work that I dont think weve had previously. But theres a lot of pushback of course. Over six episodes, host D. Watkins will share his experiences in and out of the writers room and speak to the people who brought this story to the screen. It wasnt that we heard about them all the time. 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). [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 Right now were dealing on a mass level with this lack of trust of law enforcement because of the way they have treated Black folks. How did you, as a filmmaker, you know, distinguish between fact and rumor? I was sitting up at CBGBs [music club], the only Black girl with shaved hair, screaming, and I had a zine. See the full cast here. They told us not just what they did but how and that was very eye-opening testimony. HBO documentary about Baltimore Police and Detective Sean Suiter's death set to debut in December By Alex Mann Baltimore Sun Nov 12, 2021 at 11:03 am A documentary film profiling. The Baltimore dialogue still has Old Bay piquancy, and some strong performances kick scenes to life. THE SLOW HUSTLE, a feature documentary directed by Sonja Sohn (HBOs Baltimore Rising, The Wire), chronicles the still unsolved death of Baltimore police detective Sean Suiter, fatally shot in the head in 2017 while in the line of duty, and explores the ongoing speculation about what really happened that day. The GTTF further damaged the already troubled relationship between police and residents of Baltimore, especially communities of colour. Watch these additional moments featuring Sean Suiter's family attorney, Jeremy Eldridge. Was Suiter an unwitting participant in a scheme carried out by rogue cops? The documentary focuses on Michael Dowd, a former police officer of 10 years, who was arrested in 1992, leading to one of . A still from "Adrienne.". Here, WWD looks at 11 new documentaries and docuseries to watch in December 2021. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. Sonja, thank you for joining us. You know, it took a minute to gain their trust. English, Indonesia English, Italy The cast includes Jon Bernthal (The Walking Dead,Show Me a Hero),Josh Charles (The Good Wife,In Treatment), Wunmi Mosaku (Lovecraft Country), and Jamie Hector (BOSCH,The Wire), among many others. It tells how a shift in policing strategy in 2007 led to the creation of the GTTF amid concern that police had spent too long pursuing drugs rather than guns. 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. English, United States Dominic West went on to play Prince Charles in The Crown; Wendell Pierce took on Willy Loman in a London stage production of Death of a Salesman; Idris Elba starred in Luther, Thor and Cats; Michael K Williams burned brightly in Boardwalk Empire and others before his jarring death in September. The unsolved case also sparked far-reaching implications for a city already grappling with the complexities of policing in contemporary, urban America. She's also an actor. I didnt know how much I had been impacted by it physically until 2020 came and I saw the correlation, she says. Fenton has spoken to many people in Jenkins orbit and made multiple attempts to contact Jenkins in prison but without success. 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. 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. The Baltimore Furniture Bank is a nonprofit organization in Baltimore City, fiscally sponsored by Fusion Partnerships, Inc. The actor-turned-directors new film The Slow Hustle tells the story of a detective who was killed just before he was set to testify in a corruption case. Spanish, Mexico I think Baltimore does what it did to me and its a divine mirror. The six-episode scripted series is at once an extension, an updating and a partial revision of their landmark dramas critique of policing. Police Sgt Wayne Jenkins is now serving a prison sentence until January 2039. He also learns a sense of entitlement; the seriess title comes from a speech in which he tells his cronies that as long as we put those numbers up by making arrests, they can do what they want. The program serves men in re-entry, addiction recovery, and veterans returning to the workforce. In January, Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh fired her police commissioner and replaced him with former Deputy Commissioner Darryl De Sousa, who promised sweeping reforms to the department. I feel like the city is a reflection of my own psyche. Stream on HBO Max on Dec. 1. Executive producers George Pelecanos, David Simon, cast, and crew go behind the scenes. English, Spain 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 English, Romania Local hero and cage-fighting super-cop Wayne Jenkins was federally indicted on racketeering charges, along with six other members of Baltimore's elite Gun Trace Task Force. It begins with dramatic real-life body-cam footage filmed just after a shooting in the Harlem Park neighborhood of Baltimore. It opens as Jenkins gives a speech to his unit in which he seems to say the right things that beating on people gets in the way of doing the job and that, in the task force, were not about that kind of brutality. I believe that this film substantiates further in a different way how broken the structure of law enforcement is. We glimpse Steeles motives when she recalls her brothers being racially profiled by police. As of late March, 76 people had been murdered so far this year, up from 65 over the same period in 2021. By what name was The Slow Hustle (2021) officially released in Canada in English? When we spoke recently, I asked what drew her to Detective Suiter's case. Two former Baltimore Police officers sentenced to a combined 454 years in federal prison for shaking down citizens in the early 2000s had their prison terms reduced to 20 years each by a. Baltimore prosecutors want greater flexibility to undo convictions after Gun Trace Task Force scandal. In 2017, Baltimore was rocked by the federal indictment of Wayne Jenkins, a highly decorated super-cop and leader of. Scenes for the HBO show based on Justin Fenton's book about the corruption in the Baltimore Police Department Gun Trace Task Force are being filmed outside the vacant Bengies Groceries in the 4000 . We are seeing multilayered corruption with new eyes as a culture. Nobody knew. We Own This City tends to choose telling over showing, however, especially on the investigation side of the story. 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. Theyre up in that supreme court and they are winning. Whats Their Deal? So there was something different. And Josh Charles (The Good Wife) plays impressively against type as Daniel Hersl, a bullet-headed task-force thug who makes Jenkins look like a diplomat. Why isnt his death solved by now? THE SLOW HUSTLE includes insightful commentary from journalists who remain determined to speak truth to power, including Justin Fenton, author of We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops and Corruption and D. Watkins, author of We Speak for Ourselves: How Woke Culture Prohibits Progress who believes the shooting death of Suiter could have been an inside job. The unsolved case also sparked far-reaching implications for a city already grappling with the complexities of policing in contemporary, urban America. We Own This City instead works as a kind of appendix, an updated extra for Simon and Pelecanoss existing, well-earned fan base. 2023 Home Box Office, Inc. All Rights Reserved. English, Vietnam (And even Pryzbylewski eventually redeemed himself.). Seven Baltimore Police officers indicted on federal racketeering charges It wasnt a very large initiative, just a handful of officers, a single unit, and they went about their work with little fanfare. Reports showed that Suiter had been presentand involved in some waywith a 2010 incident in which GTTF members, using unmarked cars, attempted to rob two Black men who subsequently fled the scene, resulting in a car chase and auto accident that killed an innocent motorist. Start from the beginning and watch the first episode ofWe Own This Cityfor free. Sohn is also sceptical. ReBUILD Metro is a community change organization that revitalizes historically redlined neighborhoods of East Baltimore without displacing their legacy residents. Rather than just railing against the GTTF, Watkins spends time discussing the numerous similarities he shares with one of the convicted officers in order to highlight how Baltimores problems are less about individuals than about the environment in which theyre raised and operate. Baltimore is rocked by the Freddie Gray protests. 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. In March 2017, eight members of the GTTF were indicted and arrested on federal charges of robbery, extortion, overtime fraud and selling drugs seized during police operations. Theres been so much rightful attention on police brutality and so we know when an officer shoots somebody theres an injury, theres a death. English, New Zealand 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. Who did this? With candid interviews from members of the Baltimore P.D., Suiters widow and children, journalists, lawyers and political leaders, The Slow Hustle examinesthe continuing mystery surrounding Suiters deathand the multiple theories that emerge in the investigation of the case, including that Suiters death was a calculated murder hit or a suicide. For every inept, violent Roland Pryzbylewski, there was a Lester Freamon, practicing the patient craft of building a case. With Bomenka around the corner, Suiter approached this figure, shots rang out, and Bomenka raced to the scene, whereas frantic bodycam footage illustrateshe found Suiter lying dead from a gunshot wound to the head. The GTTF officers provide additional damning evidence. Former members of the GTTF. But this type of casual everyday lying, stealing, misrepresenting information, in some cases framing people its hard to prove and for that reason it often went unaddressed., The misconduct continued despite the outcry over Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old African American man who died of neck injuries suffered in police custody in April 2015. English, English Speaking Africa English, India Includes: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo - Brazzaville, Congo - Kinshasa, Cte d'Ivoire, Djibouti . There are other theories. Director Sonja Sohn Stars Umar Burley Jill Carter Kevin Davis Crime in Baltimore has been at extraordinarily high levels for decades, he adds, leading to an emphasis on crime fighting and its quantification: numbers of arrests and seizures and other measures. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. The latter, in the seriess view, allowed crime to spike and in turn motivated the police brass to ignore Jenkinss crimes until a federal investigation exposed them. German And that case right there has a connection to many other cases that were in the public eye at the time. How, why and by whom has never been solved. 2023 Home Box Office, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Having thus stipulated, it would also be absurd to pretend not to notice the connection. What are little things like constitutional requirement such as probable cause or reasonable suspicion when Jenkins was quoted as saying that some of the advice he got early in his career was, Never let probable cause stand in the way of a good arrest? That says it all, which was the law was a pesky thing that you could ignore if you couldnt avoid it. The documentary We Own This City draws attention to the corruption within the Baltimore Police Department. We Own This City seems to question not whether good policing exists but whether the current system makes it impossible. With police reform stalled in Congress, and Republicans stoking fear of rising crime in major cities, does she believe the momentum of the Black Lives Matter protests can be sustained? They were veritable gangsters, and the fact that Suiter died in this puzzling manner a mere day before he was speaking to the feds about his shady colleagues raised immediate suspicions that he was actually the victim of an orchestrated hit. Fenton explains in a phone interview from Baltimore: It started as a way to try to do more sophisticated gun trafficking cases. 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 . Coming to the city was was kind of a reckoning with my own self. 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