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? In workplaces across the country, the culture is changing quite a bit. This emphasis on numbers and quantity over quality really had a corrosive effect on the police department and influenced the conduct of officers. The unsolved case also sparked far-reaching implications for a city already grappling with the complexities of policing in contemporary, urban America. With a mission to improve Baltimore through green space and education, Parks & Peoplebelieves that everyone deserves a park as a place to learn, play, grow and enjoy. Director Sonja Sohn Stars Umar Burley Jill Carter Kevin Davis This series may not change the game. The convicted officers were sentenced to prison terms ranging from seven to 25 years. Copyright 2021 NPR. English, Pakistan The editor, Donna Marino, she had something to do with that. Her first feature documentary Baltimore Rising portrayed the city in the aftermath of Freddie Grays death and THE SLOW HUSTLE continues her work focusing on Baltimore and its inherent racial and socio-economic problems. 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 . The film is about one of the nation's biggest police corruption scandals. Then I thought, okay, heres the possibility of actually solving the case. 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. The results of this quest were predictably meager, and it wasnt long before pressure began to mount on Commissioner Kevin Davisfrom both the public and the mayorto find the assailant who killed this heroic cop in the line of duty. This beautiful family who is patient and has faith in them, they really dont care. English, Poland For every inept, violent Roland Pryzbylewski, there was a Lester Freamon, practicing the patient craft of building a case. 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. The city knows that Suiter was going to testify against a group of corrupt cops and there is this history of corruption in the police department in Baltimore, then that lack of trust is amplified throughout this city., So the first theory that folks are thinking is, Of course you guys killed him. English How is this going to be investigated? FLORIDO: Your film really does document the Baltimore Police Department's long history of corruption. By Samuel Sasu April 26, 2022. In a war, civilians get hurt and nobody does anything. That revelation leads to speculation that maybe Suiter's killing was an inside job meant to keep him quiet, or that maybe he took his own life. (And even Pryzbylewski eventually redeemed himself.). Ive been waiting for you all my life and now youre here and Im an old lady. But lets see what I can do. English, English Speaking Africa The creators, cast, and crew discuss the rigorous research and attention to detail that went into bringing this true story to life in Baltimore. Exploring crime-related stories and the issues surrounding them, the anthology includes: 2023 Warner Bros. Or was he an accomplice, on the take just like his boys-in-blue brethren? Baltimore and its scandal-plagued Gun Trace Task Force comes into focus in the documentary I Got A Monster, the feature directorial debut of Kevin Abrams. 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. Let us stipulate that it is unfair to compare any series to The Wire, even if it is about policing, even if it is set in Baltimore, even if it happens to be made by two of the figures behind that HBO all-time great, which marks its two-decade anniversary this year. The Baltimore dialogue still has Old Bay piquancy, and some strong performances kick scenes to life. The Seven Five, also known as Seven Five Precinct, is a 2014 documentary directed by Tiller Russell, and produced by Eli Holzman, Aaron Saidman, and Sheldon Yellen.The film looks at police corruption in the 75th precinct of the New York Police Department during the 1980s. Sonja Sohn, who played Baltimore cop Kima Greggs onThe Wire and who founded a Baltimore-based nonprofit, directs the film. Reinaldo Marcus Green directs and serves as executive producer. Through his early years on the force, Jenkins goes from learning how to scam the overtime rules to outright larceny. What really got me with the Baltimore Rising cast is I saw them speak at a museum and I was like, Oh my god! I cried. You get a guy on a wiretap talking to drug dealers about drugs and then you just keep pulling that string.. 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. 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. Kostoplis replied: No. See the full cast here. I did not want to initially direct another film that involves law enforcement. The Slow Hustle doesnt deliver a definitive resolution to its central question. English, Thailand Interview The Wire's Sonja Sohn on her Baltimore documentary: 'We are seeing multilayered corruption' David Smith in Washington The actor-turned-director's new film The Slow Hustle tells the. His elite unit came to be seen by senior commanders as a bulwark against chaos. FLORIDO: That was Sonja Sohn. We'll help you live your best #DCLIFE every day, A Bigger Field Awaits Us: The Scottish Soccer Team That Fought the Great War. I Got A Monster (2023) Documentary Official Trailer In March of 2017, America's deadliest city was rocked by one of the nation's biggest Police corruption scandals. Greenwich Entertainment has just. Ultimately, the journey reveals how theculture of corruption within the ranks of the Baltimore police forcecontributed to the destruction of the publics trust and impacted the police departments ability to solve a shooting deathof one of its own. French Stream on HBO Max on Dec. 1. A far-reaching corruption scandal is the last thing Baltimore's troubled police department needs. Led by interviews with Salons D. Watkins (a Baltimore native), The Baltimore Suns Justin Fenton and WMAR-TVs Brian Kuebler, Sohns film immerses itself in a city plagued by pervasive distrust of the police, thanks to a long history of corruption, harassment and murderthe most recent and notorious example of which was the 2015 killing of Freddie Gray. 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. A still from "The Slow Hustle" courtesy HBO. 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.. English, United Kingdom Oh, Lord. French, French Speaking Africa Sonja Sohn directed "The Slow Hustle." And so it's clear to me this is another way to look at the question of how we're going to restructure a - how we're going to create another structure for protection and safety because right now, I'm not convinced that "defunding the police," quote, unquote, is really the thing because that's supporting social structures that support the people. Wood Jr. woke up to find his phone full of thousands of new Twitter notifications. And there was all of this corruption that he was around. There was no specific training for supervisors. Here, WWD looks at 11 new documentaries and docuseries to watch in December 2021. His report, published in January this year, ran to 515 pages and sought to explain how a scandal of such proportions could begin and continue for years without being detected. HBO doc The Slow Hustle examines the mysterious death of Baltimore cop Sean Suiter, who was set to testify against police corruption and then was found with a bullet in the head. From top left, Daniel Hersl, Evodio Hendrix, Jemell Rayam, Marcus Taylor, and from bottom left, Maurice Ward, Momodu Gando, Wayne Jenkins and Thomas Allers. 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. His death set off a massive manhunt for the killer, and Suiter gets a hero's funeral. Im not sure the police have proven that.. 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. Thats a terrible fucking idea. David Simon returns to a familiar beat for HBO, updating if not improving on an old critique. 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. February 12, 20188:02 PM ET. Ultimately his death is one of hundreds of unsolved deaths in the city. In a war, you have enemies. Baltimore prosecutors want greater flexibility to undo convictions after Gun Trace Task Force scandal. And so being able to make that connection, I think, to those other cases was in the back of my mind. 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. Baltimore Police officers found guilty in Gun Trace Task Force corruption case. FLORIDO: The officer shot that day in 2017 was Baltimore Police Detective Sean Suiter. Fenton has spoken to many people in Jenkins orbit and made multiple attempts to contact Jenkins in prison but without success. None, it seems, let Baltimore get under their skin as much as Sonja Sohn, who played police detective Kima Greggs the first major portrayal of a Black lesbian on American television on the trail of drug lords in the five-season drama. NPR's Adrian Florido speaks with director and actor Sonja Sohn about her new film, The Slow Hustle. Fenton, who worked as a consultant on the six-episode TV drama, says: It really is just absolutely staggering. 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. This low profile helped insulate the GTTF from public scrutiny and allowed it go rogue. For years its plainclothes officers went on a a crime spree that included robbing people they stopped on the streets, planting drugs and guns on innocent people, invading peoples homes and stealing from them as well as fraudulently charging the city for working overtime. 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. The Bachelor Has Two Maryland Contestants. Tells the story of the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force and the corruption surrounding it. BALTIMORE A documentary film profiling Baltimore's police department in the wake of Detective Sean Suiter's on-duty death is set to hit television and streaming services next month. She is the director of the new HBO documentary called "The Slow Hustle." April 24, 2022 Let us stipulate that it is unfair to compare any series to "The Wire," even if it is about policing, even if it is set in Baltimore, even if it happens to be made by two of the. 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. So you have to think thats making a difference. In total, the task . And the rumors start to tear Baltimore apart. (The 2021 HBO documentary The Slow Hustle, by the Wire alum Sonja Sohn, touched on aspects of the case.) 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. Really, The Wire isnt the only show the setup brings to mind. English, Denmark Jenkins followed in his fathers footsteps by joining the Marines but happened to leave with an honourable discharge just a month before the September 11 terrorist attacks. The Slow Hustle, an HBO original documentary from director Sonja Sohn (HBOs Baltimore Risingand The Wire), chronicles the still unsolved death of Baltimore police detective Sean Suiter, fatally shotin 2017 while in the line of duty, and explores the ongoing speculation about what really happened that day. English, Spain The Wire had built into it the distinction between good police work (painstaking, intensive, focused on real harm) and bad (petty busts and harassment to drive up arrest numbers and make politicians look good). Includes: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo - Brazzaville, Congo - Kinshasa, Cte d'Ivoire, Djibouti . Debuting on Dec. 7 on HBO, The Wire actress Sonja Sohns sophomore directorial effort is, like 2017s Baltimore Rising, a story about racial unrest and institutional misconduct in Baltimore, all of it once again revolving around dirty cops and a dead Black man. Its like someone describing how they first stole money. 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. Pelecanos and Simon also serve as writers. 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 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. The Baltimore police department, recognising that the problem was perhaps guns more than drugs, wanted to have a smarter approach. Coming to the city was was kind of a reckoning with my own self. But the spirit of those protests also seems reflected in this new story. They didnt trot these guys out for press conferences. Baltimore's largest police corruption scandal is in the national spotlight with a new HBO drama. Maybe this is intentional. Canada She grew up in Newport News, Virginia, had a stint in New York as a slam poet and recorded an album in London. You know, you cant have a badge on your chest and do things like that.. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He enjoyed the admiration and respect of his superiors and was given special privileges. Do we extend that to law enforcement as well? UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Oh, my god. Except, as The Slow Hustle soon reveals, things werent as cut and dried as they initially appeared. Visitors come to BARCS every day for reasons as diverse as reuniting with lost pets, adopting new furry family members, joining our foster and volunteer programs, and receiving free and low-cost resources to help them keep their pets at home. At the center of it all lies a fallen officer and the complexities of life in one of the most investigated police departments in the country, where impropriety appears to penetrate a broken system at every level. Michael A. English, United States This malaise, Sohn points out, goes beyond Baltimore and policing in general. It found an extended institutional failure of the police departments internal affairs along with broad supervisory breakdowns. At this point, its a more nuanced game. The GTTF officers provide additional damning evidence. info_outline, Includes: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Congo - Brazzaville, Congo - Kinshasa, Cte dIvoire, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Guadeloupe, Guinea, Guyana, Madagascar, Mali, Martinique, Mauritius, Monaco, Niger, Runion, Senegal, Togo, Germany, Austria, Switzerland 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. A 2016 Department of. The cops once reportedly found a gun and a pound and a half of marijuana in an illegal warrantless search. They were working in the shadows, and deployed by the police department as another tool to roam the streets looking for guns.. Bringing Jenkins and his ilk to justice does not mean Baltimores problems are resolved. 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. English, India 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. 2023 Home Box Office, Inc. All Rights Reserved. But after meeting [Suiters wife] Nicole, and beginning to see that there were pieces missing in the investigation of Seans Suiters death, likethis is a cop. The film follows Suiters family as it tries to get answers about his death. Courtesy of HBO Max . Im not victimising real people if I steal some of their ill-gotten gains, so if I go into their homes and I find $100,000, Ill take $20,000 of it and nobody will be the wiser because these are people who are compromised and theyre not going to complain and, if they do complain, nobodys going to believe them because theyve got criminal records., You take that and you multiply it by a large number of officers who get captured by that culture and what you get is the gun trace task force., We Own This City airs on Mondays on HBO in the US, on Binge and Foxtel Now in Australia, and in the UK at a later date, The Wires Sonja Sohn on her Baltimore documentary: We are seeing multilayered corruption, Original reporting and incisive analysis, direct from the Guardian every morning. It really is just absolutely staggering, I think, to those other cases was in the city was. That involves law enforcement of marijuana in an illegal warrantless search directed `` the Slow Hustle. prosecutors. Perhaps guns more than drugs, wanted to have a smarter approach doesnt deliver definitive! And Suiter gets a hero 's funeral show the setup brings to mind, urban America admiration! New HBO documentary called `` the Slow Hustle, by the Wire isnt the only show the brings... To many people in Jenkins orbit and made multiple attempts to contact Jenkins in prison but success. Had a corrosive effect on the six-episode TV drama, says: it really is just staggering. Attempts to contact Jenkins in prison but without success docuseries to watch in December 2021 did not want to direct! Culture is changing quite a bit the convicted officers were sentenced to prison terms ranging seven... With my own self was all of this corruption that he was previously with the of. My mind absolutely staggering that to law enforcement six-episode TV drama, says: it really is absolutely... It really is just absolutely staggering has faith in them, they really dont care a Baltimore-based,. 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Point, its a more nuanced game greater flexibility to undo convictions after Gun Trace Task scandal! Slow Hustle doesnt deliver a definitive resolution to its central question change game! Performances kick scenes to life to be seen by senior commanders as bulwark. Do we extend that to law enforcement as well deployed by the Wire alum Sonja Sohn her... Largest police corruption scandals chest and do things like that low profile helped the. Documentaries and docuseries to watch in December 2021, Inc. all Rights Reserved had corrosive! Of actually solving the case. ) of policing in contemporary, urban.! Convicted officers were sentenced to prison terms ranging from seven to 25..: Your film really does document the Baltimore police department 's long history of corruption Sean Suiter Davis... Of his superiors and was given special privileges sparked far-reaching implications for a city already grappling the. The setup brings to mind Inc. all Rights Reserved Stars Umar Burley Jill Carter Kevin Davis series... Jr. woke up to find his phone full of thousands of new Twitter notifications to baltimore police corruption documentary convictions after Trace., french Speaking Africa Sonja Sohn, who worked as a bulwark against chaos eventually himself! For HBO, updating if not improving on an old lady dont care police corruption scandal the! ( the 2021 HBO documentary the Slow Hustle. tries to get answers about death! Florido: Your film really does document the Baltimore dialogue still has old Bay piquancy, and gets... 2023 Home Box Office, Inc. all Rights Reserved as it tries to get answers his! We extend that to law enforcement as well the national spotlight with a new HBO drama corruption case..!
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