We Own This City and the Real Story of Baltimore's Police

From the creators of The Wire comes HBO’s latest miniseries We Own This City. The six-episode series premiered on April 25, 2022, and was developed by David Simon (The Wire, Treme, The Deuce) and writer George Pelecanos (a frequent Simon collaborator). The series is based on the nonfiction book, We Own This City, by Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton. Fenton was previously recognized for his coverage of the Baltimore riots after the death of Freddie Gray and for being a lead reporter on Baltimore’s Gun Trace Task Force (GTTF).We Own This City follows the Baltimore Police Department’s Gun Trace Task Force and the corruption that lead to the GTTF’s downfall. Jon Bernthal leads the limited series and is joined by Wunmi Mosaku, Jamie Hector, and Josh Charles of The Good Wife. We Own This City has received critical praise and has been considered one of the best miniseries of the 2020s.

A History of Corruption

The Baltimore Police Department (BPD) has seen internal conflict since its inception in the late 1840s. Many officers of the time were members of the Know Nothing gangs and maintained  loyalties to their former leaders. This created not only conflict within the department but also among Baltimore's citizens. This conflict came to a head in 1861 when the federal government had to take over the department due to their involvement in the Baltimore riot of 1861 where they helped propel Union and Confederate rioters into a fully armed confrontation.

After World War II and the 'white flight' growth of the suburbs, Baltimore’s African American population became the majority of the city while the department remained mostly Irish American. During the Civil Rights Movement, the strained relationship between the BPD and Baltimore's citizens grew worse as riots erupted due to mistreatment and the injustices being experienced not only by the citizens of Baltimore but by the entire country. At the time, the BPD was considered one of the most corrupt departments in the nation.

We Own This City and the Gun Trace Task Force

We Own This City reviews the underbelly of Baltimore’s police corruption, the GTTF. The task force was established in 2007 as a plain-clothes unit to remove guns from the street. Former mayor Martin O'Malley created the unit to tackle Baltimore’s high murder rate and trace the guns back to their distributors. This meant the investigation focused on large busts of narcotics and weapons.

The task force was composed of elite Baltimore officers that included Detectives Momodu "G Money” Gondo (McKinley Belcher III), Jemell Rayam (Darrell Britt-Gibson), Daniel Hersl  (Josh Charles), and Sgt. Wayne Jenkins (Jon Bernthal). David Simon succeeds with this series that focuses on Sgt. Wayne Jenkins and his journey from a beat cop to the leader of the GTTF. Bernthal is incredible as the crooked sergeant who completely lost his way.

The Downfall of the Gun Trace Task Force

Although the task force began with good intentions, it quickly turned into a criminal enterprise.  The unit began tearing through Baltimore, stealing money and narcotics while raiding locations. The officers did not stop at stealing as they grew to setting people up and even planting fake guns at scenes where an unarmed person was murdered. We Own This City accurately portrays the reality of what the city of Baltimore went through at the hands of the GTTF.

What led to the unit's downfall was the investigation into Detective Gondo, who the DEA believed was working with drug dealers and helping them avoid charges. This led to a massive FBI investigation into Jenkins and the rest of the GTTF. In 2017 eight officers (including Jenkins and Mondo) were indicted with federal racketeering charges caring a maximum sentence of 40 years. Seven of the officers pleaded guilty with Jenkins receiving the longest sentence. He received 25 years after pleading guilty to one count of racketeering, two counts of robbery, one count of destruction, alteration, or falsification of records in a federal investigation, and four counts of deprivation of rights under color of law.

The Results of a Broken System

In 2019, an independent investigation was launched to look into the GTTF and the corruption of  the BDP. Two years later, the GTTF Commission report was completed and faulted the BPD leadership and found that the corruption went higher than the GTTF. In discussing the GTTF Commission report, The Baltimore Sun quoted Maryland Senator Bill Ferguson saying, "The story of the Gun Trace Task Force is a prime example of problematic policing that can erode confidence and faith in policing, and make communities less safe as a result."

The citizens of Baltimore have lost faith in the police as a result of the GTTF and the two decades of failure by the BPD. The city is currently still handling lawsuits made by victims of the unit and working to gain the trust back of the city.

We Own This City gives a raw and honest look into corruption happening all over the country. These officers (and officers like them) destroy any faith people have in the system and make life dangerous for not only the police but also the people they are sworn to protect. We Own This City is now available on HBO.

The original article was posted on January 15, 2023, and can be found on Movieweb.com.