The Big Picture

  • We Own This City chronicles the rise and fall of the Gun Trace Task Force, revealing widespread corruption in the Baltimore Police Department.
  • Starring Jon Bernthal as corrupt cop Wayne Jenkins, the HBO miniseries examines how the omertà code of silence within law enforcement enables corruption to thrive, with leaders justifying reckless behavior in the name of fighting crime.
  • In We Own This City, Task Force members accrue power and financial rewards through corruption, initially hesitant to speak out until faced with individual ruin.

HBO's critically acclaimed miniseries, We Own This City, depicts one of the most staggering stories of police corruption in recent history. Directed by Reinaldo Marcus Green and based on Justin Fenton's nonfiction book of the same name, We Own This City chronicles the rise and fall of the real-life (though now defunct) Gun Trace Task Force, headed by volatile cop Wayne Jenkins (Jon Bernthal). Developed by George Pelecanos and David Simon, best known for their work on The Wire, the HBO miniseries was lauded for its depiction of the widespread corruption and brutality plaguing the Baltimore City Police Department before and after the police killing of Freddie Gray — from unjustified and violent arrests and beatings to the theft of drugs, money, and personal property. These illegal activities are all enabled by the code of silence, or omertà, that implicitly governs the city police. We Own This City's frank portrayal of law enforcement corruption allows viewers to understand the mechanisms of this silencing on a smaller scale.

We Own This City TV Show Poster
We Own This City
TV-MA
Crime
Biopic
Drama

Tells the story of the rise and fall of the Baltimore Police Department's Gun Trace Task Force and the corruption surrounding it.

Release Date
April 25, 2022
Creator
George Pelecanos, David Simon
Cast
Jon Bernthal , Josh Charles , Jamie Hector , Darrell Britt-Gibson , Wunmi Mosaku
Seasons
1

'We Own This City' Explores Codes of Silence in Law Enforcement

We Own This City posits that the omertà functions from the top down. Mayors and state attorneys arrive in office eager to implement systemic change but prove incapable of staying the course, creating a pattern of inconsistent leadership, ever-shifting law enforcement protocols, and corruption. The strained relationship between the mayor and the "top brass" in the police department inevitably creates a conflict of interest. And because law enforcement officials are rightfully cynical about the political motivations of mayoral oversight, the police department effectively functions as an independent and untouchable entity at odds with the winds of change. Any objection to police tactics, no matter how ineffective, is therefore viewed as a threat to the department's autonomy. Speaking out against patterns of racism, brutality, and corruption within the department is perceived not only as an act of disloyalty against one's own colleagues, but against law enforcement in general.

By extension, Jenkins' superiors, under increasing pressure to drive down the crime rate, rationalize the Task Force's brazen behavior as an inevitable casualty of "getting drugs and guns off the street." The assumption that the benefits of careless or overzealous policing outweigh the costs allows figures like Jenkins to accrue power without the threat of accountability. Bizarrely, Bernthal's Jenkins becomes a poster boy for eradicating crime, and the greater his popularity, the more reckless he is. Acts of corruption are ignored under the larger goal of "fighting crime," an aspiration that comes to cover a multitude of sins. Only the threat of individual ruin –– the lengthy FBI investigation undertaken by Erika Jensen (Dagmara Dominczyk) and John Sieracki (Don Harvey) –– is enough to turn members of the Task Force against each other. Indeed, even though Jenkins' colleagues are increasingly horrified by their boss's actions –– including killing a bystander driver during an impulsive car chase, planting guns, posing as a federal agent, and skimming tens of thousands of dollars from drug seizures –– they initially refuse to speak out against him.

Related
Kit Harington Wants Revenge in This Historical HBO Miniseries
The 'Game of Thrones' star sheds his Jon Snow persona for this ruthless historical drama.

Jenkins' increasing indifference to the law, however blatant, has permitted Task Force members like Daniel Hersl (Josh Charles), Momodu Gondo (McKinley Belcher III), and Jemell Rayam (Darrell Britt-Gibson) to reap huge financial rewards of their own, making "snitching" an unappealing option. The catch, though, is that not only do Task Force members steal from the people they arrest, beat, and interrogate; they steal from each other. It's their pursuit of personal profit that later enables formerly loyal operatives like Gondo and Rayam to give each other up during the FBI investigation. With their own futures called into question, it's every man for himself. Though Jenkins' wrath was previously enough to enforce the code of silence that binds these police officers, the possibility of prison eventually compels Gondo, Rayam, and other Task Force members to confess to their crimes.

'We Own This City' Is One of the Most Nuanced HBO Miniseries

Though it's initially hard to fathom how lawless the Gun Trace Task Force became, We Own This City offers a nuanced view of how deeply embedded the omertà was in the Baltimore City Police Department. The aversion to criticizing the department is so profound that, despite reams of evidence that his death was a homicide, many officers are infuriated by the state's attorney's decision to indict the police officers involved in the killing of Freddie Gray. Gray's tragic end is an indicator of the dangers of such blind interpersonal loyalty in law enforcement. And it also reflects how easily Baltimore police officers, lacking accountability, slipped into criminality. With raw performances from its cast, We Own This City unflinchingly portrays a story that needed to be told, making it not only one of HBO's best miniseries — but one of the best crime dramas of all time.

We Own This City is available to stream on Max in the U.S.

Watch on Max