A Glimpse Into Crime Through The Wire

The Wire series focuses on the slums of Baltimore, where there is a lot of intoxication and crime. Not only that, but everything else is dangerous. There are terrible economic and social situations, police calls and internal fights between gangs smuggling drugs. The Wire gives us a glimpse into all the different aspects that operate in this world, from drug users to the top political sphere.

The Wire Worlds

We hear several shots and heartbreaking screams in the quiet morning air. Some heads look out of windows and then… nothing. Just silence. Everyone continues with the morning routine as if nothing had happened. The people of this area of ​​Baltimore are used to the wave of violence that pervades the streets they walk on a daily basis. Drugs are common on every street corner. Young people start working for various drug gangs at a very young age. Drugs are the only outlet they can find in their environment.

Police in The Wire

The police work every day to control and fight organized gangs. The Wire series highlights the futility of police methods. It portrays the police as a group that is unable to develop or improve due to the resources at their disposal. They stumble because of a hierarchical, static system. This system is based on the “command chain”, where the only thing they care about is reaching the top . Rules restrict people from doing their job. This makes the police ineffective, and they often have to deal with an old problem: the surprise factor.

Crime is just feedback between the police and the offender. The police can not do anything if the criminal does not commit the crime. If the police change the rules or try something else, the criminal will only find new ways to commit the crime.

The lesson The Wire is trying to give us is that it is virtually impossible to predict or completely stop crime. It is criminals who create crime, and the police must act according to how the criminals change and develop.

Politics and smuggling

On the other hand, there are political rivalries in the series. The struggle for power justifies all means, including bribery, cheating with public funds, etc. There are things that give an ongoing and vicious cycle. This is a recurring theme throughout the series.

The people “at the top” impose restrictions that do not help the fight against organized crime and drug trafficking. This shows that strong people in politics are complicit in crime because they directly or indirectly benefit from the criminal world. However, the series also reflects on another phenomenon: politicians. Since the gangs give the politicians a lot of money, the politicians allow the gangs to go untouched. Together they form a symbiotic relationship.

In the same way, The Wire tries to focus its attention on those who supply the drug and the retailers who move it to its ultimate goal. The Port of Baltimore is the main trading port. Union members make demands on politicians, but politicians do not care. This causes union members to resort to theft and illegal activities to encourage and motivate the public to listen to what they have to say.

The school

The education system is one of the major institutions that promotes drug-related crimes. Standardization of courses and classes promotes truancy. Schools treat young people as numbers who must meet the legal requirements so that the school can continue to function. Thus, there are teachers who only care that the students go to class on the first day, so that they can mark them as present.

Therefore, the concern lies in the need to keep prices stable and balanced. Students often pass course requirements without acquiring the necessary skills. This happens because the system will not continue to handle that student. Getting them to take up a class again requires extra funds that the system is not willing to provide.

Ways to communicate

The series shows the press as a medium that lies and exaggerates to increase readership. The newspapers need new information to remain relevant. To continue the race, the newspapers exaggerate the news to increase readers’ interest. This in turn increases profits. This is particularly detrimental to world crime and politics. If the newspapers are constantly manipulating the truth, crime and politics are at the mercy of manipulation.

The Wire tells a story about the system’s influence and inability to evolve. People have created the system in a way that makes it impossible for them to leave it. In the end, all the drama ends up creating a cycle of violence and power where the little ones, given their social conditions, have to adapt to a hostile world.

The characters face an environment with few resources that pushes them directly into a world of violence and destruction. The system that these people create is the same system that makes them surrender to the violence they themselves have created.