SURPRISE! the Baltimore police chief hates The Wire

During a public engagement last week, Baltimore Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld described David Simon's show The Wire as "a smear on this city that will take decades to overcome." He went on to cite the tenacious and glamorous cop shows that other cities like New York, Las Vegas, and Miami are blessed with. Why doesn't Baltimore merit such pretty and hardworking cops? Hmmm.

Simon responded : "Others might reasonably argue, however that it is not sixty hours of The Wire that will require decades for our city to overcome, as the commissioner claims. A more lingering problem might be two decades of bad performance by a police agency more obsessed with statistics than substance, with appeasing political leadership rather than seriously addressing the roots of city violence, with shifting blame rather than taking responsibility."

Aaaaa-BURN.