8 episodes
Bad Cops BBC World Service
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- News
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4.8 • 184 Ratings
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In Baltimore, Maryland, an elite group of plainclothes officers called the Gun Trace Task Force gets hundreds of illegal guns off the streets every year. Secretly, however, these detectives are also robbing people, selling drugs, planting evidence and framing innocent people. When some of the officers go too far, it triggers an FBI investigation that reveals the Gun Trace Task Force as one of the most corrupt police squads in American policing history. Jessica Lussenhop tells the story of the rise and fall of this once-powerful unit of officers, and its leader Sergeant Wayne Jenkins. And she asks: why do good cops go bad?
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7. The golden boy
Wayne Jenkins, now serving 25 years in prison, tells his side of the story. What do the crimes of the Gun Trace Task Force reveal about the city of Baltimore?
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6. The fallout
A shocking tragedy occurs. Conspiracy theories spread. The trial of the Task Force officers begins, but who will speak out?
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5. The takedown
Is the FBI's cover about to be blown? Agent Jensen suspects the Task Force is onto her.
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4. The man behind the curtain
He earned a formidable reputation. But Sgt Wayne Jenkins is leading a double life. Not all the drugs he's seized are making it to the evidence room.
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3. The warning signs
How many red flags were missed? Years of complaints come to light. Victims of Task Force members share their stories.
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2. The wiretap
One name stands out as the FBI gets to work. Why does a member of the Gun Trace Task Force have links to a major heroin ring? A whole new level of criminality is revealed.
Customer Reviews
Sad View of My Hometown
I hate how accurate it is. Baltimore gets a lot of bad publicity and maybe that is part of why the police are the way they are. They are pushed to do a near impossible job. Most of the city has a lot of crime & cooperating with police is its own death sentence. Police are pushed to accomplish near impossible tasks between volume and lack of experienced & honest officers. Being a Balto police officer is horrible and violent and if you are good…you may not survive if you stay beyond your rookie years. This contributes to the corruption. The most senior members are only a few years out of the academy and they stay because of what they can get away with. The people training and leading are corrupt.
This doesn’t excuse what they do. It is just an explanation of why, no matter how much money is thrown at the department. No matter how many times new upper brass is hired and fired, it won’t change.
Tip Of The Iceberg
Disgraced police officer Wayne Jenkins has the absolute audacity and delusion to believe that what he and his criminal conspirators did doesn’t warrant a 25 year sentence.
You did a great job in showing his lack of a moral compass and highlighting that this was just the tip of the Iceberg and that the whole Baltimore Police Department was complicit.
There’s much more to this story
Back the Blue
I’m bothered how you make out some of their heroic acts as if they weren’t on the front lines in harms way. I feel safe when drug dealers and gang bangers are locked up in a correctional facility. Free Wayne Jenkins!