Art imitates the DLSE, or is it really true after all?

HBO has this great show called The Wire; it's in its fourth season. This season has been great, in fact, it's been so great that HBO ran a full-page ad of The Wire in the Wall Street Journal.

One of its storylines is that the Baltimore Mayor is up for re-election, and a secret state witness is murdered, then the press grabs ahold of it. So how does the Mayor spin it? He secretly tells his Deputy Chief to dely & slow down the investigation until after the election. Homicide removes their top detective off this Red Ball (slang for a politically high profile case) and directs a rookie detective to continue the investigation...a recently-transferred detective with no homicide experience.

As I watched this, all I thought about was the DLSE's investigatory patterns, practices, and procedures. How the orders and commands from the tip-top comes trickling down to day-to-day operations. How something (supposedly operationally minor in detail) as to who is assigned an investigation actually affects the BIG PICTURE.

If you get the chance, watch HBO's The Wire.

http://www.hbo.com/thewire/