Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
Encyclopedia
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets is a 1991 book written by Baltimore Sun
reporter David Simon describing a year spent with detectives from the Baltimore Police Department
homicide
squad. The book received the 1992 Edgar Award
in the Best Fact Crime category.
The book was subsequently fictionalized as the television drama Homicide: Life on the Street
, on which Simon served as a writer and producer. Many of the key detectives and incidents portrayed in the book provided inspiration for the first two seasons of the show, with other elements surfacing in later seasons as well. It later also provided inspiration for the HBO television series The Wire
.
city at the height of the late 1980s crime epidemic. The book is notable for the detailed look it gives into the professional lives of police detectives and the mix of quirky, absurd, and sometimes tragic cases they investigated.
joined the Baltimore Police Department as a "police intern" in January 1988 and spent 12 months following the homicide detectives of Lieutenant Gary D'Addario
's shift. This is a list of the detectives on D'Addario's squad:
Fahlteich and Ceruti both transferred out of the unit during the year; they were replaced by Detectives Vernon Holley and Chris Graul.
. Jay Landsman
spawned a character of the same name, and the real-life Landsman portrayed a character named Dennis Mello. Rick "The Bunk" Requer was the basis for Detective Bunk Moreland
in the series and in episode four of season five Roscoe Orman
played a veteran named Oscar "Rick" Requer . Gary D'Addario
appears as a Prosecuting Attorney Gary DiPasquale on the show who assists Detective Moreland with various grand jury
summonses. Roger Nolan,Terry McLarney and Donald Worden are briefly mentioned as officers in the department on various episodes and Worden makes a cameo appearance as himself in the fifth season. A 1970s contract killer named Dennis Wise is also briefly mentioned and Dennis "Cutty" Wise is a major character in the series. Another name that was used for a character was Roger Twigg, a police reporter who, in the book, is characterized as a major pain in the backside of law enforcement- when the Monroe Street investigation yielded a potential civilian lead, Twigg published an article calling the civilian a potential suspect, which was technically true but police believed he was probably just a witness. Nevertheless it closed down that avenue because it caused the man to invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to testify. Additionally, several traits of various officers can be viewed amongst the characters on the show. A lot of similar slang is also used on the show such as the words "Dunker", "Redball", and "Stone Whodunit" to describe the various cases. The police department as shown on the show also has the same red/black case clearance and marking criteria. Finally, a number of small anecdotes that were used in Homicide: Life on the Street worked their way into The Wire, most notably the tale of "Snot Boogie", a small-time thief who was shot down after a craps game, which was used in the cold open of the series' first episode, providing the "This America, man" quote. When listing the detectives who he sees himself and the rest of the VCU as being on a par with, McNulty mentions Worden, Ed Burns (who was a homicide detective but was detailed with the FBI for the year) and Gary Childs, a detective on the other shift in the book.
Lieutenant Gary D'Addario
rose to the rank of Major commanding the Northeastern District of the Baltimore Police Department. The 37-year veteran of the department was forced to retire by new Commissioner Kevin Clark in 2004 as part of Clark's unpopular turnover of veteran command staff. Dee had guest appearances as QRT
Lieutenant Jasper in Homicide: Life on the Street, as a Desk Sergeant in HBO mini-series The Corner, and as a Grand Jury States Attorney on the HBO drama The Wire.
Sergeant Jay Landsman
retired from the Baltimore Police Department and joined the Baltimore County Police Department
. Jay worked as an actor playing Lieutenant Dennis Mello in HBO's The Wire
. The actor Delaney Williams
plays a character called Sergeant Jay Landsman
in the same show. Landsman's son Jay Jr. also works as a county homicide detective working out of precinct 4 in Pikesville, Maryland
.
Detective Donald Waltemeyer retired from the Baltimore Police Department and joined the Aberdeen
Police Department. He died of cancer in 2005 and was posthumously promoted to Detective Sergeant.
Detective Sergeant Roger Nolan now supervises the department's Cold Case Squad. Detective Donald Worden retired from police work in 1995, but was subsequently re-hired as a civilian contractor to work with the squad.
Detective Tom Pellegrini joined the UNMIK
police in Kosovo
in 2000. Tom is currently a private investigator
with Sherwood Investigators based in Severn, Maryland
.
Detective Richard Fahlteich rose to the rank of Major and was named commander of the Baltimore Police Department homicide unit. He retired in 2006.
Detective Sergeant Terry McLarney is still in the Baltimore Police Department, now holding the rank of Major in the Homicide Unit. He spent years of exile in the Western "where he was banished after his shift commander [not D'Addario, whom he considered a friend] politely declined an invitation to fisticuffs." McLarney began to serve as acting commander of the homicide unit in May 2008 and was officially named to the post in July. In June 2011, McLarney was replaced as commander.
terms used by the city's homicide detectives.
for Best Fact Crime
book. The Associated Press
called it "a true-crime classic". The Library Journal
also highly recommended it, and Newsday
described it as "one of the most engrossing police procedural mystery books ever written". In 2010, it was announced that Simon had been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship
, sometimes called a "genius award."
The Baltimore Sun
The Baltimore Sun is the U.S. state of Maryland’s largest general circulation daily newspaper and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries....
reporter David Simon describing a year spent with detectives from the Baltimore Police Department
Baltimore Police Department
The Baltimore Police Department provides police services to the city of Baltimore, Maryland and was officially established by the Maryland Legislature on March 16, 1853...
homicide
Homicide
Homicide refers to the act of a human killing another human. Murder, for example, is a type of homicide. It can also describe a person who has committed such an act, though this use is rare in modern English...
squad. The book received the 1992 Edgar Award
Edgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
in the Best Fact Crime category.
The book was subsequently fictionalized as the television drama Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street
Homicide: Life on the Street is an American police procedural television series chronicling the work of a fictional version of the Baltimore Homicide Unit. It ran for seven seasons on NBC from 1993 to 1999, and was succeeded by a TV movie, which also acted as the de-facto series finale...
, on which Simon served as a writer and producer. Many of the key detectives and incidents portrayed in the book provided inspiration for the first two seasons of the show, with other elements surfacing in later seasons as well. It later also provided inspiration for the HBO television series The Wire
The Wire (TV series)
The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States...
.
Background
David Simon, a reporter for The Baltimore Sun, spent four years on the police beat before taking a leave of absence to write this book. He had persuaded the Baltimore police department to allow him unlimited access to the city's homicide unit for calendar year 1988, and throughout that year he shadowed one shift of detectives as they traveled from interrogations to autopsies, from crime scenes to hospital emergency rooms. Baltimore recorded 234 murders during the year Simon spent with the homicide unit. During the two years he spent writing Homicide, an additional 567 murders occurred. Simon said he was particularly interested in the demythification of the American detective. Although detectives are typically portrayed as noble characters who care deeply about their victims, Simon believed real detectives regarded violence as a normal aspect of their jobs.The book
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets provides a sympathetic but unromantic portrait of crime fighting in a major AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
city at the height of the late 1980s crime epidemic. The book is notable for the detailed look it gives into the professional lives of police detectives and the mix of quirky, absurd, and sometimes tragic cases they investigated.
Notable cases
- The Angel of Reservoir Hill – The case of Latonya Kim Wallace, a young girl who was sexually assaulted and murdered, is perhaps the most notable case in the book. The primary detective on the case, which remains unsolved, was Tom Pellegrini. The Adena Watson case in Homicide: Life on the Street was based on this case, and new Detective Tim Bayliss' travails on it were based on Pellegrini's experiences. Simon described it as "the spine of the book".
- The Black Widow - The case of Geraldine Parrish, a woman who took out insurance policies on her five husbands (two of whom she kept in the same house) and relatives, and then arranged for them to be murdered. One would-be victim was her three-year-old niece. The Black Widow was convicted of three murders and received concurrent life sentences. The primary detective on the case was Donald Waltemeyer, and his experiences would involve a memorable exhumation scene, with two attempts resulting in the wrong man being dug up. Another memorable event would be during her interrogation, when Landsman performed a ghost imitation outside the door – "Muuurder... muuuurder..." "Aw, christ, Jay, now you fuckin' did it" was Eddie Brown's response. The character of Calpurnia Church in Homicide: Life on the Street was based on Geraldine Parrish.
- The Shooting of Gene Cassidy – Cassidy, a patrolman in the Baltimore PD and close friend of detective sergeant Terry McLarney, was shot in the head at point blank range with a .357 magnum handgun. Although initially expected to die of his injuries, Cassidy was able to make a partial recovery, but was left blind and without his sense of smell or taste. A drug dealer named Butchie Frazier was eventually convicted of attempted murder in the first degree, while the jury's actions became the basis for a Season 4 storyline where Bruce CampbellBruce CampbellBruce Lorne Campbell is an American film and television actor. As a cult movie actor, Campbell starred as Ashley J. "Ash" Williams in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead series of films and he has starred in many low-budget cult films such as Crimewave, Maniac Cop, Bubba Ho-tep, Escape From L.A. and Sundown:...
played a cop whose father, a retired officer, was strangled to death by a suspect who was acquitted by a jury that didn't care at all about the case. The Cassidy story was worked into the first season of Homicide: Life on the Street and was the largest storyline for the Det. Steve Crosetti character. Cassidy, in McLarney's opinion, was wronged by the department, leading to a certain amount of disillusionment. The case inspired the character of Blind Butchie on The WireThe WIREthe WIRE is the student-run College radio station at the University of Oklahoma, broadcasting in a freeform format. The WIRE serves the University of Oklahoma and surrounding communities, and is staffed by student DJs. The WIRE broadcasts at 1710 kHz AM in Norman, Oklahoma...
, a blind Baltimore drug dealer. - The Slaying of John Randolph Scott – A young car thief fleeing Baltimore PD officers was shot in the back, fatally. Of the officers in pursuit, only one had fired a round from his weapon – and this accidental shot was found embedded in the asphalt. With no clear murder weapon and facing silence from the uniforms on the scene, detective Donald Worden was not able to close the case, making it the only unsolved police-related shooting in the BPD's history; the book notes several officers, including a primary suspect, were reassigned to other positions in the department. Minor friction results between Worden and his sergeant on this case – "if you were going after officers in the Western, you were going without McLarney". A civilian suspect was a possibility, but the exposition of this development by a reporter shuts down that investigative alley and infuriates Worden and Rick James, his partner, as they know the information could only have come from a police officer. This story was worked into a Homicide: Life on the Street story where Det. Frank PembletonFrank PembletonFrancis Xavier "Frank" Pembleton is a fictional homicide detective on the television drama series Homicide: Life on the Street portrayed by Emmy Award winning actor Andre Braugher. He is a primary character of the show through the first six seasons...
investigated a police-involved shooting; unlike the real case, the fictional story ended with a police officer being arrested and charged with the shooting.
The "Homicide Lexicon" and its rules
Throughout the book, Simon frequently refers to a set of 10 informal rules that apply in the majority of homicide cases, as detectives soon learn. They are as follows:- Everyone lies. Murderers lie because they have to; witnesses and other participants lie because they think they have to; everyone else lies for the sheer joy of it, and to uphold a general principle that under no circumstances do you provide accurate information to a cop.
- The victim is killed once, but a crime scene can be murdered a thousand times.
- The initial 10 or 12 hours after a murder are the most critical to the success of an investigation.
- An innocent man left alone in an interrogation room will remain fully awake, rubbing his eyes, staring at the cubicle walls and scratching himself in dark, forbidden places. A guilty man left alone in an interrogation room goes to sleep.
- It's good to be good; it's better to be lucky.
- When a suspect is immediately identified in an assault case, the victim is sure to live. When no suspect has been identified, the victim will surely die.
- First, they're red. Then they're green. Then they're black. (Referring to the color of an open case on the board, the money that must be spent to investigate the case, and the color of the solved murder as it is listed on the board)
- In any case where there is no apparent suspect, the crime lab will produce no valuable evidence. In those cases where a suspect has already confessed and been identified by at least two eyewitnesses, the lab will give you print hits, fiber evidence, blood typings and a ballistic match.
- To a jury, any doubt is reasonable; the better the case, the worse the jury; a good man is hard to find, but 12 of them, gathered together in one place, is a miracle. (Referring to jury trials)
- There is too such a thing as a perfect murder. Always has been, and anyone who tries to prove otherwise merely proves himself naieve and romantic, a fool who is ignorant of Rules 1 through 9.
Editions
ISBN 0-395-48829-X (Hardcover) ISBN 0-449-90808-9 (Paperback) ISBN 0-8041-0999-0 (Hardcover) ISBN 0-8050-8075-9 (Paperback)The detectives
David SimonDavid Simon
David Simon is an American author, journalist, and a writer/producer of television series. He worked for the Baltimore Sun City Desk for twelve years. He wrote Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets and co-wrote The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood with Ed Burns...
joined the Baltimore Police Department as a "police intern" in January 1988 and spent 12 months following the homicide detectives of Lieutenant Gary D'Addario
Gary D'Addario
Gary D'Addario is a retired police commander, television technical advisor and actor from Baltimore, Maryland.D'Addario joined the Baltimore police department in 1967...
's shift. This is a list of the detectives on D'Addario's squad:
- Lieutenant Gary D'AddarioGary D'AddarioGary D'Addario is a retired police commander, television technical advisor and actor from Baltimore, Maryland.D'Addario joined the Baltimore police department in 1967...
- Shift Commander- Detective Sergeant Terrence McLarneyTerrence McLarneyTerrence "Terry" McLarney is currently a Major in the Baltimore Police Department's Homicide Unit. A native of the Washington, D.C. suburbs, McLarney joined the Department in 1976 as a patrolman in the Central District. McLarney became a sergeant in the Department's Western District and then in the...
- Squad Supervisor- Detective Donald WordenDonald WordenDonald Worden is a retired Baltimore Police Department detective who was featured in David Simon's non-fiction book about the homicide unit, Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets....
- "The Big Man" - Detective Rick James
- Detective Edward Brown
- Detective Donald Waltemeyer
- Detective David John Brown
- Detective Donald Worden
- Detective Sergeant Roger Nolan - Squad Supervisor
- Detective Harry EdgertonHarry EdgertonHarry Edgerton is a former detective of the Baltimore Police Department. He is notable for his work in the Homicide Unit and on the investigation of drug dealerMelvin Williams with former BPD Detective Ed Burns and the Drug Enforcement Administration...
- Detective Richard Garvey
- Detective Robert Bowman
- Detective Donald Kincaid
- Detective Robert McAllister
- Detective Harry Edgerton
- Detective Sergeant Jay LandsmanJay LandsmanThe book was later developed into the television series Homicide: Life on the Street. He was the inspiration for the fictional character John Munch on that show and a character named Jay Landsman on the television series The Wire, created by Simon. Landsman portrayed himself in a brief appearance...
- Squad Supervisor- Detective Tom Pellegrini
- Detective Oscar "Rick" Requer "The Bunk"
- Detective Gary Dunnigan
- Detective Richard Fahlteich
- Detective Fred Ceruti
- Detective Sergeant Terrence McLarney
Fahlteich and Ceruti both transferred out of the unit during the year; they were replaced by Detectives Vernon Holley and Chris Graul.
The Wire
Several of the detectives described in the book served as the basis for characters on the Baltimore-based HBO drama The WireThe Wire (TV series)
The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States...
. Jay Landsman
Jay Landsman
The book was later developed into the television series Homicide: Life on the Street. He was the inspiration for the fictional character John Munch on that show and a character named Jay Landsman on the television series The Wire, created by Simon. Landsman portrayed himself in a brief appearance...
spawned a character of the same name, and the real-life Landsman portrayed a character named Dennis Mello. Rick "The Bunk" Requer was the basis for Detective Bunk Moreland
Bunk Moreland
William "Bunk" Moreland is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Wendell Pierce. Bunk's character is based on a retired Baltimore City Police Detective named Rick Requer and nicknamed "the Bunk", an officer who joined the force in 1964 as a Western District patrolman who...
in the series and in episode four of season five Roscoe Orman
Roscoe Orman
Roscoe Hunter Orman is an American actor who plays Gordon Robinson on the television program Sesame Street. Orman joined the show in 1973, taking over as the third actor to play Gordon on the show...
played a veteran named Oscar "Rick" Requer . Gary D'Addario
Gary D'Addario
Gary D'Addario is a retired police commander, television technical advisor and actor from Baltimore, Maryland.D'Addario joined the Baltimore police department in 1967...
appears as a Prosecuting Attorney Gary DiPasquale on the show who assists Detective Moreland with various grand jury
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
summonses. Roger Nolan,Terry McLarney and Donald Worden are briefly mentioned as officers in the department on various episodes and Worden makes a cameo appearance as himself in the fifth season. A 1970s contract killer named Dennis Wise is also briefly mentioned and Dennis "Cutty" Wise is a major character in the series. Another name that was used for a character was Roger Twigg, a police reporter who, in the book, is characterized as a major pain in the backside of law enforcement- when the Monroe Street investigation yielded a potential civilian lead, Twigg published an article calling the civilian a potential suspect, which was technically true but police believed he was probably just a witness. Nevertheless it closed down that avenue because it caused the man to invoke the Fifth Amendment and refuse to testify. Additionally, several traits of various officers can be viewed amongst the characters on the show. A lot of similar slang is also used on the show such as the words "Dunker", "Redball", and "Stone Whodunit" to describe the various cases. The police department as shown on the show also has the same red/black case clearance and marking criteria. Finally, a number of small anecdotes that were used in Homicide: Life on the Street worked their way into The Wire, most notably the tale of "Snot Boogie", a small-time thief who was shot down after a craps game, which was used in the cold open of the series' first episode, providing the "This America, man" quote. When listing the detectives who he sees himself and the rest of the VCU as being on a par with, McNulty mentions Worden, Ed Burns (who was a homicide detective but was detailed with the FBI for the year) and Gary Childs, a detective on the other shift in the book.
Where are they now?
- Gary D'Addario
Lieutenant Gary D'Addario
Gary D'Addario
Gary D'Addario is a retired police commander, television technical advisor and actor from Baltimore, Maryland.D'Addario joined the Baltimore police department in 1967...
rose to the rank of Major commanding the Northeastern District of the Baltimore Police Department. The 37-year veteran of the department was forced to retire by new Commissioner Kevin Clark in 2004 as part of Clark's unpopular turnover of veteran command staff. Dee had guest appearances as QRT
SWAT
A SWAT team is an elite tactical unit in various national law enforcement departments. They are trained to perform high-risk operations that fall outside of the abilities of regular officers...
Lieutenant Jasper in Homicide: Life on the Street, as a Desk Sergeant in HBO mini-series The Corner, and as a Grand Jury States Attorney on the HBO drama The Wire.
- Jay Landsman
Sergeant Jay Landsman
Jay Landsman
The book was later developed into the television series Homicide: Life on the Street. He was the inspiration for the fictional character John Munch on that show and a character named Jay Landsman on the television series The Wire, created by Simon. Landsman portrayed himself in a brief appearance...
retired from the Baltimore Police Department and joined the Baltimore County Police Department
Baltimore County Police Department
The Baltimore County Police Department is the primary law enforcement agency for Baltimore County, Maryland. They have been accredited by CALEA since 1984. The current Chief is James Johnson. Chief Johnson took over as Chief on May 31, 2007, Chief James Johnson's formal ceremony was held that July...
. Jay worked as an actor playing Lieutenant Dennis Mello in HBO's The Wire
The Wire (TV series)
The Wire is an American television drama series set and produced in and around Baltimore, Maryland. Created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon, the series was broadcast by the premium cable network HBO in the United States...
. The actor Delaney Williams
Delaney Williams
Delaney Williams is an American actor from Washington, D.C. He appears on the HBO drama The Wire as a recurring guest star playing homicide sergeant Jay Landsman. He also had a small role on HBO's mini-series The Corner which brought him to the attention of the producers, who worked on The prior to...
plays a character called Sergeant Jay Landsman
Jay Landsman (The Wire)
Jay Landsman is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, played by actor Delaney Williams.-Policing method:Landsman's role in the police department is that of a supervisory detective sergeant who doesn't participate in much investigation work...
in the same show. Landsman's son Jay Jr. also works as a county homicide detective working out of precinct 4 in Pikesville, Maryland
Pikesville, Maryland
Pikesville is a census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. Pikesville is just northwest of the Baltimore city limits. It is the northwestern suburb closest to Baltimore.The population was 29,123 at the 2000 census...
.
- Donald Waltemeyer
Detective Donald Waltemeyer retired from the Baltimore Police Department and joined the Aberdeen
Aberdeen, Maryland
As of the census of 2000, there were 13,842 people, 5,475 households, and 3,712 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,166.2 people per square mile . There were 5,894 housing units at an average density of 922.4 per square mile...
Police Department. He died of cancer in 2005 and was posthumously promoted to Detective Sergeant.
- Roger Nolan and Donald Worden
Detective Sergeant Roger Nolan now supervises the department's Cold Case Squad. Detective Donald Worden retired from police work in 1995, but was subsequently re-hired as a civilian contractor to work with the squad.
- Tom Pellegrini
Detective Tom Pellegrini joined the UNMIK
United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo
The United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo or UNMIK is the interim civilian administration in Kosovo, under the authority of the United Nations. The mission was established on 10 June 1999 by Security Council Resolution 1244...
police in Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
in 2000. Tom is currently a private investigator
Private investigator
A private investigator , private detective or inquiry agent, is a person who can be hired by individuals or groups to undertake investigatory law services. Private detectives/investigators often work for attorneys in civil cases. Many work for insurance companies to investigate suspicious claims...
with Sherwood Investigators based in Severn, Maryland
Severn, Maryland
Severn is a census-designated place in Anne Arundel County, Maryland, United States. The population was 35,076 at the 2000 census, which is a 30 percent increase over the 24,499 population of 1990...
.
- Richard Fahlteich
Detective Richard Fahlteich rose to the rank of Major and was named commander of the Baltimore Police Department homicide unit. He retired in 2006.
- Terry McLarney
Detective Sergeant Terry McLarney is still in the Baltimore Police Department, now holding the rank of Major in the Homicide Unit. He spent years of exile in the Western "where he was banished after his shift commander [not D'Addario, whom he considered a friend] politely declined an invitation to fisticuffs." McLarney began to serve as acting commander of the homicide unit in May 2008 and was officially named to the post in July. In June 2011, McLarney was replaced as commander.
The slang
The book details a number of slangSlang
Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...
terms used by the city's homicide detectives.
- Billyland - area of South Baltimore inhabited by "billies" (hillbillies), the city's "white-trashWhite trashWhite trash is an American English pejorative term referring to poor white people in the United States, suggesting lower social class and degraded living standards...
redneck" population. - Billygoat- derogatory term for whites, specifically those with roots in AppalachiaAppalachiaAppalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
, and their descendants. As with blacks, "billies" do not include those with decent jobs, such as Worden or Kincaid, and Simon suggests that the two discriminations are more class-based. One typical description is that "Billies do not reside in Baltimore, they live in Bawlmer." - Board, The - A dry erase boardWhiteboardA whiteboard is a name for any glossy, usually white surface for nonpermanent markings. Whiteboards are analogous to chalkboards, allowing rapid marking and erasing of markings on their surface...
kept in the squad room. Every squad sergeant's name is listed in columns on the top. Below their names are the names of the cases which their detectives are investigating, and a letter indicating which detective is the "primary" on the case. Open cases are listed in red. Closed cases are listed in black. This allowed supervisors to get a quick assessment of how productive each detective/squad was and acted as motivation for detectives. Use of "The Board" was discontinued in 1998 due to public relationsPublic relationsPublic relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
and morale concerns, but was restored in 2000 at the request of the detectives. Closed cases from previous years are written in blue ink, as noted briefly in the afterword regarding Worden's current work on cold cases, "putting blue names on the Board." The show followed this convention as well, though the layout of "the Board" was different: each shift used one full side, with a separate column for every detective on the shift in alphabetical order. - Bunk/Bunky- A term of affection (short for "bunkmate") typically applied to friends and co-workers. McLarney regards McAllister as "my bunky," while Requer is known as "the Bunk." The veteran cops in the Southern District think of Waltemeyer in this way and readily help him find a car used by a murder suspect. Also used sarcastically towards suspects.
- Citizen or Taxpayer - A 'real' murder victim, as opposed to a drug dealer or gang member murdered in the course of criminal activity.
- Dunker - An easily cleared case (from the basketball term slam dunkSlam dunkA slam dunk is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air and manually powers the ball downward through the basket with one or both hands over the rim. This is considered a normal field goal attempt; if successful it is worth two points. The term "slam dunk" was...
). An example from the book: a husband who is arrested while standing over his wife's dead body, covered in her blood, telling cops he killed her and would do so again if he got the chance. - Dying declarationDying declarationIn the law of evidence, the dying declaration is testimony that would normally barred as hearsay but may nonetheless be admitted as evidence in certain kinds of cases because it constituted the last words of a dying person.-History:...
- A dying person is able to speak and identify their attacker and definitely knows they are dying. However, useful declarations are rare and instead they tend to become the stuff of homicide legend. For example, one man, dying from a gunshot, "assured detectives that he would take care of the matter himself." Garvey solves a case using a dying declaration during the book. - Eyefuck - To look at someone disrespectfully or in anger. A ceremonial eyefuck takes place in the book when an unrepentant criminal is convicted. Garvey is disappointed when one criminal, convicted for two brutal murders, does not follow this tradition, describing him as "no fun at all".
- Jake - A semi-derogatory term for a Jamaican-American
- Number One Male - Police Radio Description for an African AmericanAfrican AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
(Number One) Male Suspect. Number Two is for a White suspect, Number Three is for a suspect of another race. Numerical Order is most likely based on either Baltimore's African AmericanAfrican AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
majority or African AmericanAfrican AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
s being the most common criminal suspects in Baltimore in the eyes of the BPD. - Polygraph-by-Copier - A folk tale in police circles in which detectives use a photocopierPhotocopierA photocopier is a machine that makes paper copies of documents and other visual images quickly and cheaply. Most current photocopiers use a technology called xerography, a dry process using heat...
as a faux-polygraphPolygraphA polygraph measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration, and skin conductivity while the subject is asked and answers a series of questions...
machine on a particularly dumb suspect; pages are loaded into the machine with "TRUE" or "LIE" on them and questions are asked to match them ("What is your name? Truth. And where do you live? Truth again. And did you or did you not kill Tater, shooting him down like a dog in the 1200 block of North Durham Street? Lie. Well, well: You lying motherfucker."). This was used in one episode of Homicide: Life on the Street, and also a Season 5 episode of The Wire. A story from the book notes that several cops in Detroit were punished for using this technique during interrogations. - Put down/Clear - To close a case, either by arresting a suspect or by establishing that the perpetrator is dead.
- Red ball - A high-profile case that draws media and political attention. Red ball cases are investigated by all detectives on a shift and take precedence over existing active cases. They can and often do make or break a detective's career. They are also known as "shitstorms" and "clusterfucks." Examples during the book include the Latonya Wallace case (Pellegrini's first assignment as primary detective) and the Scott police-involved shooting. Red balls also include major cases that usually fall outside Homicide's jurisdiction, such as nonfatal police shootings.
- Secretaries with guns - Derogatory term typically used by less reconstructed veterans for incompetent female detectives. There are some exceptions to this rule, Jenny Wehr and Bertina "Bert" Silver.
- Smokehound- Derogatory term for a drunk
- Squirrel - A criminal, a suspect, a rodent. Typically too cooperative during interrogations.
- Stone Whodunit - A difficult case.
- Toad - A derogatory term for blacks, specifically those who have or had a criminal history. Not usually applied to black policemen such as Sgt. Nolan or Detectives Brown, Edgerton, or Requer or Blacks in other legitimate jobs- if you earn a legal wage and do not have a BOI photograph in the system the book explains, "then you are a black man".
- Ten Seven - police radio codeTen-codeTen-codes, also known as ten signals, are code words used to represent common phrases in voice communication, particularly by law enforcement and in Citizens' Band radio transmissions....
for "out of service", may be applied to a homicide victim. - Ten Seventy-Eight - police radio code invented by McAllister to refer to "your basic blowjob-in-progress interrupted by police gunfire." This occurs twice in the course of the year, though only one is described in detail.
- Yo - An insulting term for a black youth; often used as shorthand for black criminals along with "toad".
- Yoette - A young black female. Unlike "yo", the term doesn't refer to the individuals as criminals.
Reception
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets won the 1992 Edgar AwardEdgar Award
The Edgar Allan Poe Awards , named after Edgar Allan Poe, are presented every year by the Mystery Writers of America...
for Best Fact Crime
True crime (genre)
True crime is a non-fiction literary and film genre in which the author examines an actual crime and details the actions of real people.The crimes most commonly include murder, but true crime works have also touched on other legal cases. Depending on the writer, true crime can adhere strictly to...
book. The Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
called it "a true-crime classic". The Library Journal
Library Journal
Library Journal is a trade publication for librarians. It was founded in 1876 by Melvil Dewey . It reports news about the library world, emphasizing public libraries, and offers feature articles about aspects of professional practice...
also highly recommended it, and Newsday
Newsday
Newsday is a daily American newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties and the New York City borough of Queens on Long Island, although it is sold throughout the New York metropolitan area...
described it as "one of the most engrossing police procedural mystery books ever written". In 2010, it was announced that Simon had been awarded a MacArthur Fellowship
MacArthur Fellows Program
The MacArthur Fellows Program or MacArthur Fellowship is an award given by the John D. and Catherine T...
, sometimes called a "genius award."