Ranking Characters Of The Wire: The Law
The best from The Wire's law enforcement, from disgraced detectives to the commissioner of the city.
The Wire's cast of characters is expansive and has a deep pool of unique individuals to choose from. David Simon's landmark series features the Baltimore police department attempting to crack down on and control the drug trade within the city.
Even though a large part of the show focuses on the drug dealers and the streets in which they operate, an equal amount of time is given to the detectives and officers within law enforcement.
It may be easy to assume it would be a simple case of the police as the good guys and the dealers as the bad guys, but Simon does not present the world of The Wire as that black and white. There are protagonists and antagonists on both sides of the law and an awful lot of grey that adds to the dimension each character possesses.
Corruption is a huge theme in The Wire and it runs deep through Baltimore's law enforcement. This means we have characters ranging from boy scouts to crooked cops to chaotic agents that just cause trouble for everyone involved.
The Wire is an embarrassment of riches when it comes to its cast and the quality of diversity within these individuals is to be commended.
15. Jay Landsman
The squad supervisor and sergeant of the homicide squad under William Rawls, Jay Landsman often acted as mediator between his detectives and his often unpleased and unapproachable commanding officer.
Jay was a personable sergeant and got on with most of the detectives in his squad but he would often find a sick sense of humour in any of their misfortune, usually McNulty. Jay was essentially someone who would laugh at his detectives but he also knew when to get serious if the situation called for it.
An adept squad supervisor, the homicide squad's success at their clearance ratings are more easily attributed to the support of Jay than the leadership of Rawls. Jay is not often seen working cases himself, but when he is, he knows how to speak to suspects and shows an empathetic side to his work that not all the detectives on the force do. Regardless, he is more known for his practical jokes that he performs on the detectives under him.