Books in the GTCC Library-David Simon's Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets

Hamlet Act 1, Scene V.

Ghost:
Pity me not, but lend thy serious hearing
To what I shall unfold.

HAMLET:
Speak; I am bound to hear.

Ghost:
So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear.

HAMLET: What?

Ghost:
I am thy father's spirit,
Doom'd for a certain term to walk the night,
And for the day confined to fast in fires,
Till the foul crimes done in my days of nature
Are burnt and purged away. But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porpentine:
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood. List, list, O, list!
If thou didst ever thy dear father love--

HAMLET: O God!

Ghost: Revenge his foul and most unnatural murder.

HAMLET: Murder!

Ghost:
Murder most foul, as in the best it is;
But this most foul, strange and unnatural.

HAMLET:
Haste me to know't, that I, with wings as swift
As meditation or the thoughts of love,
May sweep to my revenge.

David Simon's Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets is the source material for the much missed TV show Homicide: Life on the Streets. Simon has gone on to make a sort of mini-career on media built on the police theme-another book set in the same urban jungle, and serving as one of the creative forces behind another highly acclaimed TV cop show-The Wire. Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets is where it all began.

Simon spent a year as a "police intern" observing all facets of the work of the Baltimore Police Department Homicide Unit-answering the 3:00 AM calls, watching the grisly work of the medical examiner's office, meeting victims' families, and observing the Byzantine workings of the legal system from booking to the final moments of a capital trial. Baltimore at the time had one of the highest murder rates in the country, much of it stemming from drug related violence, but a lot coming from much more traditional motives-arguments between friends, domestic spats, real or perceived insults, and the out-and-out behavior of the true sociopath.

The real strength of Simon's work is how he personalizes the detectives he gets to know and the people they interact with each day-suspects, members of other arms of the legal system, family members, and most of all, the deceased.

For it is getting to know the deceased-how they dressed, what they smoked, who was friend and who was foe, what color lipstick they favored-that the detectives are able to solve the more puzzling cases. It all works together: interviews, the crime scene, canvassing the block, the ME office report, the ballistics tests, the suspect interrogation. All of these things go together to create a painstaking picture of what happened when the murder took place.

Not that a case that requires so much work is what is preferred, mind you. The detectives much prefer an easy case (a "dunker") to an Agatha Christie style puzzle (a "stone whodunnit"). The pressure is on from all sides: family members, the public, the media, and most importantly the "upstairs offices" to get the board cleared. The detectives are constantly in a race against time to get cases "in the black", meaning a suspect has been arrested and charged. One of the inner dramas is the office warfare between a lieutenant who runs a lose ship administratively but gets results, and a captain who wants all procedures followed, even at the expense of getting the job done. Staying in budget is sometimes more important than catching the killer, much to the ongoing disgust of the detectives.

The detectives are a cynical and caustic lot, but that's a requirement to keep doing the job. The humor is black and acerbic, but serves as a buffer between the corpses and the loss of sanity. And the occasional case pierces the the defenses-the brutal killing of a little girl, who becomes known as the Angel of Reservoir Hill (the neighborhood where the murder takes place) sends one detective on a long, lonely, and soul-devouring quest to catch the murderer. The primary suspect is right there in front of him, but time and circumstance combine to keep him on the streets. Failure, while rare, does happen.

Simon doesn't shy away from the issues inherent in a mostly white detective force working with an almost completely black public. Racism and classism colored by the self-destructiveness of the urban neighborhoods is openly on display. The casual contempt for humanity is open-ended, but it is played out most starkly in the interactions between white cops and a black, urban community. To my mind that's one of the strengths of the story-it doesn't shy away from telling things as they are.

The detectives don't really see themselves as avenging angels, but there is a clear sense at times that justice is being done. The conviction of a shooter who left a policeman blinded is one; the conviction of the "Black Widow" is another, a woman who actively seeks out older men, marries them, and then has them killed for the life insurance money.

Simon's writing is clear and concise, and the tone is matter-of-fact. He doesn't romanticize the police or demonize the killers-the facts as presented pretty much speak for themselves. It is true-human beings are the most predatory animal on the planet.

In the end Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets is really a story of the degrees of inhumanity in humans. Happily for the rest of us, there are those willing to put their humanity on the line to protect us from the truly inhuman. Highly recommended book, and a must read for anyone considering law enforcement as a career.

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