WEBVTT - Bad Cops | 3. The Warning Signs

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<v Speaker 1>This is Steve Fishman from Orbit Media. Just a quick word.

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<v Speaker 1>This is one of my favorite episodes. You're gonna love

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<v Speaker 1>Donnie Sergeant Jenkins, buddy from childhood who will come to

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<v Speaker 1>think of himself as Rambo. A quick reminder. All episodes

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<v Speaker 1>are available now with a subscription. To subscribe, go to

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<v Speaker 1>True Crime Clubhouse on Apple Podcasts. It's just two ninety

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<v Speaker 1>nine a month, half the price of a Cafe Lotte.

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<v Speaker 1>Please follow us on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube at Orbit

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<v Speaker 1>Media FM.

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<v Speaker 2>Previously on Bad Cops, a secret investigation is underway into

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<v Speaker 2>an elite plain closed police unit, the Gun Trace task Force.

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<v Speaker 2>On a wired tap, FBI agent Erica Jensen learns that

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<v Speaker 2>one of the squad's detectives is pretty close to a

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<v Speaker 2>Baltimore heroin dealer. It's suspicious, but she needs more than that.

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<v Speaker 2>And then an incriminating call.

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<v Speaker 3>Definitely somebody's been trying.

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<v Speaker 4>You definitely get whatever.

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<v Speaker 3>It was, what we would call like the dirty call,

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<v Speaker 3>the criminal call.

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<v Speaker 2>And later listening to a bug hidden in the cops car,

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<v Speaker 2>Agent Jensen heres a group of the Task Force officers

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<v Speaker 2>start a car chase that ends in a massive wreck,

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<v Speaker 2>but the officers do nothing to help. Instead, they flee

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<v Speaker 2>the scene and they plot how to cover it up.

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<v Speaker 3>To me, it was just the dereliction of duty, the

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<v Speaker 3>way they hid, you know, and stood by but yet

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<v Speaker 3>didn't assist. It just bothered me a lot, and I

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<v Speaker 3>was angry about it.

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<v Speaker 2>Instead of a couple of dirty cops, She's now thinking

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<v Speaker 2>most of the unit is rotten and the guy giving

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<v Speaker 2>the orders is the Baltimore Police Department's golden Boy, Sergeant

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<v Speaker 2>Wayne Jenkins. I'm Jessica Lewson Hobb and this is Bad

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<v Speaker 2>Cops from the BBC World Service, The True Story of

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<v Speaker 2>Baltimore's Gun Trace Task Force, Part three. The warning signs, hey,

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<v Speaker 2>you'll get that opening it?

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<v Speaker 5>Hey sage, Hey, come down, stand he quick.

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<v Speaker 2>This is the Gun Trace Task Force making a big bust.

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<v Speaker 2>One of the officers is filming it on his mobile phone.

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<v Speaker 2>They're in a dim basement of a twice convicted drug dealer.

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<v Speaker 2>He's been out of prison for a while.

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<v Speaker 6>Hey about.

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<v Speaker 5>Hold on, hold on.

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<v Speaker 2>Two of the officers are hunched over a small safe.

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<v Speaker 2>They're trying to pry it open with a crowbar. Suddenly

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<v Speaker 2>the lock cracks.

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<v Speaker 5>Hold hold up, thinking about taking it.

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<v Speaker 2>Out inside bundles and bundles of cash.

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<v Speaker 5>Take a picture of a table or record it right now.

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<v Speaker 5>Nobody touches you, Sammy, right.

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<v Speaker 2>Now, the voice giving the orders, don't.

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<v Speaker 5>Touch it, stay next to it. We'll call them out.

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<v Speaker 5>The face.

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<v Speaker 2>That's the leader of the unit, Sergeant Wayne Jenkins. He's

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<v Speaker 2>known for getting guns off the streets, seizing money and drugs,

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<v Speaker 2>and taking down the cities dealers with high profile bus

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<v Speaker 2>like this one can keep recording.

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<v Speaker 5>No one's suching this money.

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<v Speaker 2>It's the kind of bus Jenkins is famous for. It's

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<v Speaker 2>why is superiors love him. It makes his bosses look

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<v Speaker 2>good in front of their bosses. But let's stop right there,

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<v Speaker 2>because this video something's not quite right with it. Let's

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<v Speaker 2>rewind to earlier that day. Jenkins is out driving around

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<v Speaker 2>with some of the other officers from the task Force.

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<v Speaker 2>He's on the lookout, scanning the streets for signs of

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<v Speaker 2>suspicious activity. And what Jenkins considers suspicious is subjective, like

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<v Speaker 2>there are certain makes or models of cars that he

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<v Speaker 2>calls dope boy cars. In his mind, they're the kind

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<v Speaker 2>of cars only drug dealers drive. Just being behind the

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<v Speaker 2>wheel of one of these is enough to get you

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<v Speaker 2>pulled over. Another word for this is profiling, and when

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<v Speaker 2>it comes to writing the arrest report, he'll just make

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<v Speaker 2>something up. Maybe you weren't wearing a seat belt, or

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<v Speaker 2>your tail it was out. He's going to use any

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<v Speaker 2>excuse to stop you, yank you out of the driver's

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<v Speaker 2>seat and start digging through your car. So earlier that day,

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<v Speaker 2>Jenkins is out cruising in his car in northwest Baltimore

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<v Speaker 2>when he spots a guy walking down the street carrying

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<v Speaker 2>a backpack. To Jenkins, this is an other tell. A

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<v Speaker 2>guy with a backpack can mean only one thing. He's

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<v Speaker 2>holding drugs or guns. The guy with the backpack climbs

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<v Speaker 2>into the passenger seat of a mini van. Jenkins drives

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<v Speaker 2>up the wrong way of a one way street and

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<v Speaker 2>boxes the vehicle in. There are two men inside, and

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<v Speaker 2>the officers haul them both out, and it turns out

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<v Speaker 2>in this case, Jenkins' instincts were correct. When they search

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<v Speaker 2>the van, they find half a kilo of cocaine and

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<v Speaker 2>some cash. There's something about the guy in the driver's

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<v Speaker 2>seat that interests Jenkins. He thinks he's got what he

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<v Speaker 2>calls a monster. That's his name for a dealer who

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<v Speaker 2>might be sitting on a pile of drugs and cash

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<v Speaker 2>at home, and Jenkins wants to get into this particular

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<v Speaker 2>monster's house, so he arrests him, and just before the

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<v Speaker 2>man's driven away to be booked, Jenkins takes his house keys.

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<v Speaker 5>Hold on, hold on, hold up, think about it, thinking about.

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<v Speaker 2>That's how Jenkins and the others wind up in the

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<v Speaker 2>man's basement trying to force open the safe. On the video,

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<v Speaker 2>you can see them open it and find close to

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<v Speaker 2>one hundred thousand dollars in cash inside.

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<v Speaker 5>Nobody touches your saying right now.

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<v Speaker 2>That's Jenkins telling his crew not to touch the money.

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<v Speaker 5>Don't touch it, stay next to it. We'll call him

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<v Speaker 5>out of the fence.

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<v Speaker 2>It's an impressive bust. Here's the thing, though, this whole recording,

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<v Speaker 2>it's a lie. This is what really happened. When the

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<v Speaker 2>squad first arrived at the dealer's home, they entered without

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<v Speaker 2>a warrant. They call it a sneak and peek, and

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<v Speaker 2>it's totally illegal. They wandered around the dealer's house, helping

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<v Speaker 2>themselves to a few kilos of cocaine and a four

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<v Speaker 2>thousand dollars wristwatch, and then they headed for the basement

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<v Speaker 2>the first time they broke into the safe and they

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<v Speaker 2>weren't filming. They found two hundred thousand dollars and they

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<v Speaker 2>took half for themselves, stuffing the bundles of cash into

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<v Speaker 2>a bag, and then minutes later they act out the

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<v Speaker 2>whole scene again for the camera, gasping in disbelief at

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<v Speaker 2>their discovery of one hundred thousand dollars. Oh shit, it's

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<v Speaker 2>quite a performance once you know it's fake. The video

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<v Speaker 2>is almost funny, but things just got very real for

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<v Speaker 2>the twice convicted drug dealer they just robbed. His name's

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<v Speaker 2>O Reese Stevenson and he's now sitting in a jail

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<v Speaker 2>cell downtown. The Task force officers bring enough of his

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<v Speaker 2>cocaine and cash back to the Baltimore Police Department evidence

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<v Speaker 2>room so they can charge him. They figure they're safe.

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<v Speaker 2>It's not like a Reese Stevenson's going to complain. I mean,

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<v Speaker 2>who's going to admit to having even more cocaine than

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<v Speaker 2>they were caught with.

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<v Speaker 4>If you're a drug dealer and you have two prior

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<v Speaker 4>drug convictions and the police come and take your money

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<v Speaker 4>and rob you, is that one gonna believe you?

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<v Speaker 2>This is Ivan Bates, a well known Baltimore defense lawyer,

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<v Speaker 2>and he's got a good enough reputation that when Oriy

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<v Speaker 2>Stevenson calls his wife from jail, he basically tells her

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<v Speaker 2>get baits Wayne Jenkins.

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<v Speaker 4>I knew who he was, I knew what he did.

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<v Speaker 4>You know, it was just like a big game in

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<v Speaker 4>his mind. Haha, I got the power. You never really

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<v Speaker 4>gonna touch me.

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<v Speaker 2>Bates argues his client's car stop was unconstitutional, and the

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<v Speaker 2>judge agrees. The case is thrown out and Stevenson's off

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<v Speaker 2>the hook. But it revealed something interesting about the Jenkins

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<v Speaker 2>mo o. He's fluid with the truth when he writes

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<v Speaker 2>his arrest reports. He's always eager to get inside people's

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<v Speaker 2>houses with or without a warrant, and he'll lie even

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<v Speaker 2>in front of a judge to try to cover it up.

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<v Speaker 4>Your clients will tell you really what's happening, and you

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<v Speaker 4>hear the same story time after time, over and over

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<v Speaker 4>and over again. You kind of say, you know what,

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<v Speaker 4>where this smoke is eventually's gonna be fire.

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<v Speaker 2>Ivan Bates had heard rumors for years that Jenkins was

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<v Speaker 2>up to no good, but he's not the only officer

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<v Speaker 2>in the gun Tray's task force. With skeletons in his closet.

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<v Speaker 5>I can't do it no more. Yo is either we

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<v Speaker 5>get it or we don't. Board we come close to something, but.

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<v Speaker 2>That's Jamelle Ram, you know what I mean.

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<v Speaker 7>Right, So so I know we could get something.

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<v Speaker 2>But he's one of the Task Force detectives and his

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<v Speaker 2>partner in the unit is Mama du Gondo, the cop

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<v Speaker 2>with the wiretap on his phone and the bug hidden

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<v Speaker 2>in his car. Ram joined the police back in two

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<v Speaker 2>thousand and five. Early on in his career, he made

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<v Speaker 2>headlines after he sh three people in twenty months, one

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<v Speaker 2>of them fatally. All three shootings were later deemed justified.

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<v Speaker 2>He even received the Citation of Valor and Silver Star

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<v Speaker 2>for one of them. Rayam was a tough guy, and

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<v Speaker 2>he wasn't afraid to use his police badge to shake

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<v Speaker 2>down unsuspecting members of the public. In June two thousand

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<v Speaker 2>and nine, a guy named Gary Brown was driving near

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<v Speaker 2>downtown Baltimore on his way to the bank. A friend

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<v Speaker 2>had asked him to deposit a bunch of cash. Suddenly,

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<v Speaker 2>Brown saw flashing lights in his rear view mirror. It

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<v Speaker 2>was Ram and a couple of other cops.

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<v Speaker 8>He pulled me over with some dumb excuse, something about

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<v Speaker 8>a seat bill, get me out the call, sitting me

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<v Speaker 8>on the ground, or handcuff and searched to call.

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<v Speaker 2>In the trunk, the officers found eleven thousand dollars in

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<v Speaker 2>a paper bag.

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<v Speaker 8>He said something to the fact that we found there's money.

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<v Speaker 8>We taken it his mom. I'm going through the cassano

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<v Speaker 8>with his money. He took it, he put it in

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<v Speaker 8>his pocket. He said, I see you later, and he

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<v Speaker 8>pulled off.

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<v Speaker 2>He was left there standing by the side of the road.

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<v Speaker 5>Ap Wason's shocked.

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<v Speaker 8>I didn't really know what was going on. I know

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<v Speaker 8>I didn't have my money. I was robbed by Baltimore

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<v Speaker 8>City Police, you know, robbed with a gun on robbery.

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<v Speaker 2>I still find this particular story so crazy. It's not

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<v Speaker 2>like Gary Brown had drugs or guns. Ram and his

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<v Speaker 2>colleagues didn't even bother writing a police report. They just

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<v Speaker 2>robbed the guy in broad daylight. The next morning, after

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<v Speaker 2>the shock had worn off, Gary Brown did something Detective

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<v Speaker 2>Ram was not expecting. He made a complaint, banged on

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<v Speaker 2>the door.

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<v Speaker 8>Police took my money.

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<v Speaker 2>The door he's talking about is the entrance to internal affairs.

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<v Speaker 2>It's a special Division of the Baltimore Police Department then

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<v Speaker 2>investigates its own officers. The Internal Affairs Division doesn't enjoy

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<v Speaker 2>a particularly great reputation or a strong track record of

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<v Speaker 2>rooting out dirty cops, but this time they do manage

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<v Speaker 2>to identify Detective Jamel Ram as one of the officers

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<v Speaker 2>in the Gary Brown incident. Brown agrees to take a

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<v Speaker 2>lie detector test. I passed it and Detective Ram he

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<v Speaker 2>failed it. Internal affairs investigators find that Ram lied to

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<v Speaker 2>them about the robbery, but he's not fired. Instead, he's

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<v Speaker 2>slapped with a misconduct charge and suspended for two years.

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<v Speaker 2>But there's no record of Gary Brown's eleven thousand dollars

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<v Speaker 2>ever making it to the Baltimore Police Department evidence room.

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<v Speaker 8>You know what the months went, body, even body is

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<v Speaker 8>really kind fell back and let it go.

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<v Speaker 2>Police misconduct investigations are secret, and an officer's disciplinary record

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<v Speaker 2>is not made public in Maryland, so Gary Brown had

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<v Speaker 2>no idea that Ram was actually suspended following his complaint.

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<v Speaker 2>But it's not like it did any real damage to

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<v Speaker 2>Detective Ram's career. When he returned, he was asked to

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<v Speaker 2>join an elite, powerful and largely unsupervised playing Clothes Unit

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<v Speaker 2>the Gun Trayce Task Force. But Ram is not the

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<v Speaker 2>only cop who was stealing money before joining the unit.

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<v Speaker 2>It's early morning, January twenty fourteen. Sean Whiting is fast

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<v Speaker 2>asleep in his skinny row house in West Baltimore. He's

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<v Speaker 2>got thousands of dollars stashed in his bedroom, some in

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<v Speaker 2>his closet, some at a bedside table, and still more

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<v Speaker 2>inside of a vest. There's eight thousand dollars from his

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<v Speaker 2>job as a house painter and nearly sixteen thousand from

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<v Speaker 2>selling heroin. Suddenly he drolted awake.

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<v Speaker 5>I heard my daughter screaming.

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<v Speaker 7>I jumped out of my bee. I took maybe one

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<v Speaker 7>to two steps, had a gun pointed in my face

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<v Speaker 7>and telling me get on the ground, Get on the ground.

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<v Speaker 7>And that's what I did, And he caught me and

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<v Speaker 7>took me downstairs.

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<v Speaker 2>A trio of plane clothed cops sit Whiting down in

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<v Speaker 2>his living room and hold up a bag of cash

0:14:31.080 --> 0:14:34.720
<v Speaker 2>from his closet. They ask him if there's more upstairs.

0:14:35.360 --> 0:14:38.880
<v Speaker 2>He says there is, and then immediately regrets it.

0:14:39.680 --> 0:14:43.360
<v Speaker 7>Once I said that, it kind of like took me

0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:43.800
<v Speaker 7>out the.

0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:47.280
<v Speaker 2>House as well as the cash. Whitings also got four

0:14:47.320 --> 0:14:50.720
<v Speaker 2>and a half keyloads of heroin in the house. The

0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:54.720
<v Speaker 2>plane closed, Cops arrest him, and later in jail, he

0:14:54.760 --> 0:14:56.400
<v Speaker 2>gets a letter detailing what.

0:14:56.400 --> 0:14:59.120
<v Speaker 7>Was seized, and I was like, there was way more

0:14:59.160 --> 0:14:59.440
<v Speaker 7>than that.

0:15:00.280 --> 0:15:02.680
<v Speaker 2>The letter says that less than eight thousand dollars were

0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:07.120
<v Speaker 2>found and just three kilos of heroin. Whiting's missing more

0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:10.880
<v Speaker 2>than sixteen thousand dollars and a kilo and a half

0:15:11.000 --> 0:15:15.120
<v Speaker 2>of heroin. He's in jail on a drug charge, but

0:15:15.200 --> 0:15:19.480
<v Speaker 2>Sean Whiting is mad. He complains to anyone he can

0:15:19.520 --> 0:15:23.440
<v Speaker 2>think of, the Baltimore Police Department, the FBI. He even

0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:27.440
<v Speaker 2>tells the judge in his case, I was robbed. The

0:15:27.520 --> 0:15:31.720
<v Speaker 2>judge assures him it'll be properly investigated, but it won't be.

0:15:38.280 --> 0:15:41.320
<v Speaker 2>We met Kenneth Baumgardner in part one of this story

0:15:41.800 --> 0:15:45.120
<v Speaker 2>in twenty sixteen. He was out driving in his old neighborhood.

0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.040
<v Speaker 2>Officers from the Gun Trace Task Force chased him, including

0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:53.200
<v Speaker 2>Sergeant Wayne Jenkins. Kenneth says the officers robbed him and

0:15:53.240 --> 0:16:01.480
<v Speaker 2>broke his jaw. A couple of days later, Kenneth has

0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:05.920
<v Speaker 2>the operation to wire his jaw shut because he thinks

0:16:05.960 --> 0:16:09.000
<v Speaker 2>the officers must have assaulted him and taken his money.

0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:13.000
<v Speaker 2>He goes to internal affairs, but the officer who takes

0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:16.720
<v Speaker 2>his complaint is aggressive and dismissive and tries to convince

0:16:16.760 --> 0:16:17.400
<v Speaker 2>him to drop it.

0:16:18.120 --> 0:16:20.240
<v Speaker 6>That was like, no, y'all, and told him my car

0:16:20.320 --> 0:16:22.480
<v Speaker 6>and broke my jaw and he left me on the

0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:25.520
<v Speaker 6>ground for deed. I'm not leaving it. You know, something

0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:26.560
<v Speaker 6>needs to be done about that.

0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:29.720
<v Speaker 2>There's a lot at stake because on the night that

0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:32.680
<v Speaker 2>Kenneth got his injury, his rent money was stolen and

0:16:32.720 --> 0:16:35.440
<v Speaker 2>he's now been evicted, and on top of all that,

0:16:35.680 --> 0:16:38.720
<v Speaker 2>he's got a bill for sixty seven thousand dollars for

0:16:38.800 --> 0:16:42.560
<v Speaker 2>the smashed up rental car. He tries his luck with

0:16:42.640 --> 0:16:46.520
<v Speaker 2>a lawyer and then another, but each time he's turned

0:16:46.520 --> 0:16:50.720
<v Speaker 2>away they all tell him the same thing. Without some

0:16:50.840 --> 0:16:54.600
<v Speaker 2>kind of evidence, there's little they can do for Kenneth.

0:16:54.720 --> 0:17:00.080
<v Speaker 2>There's just one option left to turn detective himself. He

0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:02.920
<v Speaker 2>goes back to the neighborhood where he believes he was assaulted.

0:17:03.480 --> 0:17:07.320
<v Speaker 2>He's desperate to find someone who saw what happened to him.

0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:09.320
<v Speaker 2>He starts knocking on doors.

0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:12.400
<v Speaker 6>It was a lot of footwork, and a lot of footwork,

0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:15.240
<v Speaker 6>a lot of walking a lot of Oh, I hope

0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:17.440
<v Speaker 6>somebody want to step up and be a witness, because

0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:19.280
<v Speaker 6>you know, a lot of times people don't want to

0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:22.359
<v Speaker 6>be a witness when police do things, because bad things.

0:17:22.400 --> 0:17:24.200
<v Speaker 6>Having the people to see things.

0:17:24.440 --> 0:17:26.800
<v Speaker 2>He keeps going back day after day.

0:17:27.200 --> 0:17:28.760
<v Speaker 6>It took me like a week and a half of

0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:31.800
<v Speaker 6>knocking on different doors to actually find a guy that

0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:35.040
<v Speaker 6>actually seen it. So that was a blessing, I guess.

0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:40.520
<v Speaker 2>And with this new witness on board, he now gets

0:17:40.520 --> 0:17:46.280
<v Speaker 2>a lawyer and starts legal action against the police. Kenneth

0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:52.719
<v Speaker 2>not alone alongside him Sean Whiting, Gary Brown, Orice Stevenson.

0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:56.280
<v Speaker 2>It's impossible to tell how many other men and women

0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.159
<v Speaker 2>were unlucky enough to come across the officers of the

0:17:59.200 --> 0:18:04.680
<v Speaker 2>gun traced hown force over the years. FBI Special Agent

0:18:04.800 --> 0:18:08.000
<v Speaker 2>Eric Jensen is starting to understand the scale of the

0:18:08.040 --> 0:18:11.440
<v Speaker 2>misconduct and just how many victims the case might have.

0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:14.720
<v Speaker 2>She pulls the files of people who the squad have

0:18:14.840 --> 0:18:18.080
<v Speaker 2>arrested over the years and starts combing through them for

0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:22.439
<v Speaker 2>anything strange. She uncovers evidence that the officers have been

0:18:22.560 --> 0:18:26.439
<v Speaker 2>lying on their arrest reports on top of stealing money.

0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:30.359
<v Speaker 2>The wiretap on detective Gondo's phone and the hidden bug

0:18:30.359 --> 0:18:34.160
<v Speaker 2>in his car have revealed some pretty damning behavior, but

0:18:34.200 --> 0:18:36.800
<v Speaker 2>she really wants to catch the officers in the act

0:18:37.160 --> 0:18:40.760
<v Speaker 2>committing a crime. She's got a few more tricks up

0:18:40.760 --> 0:18:43.920
<v Speaker 2>her sleeve. She could send another cop into the unit

0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:47.720
<v Speaker 2>undercover to spy on them, but she decides it's too risky,

0:18:48.560 --> 0:18:50.360
<v Speaker 2>and so is having the officers followed.

0:18:51.720 --> 0:18:55.320
<v Speaker 3>Decisions you make in these cases have a lot of repercussions.

0:18:55.600 --> 0:19:00.200
<v Speaker 3>You could blow a case by making a bad choice.

0:19:00.880 --> 0:19:09.720
<v Speaker 2>So she tries something else. Sometime during the summer of

0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:13.800
<v Speaker 2>twenty sixteen, Task Force partners Mamadu Gondo and Jamel Ram

0:19:13.800 --> 0:19:18.040
<v Speaker 2>get a call from county officers outside the city. Would

0:19:18.040 --> 0:19:20.720
<v Speaker 2>they be willing to check out a suspicious vehicle for them?

0:19:21.760 --> 0:19:26.679
<v Speaker 2>Gondo and Ram say sure. It's fairly standard practice for

0:19:26.800 --> 0:19:30.000
<v Speaker 2>different police agencies to collaborate in this way, so a

0:19:30.040 --> 0:19:34.760
<v Speaker 2>request like this shouldn't raise any red flags. They're given

0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:37.199
<v Speaker 2>the address of a rest stop off the side of

0:19:37.240 --> 0:19:41.280
<v Speaker 2>I ninety five, a major highway that runs through southeast Baltimore.

0:19:42.080 --> 0:19:44.560
<v Speaker 2>Gondo and Ram are told that they're in the parking lot.

0:19:44.640 --> 0:19:48.040
<v Speaker 2>They'll find a motor home. It's a ten year old

0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:52.560
<v Speaker 2>Ford Yellowstone. The FBI agents have already installed a hidden

0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:56.560
<v Speaker 2>camera inside. They've scattered stuff around, tried to make it

0:19:56.600 --> 0:20:00.840
<v Speaker 2>look a little lived in, and crucially, they planted four

0:20:01.400 --> 0:20:06.840
<v Speaker 2>five hundred dollars in marked bills bait money. The money's hidden,

0:20:07.400 --> 0:20:11.760
<v Speaker 2>but not well hidden. FBI Special Agent Erica Jensen is

0:20:11.800 --> 0:20:14.600
<v Speaker 2>hoping that Raham and Gondo will find the cash and

0:20:14.720 --> 0:20:20.919
<v Speaker 2>take it all on camera. With everyone in position, she

0:20:20.960 --> 0:20:23.200
<v Speaker 2>gives the go ahead for the county officers to make

0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:27.440
<v Speaker 2>the call to the task Force asking for assistance. She's

0:20:27.480 --> 0:20:30.280
<v Speaker 2>miles away in the FBI war room listening in.

0:20:32.800 --> 0:20:35.800
<v Speaker 3>Pretty much as soon as they got the call. Mister

0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:40.880
<v Speaker 3>Raham was suspicious, super suspicious. I think he even said,

0:20:40.880 --> 0:20:45.680
<v Speaker 3>could this be internal affairs? You know, I could hear

0:20:45.720 --> 0:20:48.320
<v Speaker 3>the sound of their voices. I could hear how concerned

0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:52.960
<v Speaker 3>they were. It was as if they didn't trust what

0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:53.840
<v Speaker 3>they were being told.

0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:59.040
<v Speaker 2>Instead of approaching the vehicle, they drive around the rest stop,

0:20:59.160 --> 0:21:02.439
<v Speaker 2>checking it out. It's as if they're casing the place.

0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:06.359
<v Speaker 2>Not exactly the behavior of a couple of friendly city

0:21:06.400 --> 0:21:09.040
<v Speaker 2>cops trying to help out their county colleagues.

0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:12.840
<v Speaker 3>They're doing things that I did not anticipate.

0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:16.520
<v Speaker 2>Then, Erica hears something that makes her heart skip a beat.

0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:21.320
<v Speaker 2>Instead of entering the motor home, Gondo and Ram are

0:21:21.359 --> 0:21:24.480
<v Speaker 2>now saying they're gonna go check out security camera footage

0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:25.399
<v Speaker 2>of the parking lot.

0:21:25.680 --> 0:21:28.000
<v Speaker 3>You know, we realized that if they started checking footage,

0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:30.120
<v Speaker 3>that they were going to realize it was a setup.

0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:34.520
<v Speaker 3>Oh boy, these guys are gonna go and look at

0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:38.800
<v Speaker 3>these cameras. I knew if we got discovered that we

0:21:38.920 --> 0:21:41.040
<v Speaker 3>might lose the whole case, ohle case, my fall apart.

0:21:42.320 --> 0:21:43.280
<v Speaker 2>She picks up the phone.

0:21:45.400 --> 0:21:47.720
<v Speaker 3>I made the call that we needed to pull the plug.

0:21:50.000 --> 0:21:52.280
<v Speaker 2>She has her contacts in the county call Gondo and

0:21:52.359 --> 0:21:55.880
<v Speaker 2>Ram and tell them, h hey, never mind, we actually

0:21:55.920 --> 0:21:58.200
<v Speaker 2>don't need your help after all. Thanks, It's all good.

0:21:58.800 --> 0:22:01.040
<v Speaker 3>It seemed like absolutely the only choice at the time.

0:22:03.720 --> 0:22:07.280
<v Speaker 2>Gondo and rayam back off. It's not the result Agent

0:22:07.320 --> 0:22:09.920
<v Speaker 2>Jensen was hoping for, but she tries to put a

0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:10.840
<v Speaker 2>brave face on it.

0:22:11.600 --> 0:22:13.840
<v Speaker 3>Now, we learned a lot that day, and we learned

0:22:13.880 --> 0:22:15.600
<v Speaker 3>a lot about them and how they think. That day.

0:22:15.640 --> 0:22:18.080
<v Speaker 3>For sure, it was not a complete waste.

0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:25.879
<v Speaker 2>One thing she's learned is just how mistrustful some of

0:22:25.920 --> 0:22:30.200
<v Speaker 2>the Task Force officers have become and those officers aren't

0:22:30.240 --> 0:22:32.840
<v Speaker 2>the only ones looking over their shoulders in the summer

0:22:32.880 --> 0:22:37.640
<v Speaker 2>of twenty sixteen. There's someone else. And this guy's more

0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:39.960
<v Speaker 2>tangled up in the crimes of the Gun Trace task

0:22:39.960 --> 0:22:44.320
<v Speaker 2>Force than anyone realizes. He's not a member of the

0:22:44.359 --> 0:22:47.240
<v Speaker 2>task Force, he's not even a cop, but he's gonna

0:22:47.240 --> 0:22:50.280
<v Speaker 2>take us down a rabbit hole, deep into the double

0:22:50.320 --> 0:22:56.440
<v Speaker 2>life of Sergeant Wayne Jenkins, into a conspiracy within a conspiracy. Well,

0:22:56.520 --> 0:23:01.119
<v Speaker 2>Donnie Stepp just an interesting guy that on unfortunately found

0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:14.320
<v Speaker 2>myself in a pretty bad situation. That's next time you've

0:23:14.320 --> 0:23:17.720
<v Speaker 2>been listening to Bad Cops from the BBC World Service

0:23:17.840 --> 0:23:21.840
<v Speaker 2>with me Jessica Lustop. The program was mixed by Neil

0:23:21.920 --> 0:23:26.440
<v Speaker 2>Churchill additional mixing by James Beard. The producer is Ben

0:23:26.480 --> 0:23:29.240
<v Speaker 2>Crichton and the editor is Richard Varden.

0:23:32.560 --> 0:23:35.280
<v Speaker 1>If you're enjoying Bad Cops, make sure to check out

0:23:35.280 --> 0:23:38.200
<v Speaker 1>season one of The Burden. You'll meet the greatest detective

0:23:38.200 --> 0:23:42.000
<v Speaker 1>in Brooklyn history. He takes on the worst criminals until

0:23:42.040 --> 0:23:44.000
<v Speaker 1>one day the criminals take him on