Reformation

The Wire 3×10

Joseph 'Proposition Joe' Stewart: Stir up a hornet's nest, no telling who gonna get stung.

Lamarr: What happened to all them towers?
Brother Mouzone: Slow train coming.
Lamarr: Huh?
Brother Mouzone: Reform, Lamar. Reform.

Maj. Howard 'Bunny' Colvin: You call something a war, and pretty soon everybody gonna be acting like warriors running around on a crusade, storming corners, slapping on cuffs, racking up body counts. And when you at war, you need a fucking enemy. And pretty soon, damn near everybody on every corner is your fucking enemy. And soon the neighborhood you police, that's just occupied territory. You follow this?
Det. Ellis Carver: I think so.
Maj. Howard 'Bunny' Colvin: Look here, the point I'm making, Carver, is this. Soldiering and policing, ain't the same thing. And before we went and took the wrong turn and started up with these war games, the cop walked a beat, and he learned that post. And if things happened up on that post, whether they be a rape or robbery or shooting, he had people out there helping him, feeding him information. But every time I come to you, my DEU Sergeant, for information, to find out what's going on out there in them streets, all that came back was some bullshit. You had your stats, your arrests, your seizures. But that don't amount to shit when you talking about protecting the neighborhood, now, do it? You know the worst thing about this... so-called drug war, to my mind... It just... It ruined this job.

Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: We drew Phelan on this wiretap? That two-faced hack sold me out last time.
A.S.A. Rhonda Pearlman: He's not running for a new term. He'll be fine.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: He's a piece of shit.
Lt. Cedric Daniels: We're all pieces of shit when we're in your way. That goes with the territory.
Det. James 'Jimmy' McNulty: .... Point taken.

Joseph 'Proposition Joe' Stewart: Now hear me on this, String, we ain't no ingrates. We all recognize your contribute to the co-op. But the feeling is this. It ain't right for you to be at the head of our table when you can't call off your dog. Call it a crisis of leadership.

Councilman Thomas 'Tommy' Carcetti: If I level with Tony and he gets out, then I can't win. I need him in the race. I feel like shit. I really do.

Judge Daniel Phelan: You wanna sell drug traffickers cellphones that are pre-approved for telephonic intercepts. And you want me to sign off on court-ordered taps on phones that, at the time I'm signing the order, have not been used for any illegal activity whatsoever.
A.S.A. Rhonda Pearlman: If you're looking for precedents, Your Honor, there aren't any. It's circumstantial PC at best...
Judge Daniel Phelan: What the hell, let's do it.

Maj. Howard 'Bunny' Colvin: I pushed all street-level dealing towards those areas. Now, at first, dealing with the juveniles on them corners, I had little success. But ultimately, by rounding up all the mid-level dealers in my district, and making them an offer they couldn't refuse, I...
Acting Commissioner Ervin H. Burrell: You made them an offer?

Deputy Commissioner for Operations William A. Rawls: You nit, don't you see what he's done? He's legalized drugs!
Maj. Howard 'Bunny' Colvin: Actually, I elected to ignore them.
Acting Commissioner Ervin H. Burrell: You lost your fucking mind.
Deputy Commissioner for Operations William A. Rawls: He's lost his fucking mind.

Deputy Commissioner for Operations William A. Rawls: You cocksucker, I gotta give it to you! A brilliant idea! Insane and illegal, but stone-fucking brilliant, nonetheless. After putting my foot up people's asses to decrease the numbers, he comes in and, in one stroke, gets a fucking 14% decrease. Fucking shame it's gonna end our careers, but still...

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