It’s an old story line that somehow never gets old ... One could be excused for wondering whether there is any more to say about Baltimore and crime. But the gripping new book We Own This City: A True Story of Crime, Cops, and Corruption puts that concern to rest ... Fenton touches on the larger issues raised by the shocking activities of the Gun Trace Task Force members, but he doesn’t linger there. His focus is on the characters in the unit and the fascinating twists and turns of the investigation that eventually brought the rogue cops to justice. Among the many striking revelations in the book is how casual the officers were about their crimes.
... takes its time, unspooling the history of the Gun Trace Task Force. Mr. Fenton is after more than the portrait of a few malcontents ... a standout examination of the failures of policing, laid out in context with greater systemic failures ... a sobering and necessary account of one dramatic way that trust was destroyed, but it is as much a damning indictment of how that destruction grew out of a mixture of negligence, incompetence and hubris.
Clearly inspired by The Wire, Fenton populates his narrative with a network of officers, informants and street dealers, all with different motivations and interests. Some of these personalities come through more vividly than others, but the overall effect is to capture the disorienting, churning quality of a city where the good guys and bad guys aren’t easily distinguished ... Favoring hard-boiled reporter’s prose, Fenton mostly emphasizes story over such analysis, but he shows how, in our zeal to combat crime, we have allowed institutions to produce it.
In We Own This City Justin Fenton tells a story of bad people and bad attitudes, but—whether he intends to or not—his book reveals the way systemic discrimination operates, whom it affects and how it is sustained. His narrative is brisk and engaging ... a reporter’s book—detailed in its accounts, sources and references but short on analysis and commentary. He gives us the dots but doesn’t connect them.
... a searing look at that city’s recent police corruption scandal ... Fenton’s detailed narrative makes the tragic consequences of the GTTF’s graft palpable. Fans of TV series such as Homicide: Life on the Street and The Wire based on journalist David Simon’s groundbreaking coverage of Baltimore will be engrossed.
Fenton’s fast-paced narrative, perfect for fans of The Wire, delivers a satisfying resolution, though it remains to be seen whether the department will truly clean up under new management, for which readers must stay tuned ... A harrowing study in true crime, most of it committed by men with badges.
