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13 August 2021 23 min 29 s

Bad Cops 1. The tracker Ready to listen

0:00 23 min 29 s

Episode description

Civil unrest spreads across Baltimore after 25-year-old Freddie Gray dies in police custody. Meanwhile, a detective makes a troubling discovery when he arrests a major heroin dealer. It’s time to call in the FBI. Presenter: Jessica Lussenhop Producer: Ben Crighton

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Bad Cops BBC World Service

In Baltimore, Maryland, an elite group of plainclothes officers called the Gun Trace Task Force gets hundreds of illegal guns off the streets every year. Secretly, however, these detectives are also robbing people, selling drugs, planting evidence and framing innocent people. When some of the officers go too far, it triggers an FBI investigation that reveals the Gun Trace Task Force as one of the most corrupt police squads in American policing history. Jessica Lussenhop tells the story of the rise and fall of this once-powerful unit of officers, and its leader Sergeant Wayne Jenkins. And she asks: why do good cops go bad?

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