Howard "Bunny" Colvin
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| Howard "Bunny" Colvin | |
|---|---|
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| First appearance | Stray Rounds (episode 2.09) |
| Information | |
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 50s |
| Occupation | Retired commander of the Western District in Baltimore Police department, currently working as an Academic aide for Dr. David Parenti in University of Maryland's Social Sciences research department |
| Title | Lieutenant, Demoted from Major |
| Relationships | Lolita |
| Children | Two |
| Portrayed by | Robert Wisdom |
| Created by | David Simon |
Howard "Bunny" Colvin, played by Robert Wisdom, is a fictional character on the HBO drama The Wire, and was a Major for the Baltimore Police Department before his retirement.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
[edit] Character History
Colvin joined the Baltimore Police Department in 1974 (according to Season 3, he had 30 years on) patroling his home neighborhood in the department's Western District. Over his tenure, he advanced to the rank of major of the Western District which he commanded up until his forced retirement; one of his early posts was at Pensey and Fremont. Colvin's philosophy of policing involved protecting the community he served by making quality arrests through the use of trusted informants on his foot post. As a commander he insisted that his men learn their sense of direction, their foot post, and urged them to focus on doing real police work. Toward the end of his career, he began seeing the war on drugs as an ineffective waste of time and resources in his district that brought about too many unnecessary deaths. From there, Colvin did the "Hamsterdam" experiment in which unsalvagable areas of his district would be opened to drug dealers and addicts alike. Colvin's experiment drastically reduced crime and made his district more liveable but the department commanders led by Commissioner Ervin Burrell forced him out of the department for his illegal actions. From his retirement, Colvin began working with the University of Maryland's social sciences department Dr. David Parenti to prevent future "corner kids" from going to prison. Colvin once again began to see flaws in the system and supported unconventional methods of fixing the problems as he preferred to see real change in what it was they were doing.
[edit] Season 2
Colvin was first seen as a Major and commander of the Western district in season two.[1] He attended the scene of the accidental shooting of a child during a drug turf war and was appalled at the senselessness of the killing.
[edit] Season 3
In season three Colvin was nearing retirement and decided to make a last effort to have a real impact on the community he had been policing for thirty years. Comparing the city's drug problems to the illegal public consumption of alcohol, Colvin wondered if there was a "paper bag" for drugs that would make it safe for low level users to take them without facing punishment. Colvin recognized that much of his time and resources were spent on policing addicts and low level dealers, which never seemed to improve the situation in his district. All of Baltimore's regional Majors were under extreme pressure from the mayor's office to reduce the city's violent crime rate in preparation for the mayoral primary campaign.
Colvin and the other district commanders witnessed the brutality of the department's administration first hand towards Major Marvin Taylor, the Eastern district commander. After Deputy Rawls berated Taylor for his poor performance, Commissioner Burrell relieved Taylor of his post telling the other District commanders "Anyone else having trouble with the writing on the wall." Colvin was next to be warned as his district, the Western experienced a 2% rise in felonies which he decided to present clean without a "juking" of the stats. Rawls angrily told Colvin that the Western district would cease to exist if this continued and Burrell then stated "I don't care how many years you have on this job, if the felony rate does not fall, you most certainly will."
Colvin finally decided that to make his district safer, he would independently set up three "free zones" in his district where addicts and dealers were allowed to conduct their business under supervision but without interference. He did this following the attempted murder of Officer Dozerman when he determined that a good day or night in his district was marked by the abscene of a negative event. He aimed to move the drug trade into a controlled, uninhabited area to protect the rest of the district. Colvin did not seek the permission or approval of any of his superiors before implementing his plan and ignored the concerns of his subordinates Lieutenant Dennis Mello and DEU Sergeant Ellis Carver, who were charged by Colvin with ensuring no violence took place within the "free zones." One of these areas became known as "Hamsterdam", after Amsterdam's liberal drug laws. Because his retirement was imminent and he was guaranteed a major's pension, Colvin believed he would be free from any consequences should his plan be discovered.
Colvin was concerned when he found a single retiree still living in one of the houses in Hamsterdam. He had to plead Colonel Ray Foerster to have the old woman relocated to new housing, lying to both her and the Colonel about the reasons why. Although his project initially drew suspicion from the district's dealers, he convinced them to move their trade by brutally cracking down on any drug dealing outside of Hamsterdam.
As a commanding officer Colvin was well-liked by his men. Near the end of his career, he reconnected with Jimmy McNulty, who had started out as a beat officer under Colvin's command. Colvin referred to McNulty as "bushy-top". Colvin's last piece of detective work involved McNulty's major case unit — Stringer Bell contacted Colvin to inform against his partner Avon Barksdale and Colvin passed the information on to McNulty. In Colvin, Bell had seen a fellow reformer who felt his superiors were preventing useful work from being done.
Colvin found Carver to be a likeable officer but something of a failure as DEU sergeant. He told Carver that policing requires relationships with the people and that confidential informants are essential. While Carver was effective at making arrests, he failed to learn about the drug organizations and see patterns in the information, to Colvin's disappointment. Colvin had a significant impact on Carver and convinced him to reassess his role as DEU sergeant and to take a more community minded approach to policing.
He was forced to retire after his experiment was discovered by his superiors. The city's politicians considered trying to spin Hamsterdam as a public health measure but eventually decided it was too dangerous. With the free zones now public knowledge, Commissioner Burrell offered Colvin to the mayor as a scapegoat. Commissioner Burrell and Deputy Rawls threatened to persecute his officers whenever they could for whatever reason they could if he did not leave the department at a lower rank . To protect his men, Colvin retired at a Lieutenant's grade disgusted by Rawls and Burrells' threat. Colvin was demoted to lieutenant and forced out of the department early to reduce his pension. Colvin's actions continued to have repercussions; without his major's pension, he previously persued a job as a security consultant, but Burrell personally intervened and prevented him getting the post.[2]
[edit] Season 4
As season four began Bunny was supplementing his (diminished) pension by working as head of security for a downtown hotel. Colvin became disillusioned with the post when the hotel manager refused to let him arrest a wealthy client who had savagely beaten a prostitute in his hotel room. He left the job soon afterwards.
Colvin was approached with another job by his friend, The Deacon. The deacon had learned of a large grant to the University of Maryland School of Social Work to look at repeat violent offenders. Using Bunny's reputation among academics as the man who attempted to legalize drugs in Western Baltimore, he secured a job offer as a field researcher. The deacon convinced Colvin to take the job.
The study was led by Dr. David Parenti. Parenti initially planned to focus on 18-to-21-year-olds but Colvin sensed that they would have to look at a younger group to effect any change. He convinced Parenti by arranging an interview at the Western District through Sergeant Carver. He demonstrated in the interview that anti-authoritarian attitudes and violent behavior are often entrenched in by that age.
Colvin convinced Parenti to look at Edward Tilghman Middle School for his target group. At Edward Tilghman Middle School, he identified the West Baltimore students as two types for Parenti- "stoop" kids- the kids who obeyed their parents sitting on the stoop or front steps of their house when told, going to school, and being respectful of authority and "corner" kids- the kids who sold drugs on the corner, disrupted class, and were aspiring gangsters disrespectful of authority. Together, they isolated 10 corner kids into a classroom where Parenti and UM doctoral Student Miss Duquette studied them where Colvin acted as the mediator.
Colvin began to take an interest in Namond Brice, one of disruptive students who is placed in the "special class" that he is teaching. He allows Namond to stay at his home when Carver arrests Namond for selling drugs, and his mother was out of town. Colvin takes him home the next day amd meets Namond's mother, De'Londa. Colvin sees first hand that De'Londa is pushing Namond into drug dealing.
After seeing how Namond has progressed in school, Colvin realizes Namond's potential. Namond gets into a fight with Michael and shows his vulnerable side afterwards. Colvin sees that Namond was never fit for the corners and will only end up being killed or in jail if he remains in his current household. Colvin then talks with Wee-Bey Brice, Namond's incarcerated father who acted as one of Avon Barksdale's top soliders, claiming that Namond can have a life outside of West Baltimore given the proper support from Colvin and his wife. After thinking it over, Wee-Bey tells Namond's mother to send him to live with Colvin as he wants him to have a future. Colvin and his wife are seen living with Namond at the conclusion of Season 4. [3]
[edit] Trivia
Has a wife named Lolita who is licensed real estate agent.
According to Season 4, Colvin has two children who have both graduated from college.
Favorite musician is Billie Holiday.
[edit] References
- ^ Dan Kois (2004). Everything you were afraid to ask about "The Wire". Salon.com. Retrieved on July 12, 2006.
- ^ Org Chart - The Law. HBO (2004). Retrieved on July 22, 2006.
- ^ Character profile - Major Howard "Bunny" Colvin. HBO (2006). Retrieved on September 14, 2006.
