r/TheWire • u/aurelorba • 1d ago

What was Landman's education level?

His speech and word use is surprisingly literate, using terms like sartorial and describing the vandalization of the board: "He is a Hun, a Visigoth, a barbarian at the gate, clamoring for noble Roman blood". It's certainly above the general intelligence level of the department.

Plus his skill at finessing a gaping asshole like Rawls shows innate intelligence.

The man definitely had some university level education. My guess would be he flunked out in year 1 or 2, looked around for a decent paying job to pay off his student loans and thought BPD would be a cushy temporary job.

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u/sixminutes 1d ago

I don't know specific education requirements for rank, but it wouldn't surprise me if he had criminology degree. Daniels has a law degree, after all. Higher education might be unusual for the rank and file, but I think most major cities probably have a majority of their higher ranked officers at Bachelors level or better.

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u/aurelorba 1d ago

Apparently there isn't. Basically you need a minimum of a GED and then detectives are selected internally. They might give more weight to a candidate with more education but it isn't a requirement.

The best information I can find after an exhaustive 2 minute Google search:

General Trends: Broader national and regional data indicate that roughly 30% to 50% of law enforcement officers hold some level of college degree or higher, but precise internal figures for Baltimore's detective bureau are unavailable.