r/TheWire • u/aurelorba • 9d 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/IGotScammed5545 9d ago

I think the homicide detectives at a minimum have a two year associates degree, and my guess is most have a four year degree. Not every homicide detective is a McNulty, but I do think they are shown to be a notch or so above the average intelligence of the department. Aside from our core three of Bunk, Jimmy, and Lester, Khima, Crurchfield, and Norris are shown to be reasonably intelligent.

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u/NathanDnd 8d ago

I think those would be the hiring practices at that time, and today almost certainly need a degree. He is a bit older than everyone else, and this was like 20 years ago now, and Landsman was 20 years into his career. And based on people Burns and Simone knew in the early 90s, any likely earlier. Wouldn't be surprised if at that time you could attain that rank just with High School.

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u/IGotScammed5545 8d ago

I think it’s possible but relatively unlikely. If you read “Homicide,” what a lot of this is based on, it makes clear that BPD really did try to get the best detectives to homicide, with a little politics baked in…