Oscar L. Requer | |
---|---|
Other names | Rick Bunk |
Police career | |
Country | United States |
Department | Baltimore Police Department |
Service years | 1964-2007 |
Rank | Detective |
Oscar "Rick" Requer is a former detective of the Baltimore Police Department.
Requer joined the department in 1964 as a Western District patrolman who would eventually move into the department's Homicide Unit.[1] He was featured working under Sergeant Jay Landsman and Lieutenant Gary D'Addario whose Homicide unit was featured in David Simon's Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets book.[2] An African American, Requer's investigative skills earned him a position in the BPD's Criminal Investigation Division during a time period in which African American officers were still subject to racial harassment in the district roll call rooms.[3] Requer would later man the retirement services bureau before retiring in 2007[4] and would provide inspiration for fictional Detective Bunk Moreland of the HBO drama series The Wire.[1]
A character named "Oscar Requer" appeared in the "Transitions" episode on the fifth season of The Wire. The fictional Oscar Requer (played by Roscoe Orman), was a patrolman working a night shift and a former partner of detective Lester Freamon's.
Rick 'The Bunk' Requer left to man the department's retirement services bureau, though his homicide incarnation lives on in Wendell Pierce's portrayal of the legendary Bunk Moreland on The Wire, right down to the ubiquitous cigar.
Requer is the veteran investigator in his squad and one of the most tenured black detectives in the homicide unit; he made his way up to CID at a time when black officers were still hearing racial jokes in the district roll call rooms.