History Characters / TheWireMajorCrimesUnit

* WhatAnIdiot: In-universe. Practically the CatchPhrase of anyone working with him. He eventually gets better.
** Used rather painfully after his accidental shooting of Officer Waggoner in season 3. All the other police present are talking about how much of a fuck-up Prez is based off of his record prior to joining the MCU, not having seen the way that he's grown in the years since. [=McNulty's=] expression as he listens to Landsman lambaste the guy says it all: Prez's mistake is so huge that [=McNulty=] can't really refute the talk, but at the same time he knows just how unfair it is that no one outside the unit will ever understand the true quality Prez has demonstrated to his comrades.

* BadassPacifist: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaysD0qByUo Behold]] his peaceful arrest of Avon inside the Barksdale compound, taking over a [=SWAT=] operation. He also has the stones to hold his own against Burrell and Clay Davis in a dignified manner.

-->Yeah, beats working.

* RecklessGunUsage

* PoisonousFriend: To Bunk in season 5 because of his scheme and many other times, Jimmy is a dangerous chum.
-->'''Lester:''' You put fire to everything you touch [=McNulty=], then you walk away while it burns!

He begins the series as a career-minded officer who is pliant to the demands of his superiors, but when he's confronted with the deeds and scale of the Barksdale drug crew, realizes the inefficacy of the limited investigative measures that his bosses will allow, and is pressured by [=McNulty=], Greggs and Freamon to commit to the case, ultimately he jumps in with both feet. Daniels's renewed commitment to quality police work costs him much throughout the series (including his marriage), but in seasons 4 and 5, he receives a series of rapid promotions that ends with a gig as Police Commissioner. Daniels soon resigns after earning this top spot, since keeping the job would entail juking the crime statistics for the mayor, or a fight to keep the job which would put the lives and careers of his friends in jeopardy. At the end of the show he's become a prosecutor, finally making use of the law degree he'd earned before his police career.

* TheDeterminator: When Jimmy is on to something or is working a case he cares deeply about, he gives it everything he has and doesn't let anything, even the basic rules of police work, stand in his way. This is regularly shown as a positive and negative trait as it allows him to be a good detective but also means he is unable to pull back or consider that he might be in the wrong and he abandons any sense of self-preservation in order to be proven right.

* FatalFlaw: Pride. Jimmy has a compulsive need to prove his intellect and has tied pretty much all his self-worth into his image as the smartest cop in any given room. When this image is threatened, he tends to make ''very'' bad mistakes.

* TheLastDance: In Season 5, Jimmy and Lester enlist Sydnor and temporal or one-time from help from some of the guys of the old unit to bust Marlo, illegally.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: A serious and recurring issue for Jimmy is his tendency to not fully consider the consequences of is actions and then act blindsided when they come up later.

* LovableRogue: Jimmy is a ''very'' harsh deconstruction of this trope. He's a charming, determined and intelligent cop with little regard for rules or authority and who follows his own instincts and moral compass. In almost any other setting, he'd be the hero. In this world, he's a barely functional trainwreck whose disrespect for those he works with and for and belief that the rules don't apply to him end up causing even more problems for himself and everyone around him.

* WrongGenreSavvy: Jimmy seems to believe he's the heroic cop whose devotion to his work and disinterest in rules is the only way to get the job done. In reality, he's widely regarded as a selfish, insubordinate jerkass whose flaws end up negating his noble efforts and making things worse for everyone, especially himself.

-->Police work detective, police work.

* DeskJockey: he becomes this at the beginning of season 1 and proves to be a valuable player in the position, in contrast to his ineptitude as a beat cop. According to Sydnor, Prez was unseemly good at paperwork when Sydnor himself has to pick up after him.

* HiddenDepths: He becomes a gifted data analyst and paper chaser under Lester's wing.
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace: He does ''not'' get along well with guns--first shooting a wall because he forgot to clear the chamber, then killing Waggoner on the assumption that he was a fleeing suspect.

* TheSmartGuy: ZigZagged - He's a bad street cop, but he turns out to be highly adept at cracking the Barksdale gang's pager codes and figuring out how their organization fits together.
* TookALevelInBadass: Twice - first as a cop although he later backslides, then as a teacher.

[=McNulty=] proves unable to stay uninvolved with the Stansfield Gang's reign of terror, however, and attempts to get Bodie to cooperate with the police against Marlo. This quickly gets Bodie killed, and inflames both [=McNulty's=] guilt and his drive to catch and punish the bad guy. He returns to the MCU, and takes all his self-destructive behaviors UpToEleven as he takes part in the efforts to catch Marlo even while the police budget is slashed to the bone by Carcetii. At this point he dreams up the fake SerialKiller idea, and uses the resources sent to the department to illegally pursue Marlo. When his superiors finally catch on, it proves to be the last straw for [=McNulty's=] career and he's forced to resign.

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunushed: He is demoted at the end of season 1 for his role in bringing the Barksdales to justice. Happens again in 5 when he brings Marlo's crew to justice barring Marlo himself.

* ManChild:

* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: He is demoted at the end of season 1 for his role in bringing the Barksdales to justice. Happens again in 5 when he brings Marlo's crew to justice barring Marlo himself.

* OffTheWagon: In season 5.

* ShirtlessScene: Several.

* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: Begins to sport a shaved head in season 3.

* BaldBlackLeaderGuy: On his way of becoming one, just like his two mentors before him.

* TooCleverByHalf: He's too competent for his own good. It speaks volumes that his only period of stability happens when he is away from investigative tasks.

* UngratefulBastard: Willing to stab Daniels in the back through Colvin despite Daniels working to get [=McNulty=] off the boat, much to Daniels' TranquilFury.

* DidntThinkThisThrough: A serious and recurring issue for McNulty is his tendency to not fully consider the consequences of is actions and then act blindsided when they come up later.

* HeWhoFightsMonsters: In his quest against Marlo, [=McNulty=] becomes a prosecutable criminal by inventing a fake case, technically embezzling money and being indirectly responsible for the death of two vagrants. A [[WellIntentionedExtremist mild]] version of the trope in that he keeps his morals after all it's said and done in the Stanfield case, as illustrated by his last scenes.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: He may be a womanizing insubordinate asshole, but he does care about being a good cop, and his screw-ups hit him VERY hard.

* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Eventually revealed to be one.

* {{Protectorate}}: Mahon might be a useless piece of work, but is still "one of our own"; when Bodie revolves and assaults the man during a raid, the hoodlum is promptly shown the "[[PoliceBrutality Western district way]]" by Carver, Herc and Kima.

* {{Protectorate}}: The man might be a useless piece of work, but is "one of our own"; when Bodie revolves and assaults Mahon during a raid, the hoodlum is promptly shown the "[[PoliceBrutality Western district way]]" by Carver, Herc and Kima.

* RagtagBunchOfMisfits

* NiceGuy: He loses his temper many times with some of less competentent underlings but he's AFatherToHisMen who is ''way'' more accommodating and reasonable than most of the other police commanders, has a solid conscience and is AmicableExes with Marla Daniels.