Roland Pryzbylewski

From The Wire

Roland Pryzbylewski
Roland Pryzbylewski
First appearance	"The Detail"
Last appearance	"–30–" (episode 5.10)
Details
Nickname(s)	Prez, Mr. Prezbo
Gender	Male
Occupation	Teacher
Episode Count	50 credited episodes 45 appearances
Portrayed by	Jim True-Frost

Roland "Prez" Pryzbylewski is a schoolteacher and ex-detective.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Season one 1.2 Season two 1.3 Season three 1.4 Season four 2 Production 2.1 Appearances 2.2 Origins 3 References

[edit] Biography

Prez has a well-known history of incompetence in the department. The incident most often cited is that he once shot up his own squad car in a panic, then called in a false report. He has been bounced around various units, and is considered an inept detective. Because he married the daughter of career officer (and political force) Stanislaus Valchek, he is protected from being fired, despite their mutual dislike. Prez had most recently been working in the casualty division under Lieutenant Cantrell prior to the series.

In the entire series, he is the only police officer who fires a gun.  He does so on several occasions, including accidentally shooting a wall and firing wildly while under attack at the high rises in Season One, and when he accidentally kills another officer in Season Three.

[edit] Season one

Prez is sent to Lieutenant Daniels Barksdale detail because Deputy Commissioner Burrell tells the unit commanders to dump their most incompetent officers on Daniels. Upon arrival at the detail, he accidentally shoots a wall while showing off modifications to his gun. Daniels is appalled, but agrees to keep Prez if Cantrell will also give him Leandor Sydnor, a highly respected detective.

Later, Prez, Herc, and Carver drunkenly incite a near-riot in the Barksdale towers. They arrive in the middle of the night, drunk, and begin harassing people; in the process, Prez pistol-whips a teenager with his service weapon, blinding him in one eye. Daniels stands up for his detective and protects him from serious repercussions by making up a story for Prez to tell Internal Investigations; Prez is ultimately suspended from street duty, but Valchek is pleased with Daniels for helping Prez.

Stuck in the office, Prez grows bored and begins playing with the pager codes the Barksdale crew uses, eventually breaking them and making a major contribution to the case. Under Freamon's mentorship, he discovers a facility for wiretap work and for chasing the paper trail, eventually becoming a valuable member of the team.

[edit] Season two

Prez confesses to his father-in-law that his earlier problems had largely been due to dissatisfaction with his traffic police work. He told him that detailed case work had become his passion and that he wanted to continue to work major cases. When Valchek starts feuding with Frank Sobotka, he requests a detail similar to the previous Barksdale detail. Instead, Burrell gives him incompetent "humps". Prez is given minor authority within the detail, but Lieutenant Grayson will not follow his recommendations on how to proceed. Prez tells his father-in-law that the detail is making little progress, and Valchek after seeing the unit at work demands that Daniels become the unit commander, threatening to derail Burrell's quest to be police commissioner.

When the focus of the investigation shifts away from Sobotka, Valchek angrily confronts the detail, and berating Prez specifically. Prez stands up for their work and punches Valchek. With Prez facing charges of assaulting a commanding officer and insubordination, Daniels stands up for him a second time, pointing out that, if there is an official inqury, the FBI agents present during the incident would affirm that Prez hit Valchek only after the latter had shoved and cursed at him. Valchek agrees that Prez can return to the detail following a written letter of apology and two months of working the midnight shift as a narcotics detective in his district. ^[1]

[edit] Season three

Prez joins Daniels' newly formed Major Case Unit. When responding to a distress call, Prez fatally shoots a plain clothes officer in a case of night-time mistaken identity. He is brought up on administrative charges and suspended because the officer was African American, and the shooting was potentially racially motivated. Prez vehemently denies being racist but due to the press and Baltimore's majority African American population, the story leaks out and prompts a hearing from both the courts and the vanguard (Baltimore's African American police officer union). Prez is shocked at the fact that he killed another officer and quits the force though Daniels, Caroline Massey and Lester Freamon (all African-American) agree to testify that he did not kill Waggoner out of racial prejudice.

[edit] Season four

Prez starts a new career as a math teacher at Edward Tilghman Middle School. As a teacher, he becomes attached to the students in his classroom, even going as far as to assist a neglected student Duquan "Dukie" Weems with laundry and food that his family does not provide for him. Prez sees through the school system's flaws, but adapts well, and becomes a decent teacher that enjoys helping the students advance through class.

[edit] Production

[edit] Appearances

Season one appearances
The Target	The Detail	The Buys	Old Cases	The Pager
The Wire	One Arrest	Lessons	Game Day	The Cost
The Hunt	Cleaning Up	Sentencing

Season two appearances
Ebb Tide	Collateral Damage	Hot Shots	Hard Cases	Undertow
All Prologue	Backwash	Duck and Cover	Stray Rounds	Storm Warnings
Bad Dreams	Port in a Storm

Season three appearances
Time After Time	All Due Respect	Dead Soldiers	Amsterdam	Straight and True
Homecoming	Back Burners	Moral Midgetry	Slapstick	Reformation
Middle Ground	Mission Accomplished

Season four appearances
Boys of Summer	Soft Eyes	Home Rooms	Refugees	Alliances
Margin of Error	Unto Others	Corner Boys	Know Your Place	Misgivings
A New Day	That's Got His Own	Final Grades

Season five appearances
More with Less	Unconfirmed Reports	Not for Attribution	Transitions	React Quotes
The Dickensian Aspect	Took	Clarifications	Late Editions	–30–

[edit] Origins

The character's code breaking facility, and the pager code itself from season one, are based on the Melvin "Chin" Farmer case investigated by Harry Edgerton and Ed Burns.^[2] His experiences as a teacher are based on those of Ed Burns, who retired from the police to become a teacher in Baltimore.

[edit] References