02 Mar The movies get it. Why can’t reporters?

Sometimes the movies understand issues that reporters and editors seem incapable of grasping. Like the entrenched police habit of grossly inflating the value of illicit drugs they seize, values almost always reported as Received Truth.

In The Guard,  John Michael McDonagh’s hilarious comedy about the culture clash between an uptight FBI agent and a small town Irish cop, FBI Agent Wendell Everett, played by Don Cheadle, is briefing members of Ireland’s Garda police force about a drug ship carrying $500 million worth of cocaine, when Sgt. Gerry Boyle, his small town Irish counterpart, played with impecable timing by Brendan Gleeson, interrupts.

Wendell Everett: That’s half a billion.

Gerry Boyle: Street value.

WE: Pardon me?

GB: Street value. You lads are always announcing a seizure of drugs with a street value of $10 million or $20 million or half a billion dollars. I do always wonder what street it is you’re buying your cocaine on, because it’s not the same street as I’m buying my cocaine on.

Watch the clip here.