D'Agostino convinces Carcetti to meet with Royce again, and hold off on attacking him for any continued inaction until a time closer to the mayoral primaries.
Carcetti approaches Royce a second time to discuss changes to the way the city protects witnesses, but the mayor claims there is no money available.
Carcetti types a letter of concern while Royce and Burrell hold a press conference on the return of Dozerman's weapon.
Colvin discusses his statistics with Lieutenant Mello and the Western's community relations sergeant, which show that crime is up near Hamsterdam but down in the rest of the district.
Mello thinks the bosses should know that what they are doing is working, but Colvin insists that it should be kept a secret for the time being, to make sure the numbers are sustainable.
When Carver remarks that there are too many children, Colicchio notes that many of them are now unemployed because lookouts and runners are not needed if trade is allowed.
Carver tells the dealers that they have to pay one hundred dollars a week to deal in Hamsterdam, with the money going towards supporting the children.
Elsewhere, Donette tells Bell that Brianna is planning to visit the police station to talk to McNulty about D'Angelo's death.
Freamon and Prez analyze the phone that Bubbles procured, but the information is difficult to interpret without knowing more about Marlo's organization.
Back at the detail, Greggs asks Massey if she can stay at her place for a while, while Prez reports the information he found on D'Agostino to McNulty.
The following day, McNulty arrives late and finds Pearlman and Daniels receiving a briefing from Freamon and Prez, who have identified a communication network with fifteen distinct phone users by analyzing call patterns.
The drug dealer Williamson is put on the back burner as Bell and Stanfield are made the new targets and arresting Bodie's crew becomes less important than the Hamsterdam cops-dealers pact.
The title can also refer to the "back door" move made on Lieutenant Daniels by Detective McNulty in getting the investigative targets changed.