Original subtitles

One-Adam-12, One-Adam-12,

a 211 in progress.

One-Adam-12, handle, code 3.

♪♪

Come on, Pete. Try and remember.

Um, the Phillies.

They hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth.

What about Houston and St. Louis?

Rained out.

Come on, Pete. It doesn't rain in the Astrodome.

- The Cards. - No.

Wait a minute. Houston.

- Pete. - Houston.

Yeah. Houston.

- Are you sure? - Look, if it's so important,

why don't you look up the scores in the paper

before you leave in the morning?

Yeah, I would, but by the time I get the paper,

the sports page is gone.

Yeah. Jean uses it to line the rabbit's cage with.

You're kidding.

It's not that bad.

I mean, the rabbit's getting to be quite a sports fan.

Get the scores from the rabbit.

All units in the vicinity in One-Adam-12,

a 459 there now.

3656 Denker.

One-Adam-12, handle, code 2.

One-Adam-12, Roger.

We're covered.

Okay, let's do it.

Hey, pick up on this.

I found the pot of gold.

Yeah? I don't see no rainbow.

All you got is an old coffee can.

There ain't no coffee in here, man.

Just bread.

We found this guy's mad money.

25 bucks.

Here. 10 for you.

15 for me.

How come only 10?

'Cause I'm the one that knows what's happening around here.

What do you expect the first time around?

You know, we ought to thank these folks for being so nice.

You got that crayon?

Besides the whipping he's gonna get when we get home,

what's going to happen to him, Officer?

The first thing, you'll have to bring him back down here

at 9:00 in the morning.

The detectives will want to talk to both of you.

Thank you. Will he go to jail?

Well, that's up to probation and the juvenile court.

But it's his first offense,

and they'll take that into consideration.

9:00?

I work late. I don't get up that early.

Suppose I just send the kid?

I'm afraid that's not possible, Mrs. Stephens.

The idea is to talk to both of you.

You cops are always rousting Virgie.

Virgie's a big boy now.

I'm sure he can find his way over here,

by himself, in the morning, without my holding his hand.

Mrs. Stephens, your son can't get to school by himself.

You don't seem to understand.

He was involved in a burglary this morning.

A couple of kids play hooky,

and you cops right away make

a big deal about it already.

One of the main things that they look at is what the parents think.

I see. You mean whether they take their kids in tow or not.

Yes, sir. That's one way of putting it.

Well, you can bet your bottom dollar on this...

This one's going to fall in real quick from now on.

Every day, when I'm walking my route,

I see these children roaming the streets.

I never thought my boy would be one of them.

But I've got to work.

Why doesn't the school call me

and let me know when my boy isn't there?

And I could stop it before things got worse.

They're just too busy, Mr. Bradley.

I've looked into it myself.

When they have 200 kids absent from school,

they just don't have enough help to check up on all of them.

Then I've got to find a way. So help me,

this boy's going to grow up right if it kills me.

Thank you for your time, Officer.

We'll be in tomorrow.

All right.

Mrs. Stephens, I have to get back to work,

so let me put it to you this way.

You be down here tomorrow, with your son,

or detectives will file a petition,

and Virgil will be picked up.

And the court might just order your arrest.

My arrest? What for?

Any number of things. We could start with

contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

- Now, wait just a minute! - No, you wait a minute.

I'm telling you the way things are.

You do whatever you want.

All right, all right.

So I'll bring the kid in.

I don't see what good it's gonna do, though.

I don't either, Mrs. Stephens.

You'll hear soon enough.

Those two kids this morning are a perfect example of what I mean.

If they'd have been in school, they wouldn't

have been out pulling that burglary.

You don't have to sell me. I already think it's a good idea.

Well, Mac didn't think much of it.

Mac's got problems of his own. Give him some time.

He said he'd play it by the captain.

Yeah, a lot of good that'll do.

He didn't buy any part of my truant idea.

What kind of a job do you think he'll do selling it to the captain?

- It's almost been two weeks now. - You're asking the brass

to try something we've never done before.

Give him a chance to evaluate it.

All I'm saying is have a little patience.

5821.5821.

See the woman. A 415, group.

860.

You better put us code 6.

It's One-Adam-12. Show us code 6.

A stalled vehicle. 300 block Lucerne.

One-Adam-12, Roger.

I'm really sorry about this, Officer.

Don't know what's wrong. Darn thing just quit on me.

- You checked your gas gauge? - Yeah, I've got plenty of gas.

Wouldn't you know it? I just bought this baby two weeks ago.

Right now I think we should push it out of the street.

- You belong to an auto club? - Yeah. Triple C.

Give my partner a hand, and I'll get a tow truck down here to help you.

Thanks.

I can't tell you how much we appreciate this, Officer.

Part of the job. I'm gonna get a tow unit.

Well, can't thank you enough.

I'll say one thing, you fellas sure earn your money.

- Our pleasure. - Tow truck's on the way.

Great. Again, thanks for your help.

Well, I know you fellas have better things to do, so, uh, we'll be okay.

That's all right. We'll hang loose.

No, I insist. Go ahead. We'll be fine.

No, I insist. Turn around and put your hands behind your head.

- What is this anyway? - I said move!

Pat them down, partner. We got two hot ones.

- Intuition? - The radio.

Air-1 had the link tell us they were armed.

Did they say what we have besides CCW?

No, there wasn't time. I'll get them on tact-2.

Adam-12 to Air-1. Do you have any further?

Air-1 to Adam-12. Keep them under wraps.

Your answer's pulling in behind you now.

Well, as I live and breathe.

I never thought Pete Malloy'd be making my busts for me.

Hi, Jim. Guess you guys are kind of in the dark, huh?

Seeing you gives me a pretty good idea. Narco.

You didn't think we'd be chasing plain old burglars, did you?

- Not unless they were holding. - You're right.

We've been on these guys for five days now.

Got them two blocks from their cutting pad, and their wheels stalled.

We didn't want to take a chance on you two getting blown up,

so the chopper put in the call.

It's nice to know somebody up there loves us.

Yeah. A new car breaks down. I guess it just wasn't their day.

My guess is it was bad planning.

Take a look at this.

You got a search warrant, cop?

Signed, sealed, and delivered.

Any more questions, Harvey?

As I was about to say before we were so rudely interrupted,

Harvey here is a bad planner.

It's my guess one of these little sacks of smack here...

Yeah. There we are.

26 ounces of European-quality heroin.

Street value of 472,000,

minus one bag which broke.

Smack dissolved, went right into the fuel system.

Are you telling me the car died of an overdose of heroin?

What else?

Oh, uh, this is it, I guess, huh?

Yeah. I guess.

And Mac didn't say what the captain wanted, did he?

I mean, if it's about the truant idea.

Reed, for two weeks, you've been beefing

about how long it takes him to make a decision.

Now, uh, why don't we just go in there and listen to him?

Yeah.

Well, here it goes.

The captain's expecting us.

You wanted to see us, sir?

I understand this truant thing is your idea.

- Is that right? - Yes, sir.

- It'll work. - What makes you think so?

Well, because everything fits, Captain.

I've heard MacDonald. Now I'd like to hear your side of it.

I went back six months

and picked apart every burglary in the division...

The time of day, the day of the week,

the MO, the property taken, trademarks, the whole bit.

Now, half of our 459s go down between 0800 and 1300 on weekdays... school days.

The MO is usually amateurish.

The method of entry, sloppy. The property taken...

It's usually worthless except for cash.

And in most cases, the houses are torn up.

Now, to me, that MO says that they're kids.

- What about hypes? - No, sir. I don't think so.

I plotted these burglaries on a pin map,

and most of them occur within a 15-block radius

of one of the schools in the division.

Now, that one school just happens to have

the highest absentee rate in the city.

So it's your idea to pick up truant kids,

take them back to school and prevent burglaries, is that it?

- Yes, sir. - Your watch commander doesn't think much of the idea.

He says we're police officers, not hooky cops.

Well, I have to disagree, Captain.

What do you say, Malloy?

- I think it'll fly, skipper. - I agree.

You've come up with a good idea, Reed.

We'll give it a try.

- How many does that make? - Too many.

What's that supposed to mean?

It means your brainstorm has made a babysitter out of me.

I don't dig this action, Reed.

I'm a street cop. You remember?

Yeah, well, your area's covered. What's the big sweat?

Besides, your relief will be here in about five minutes.

Just do me a favor.

The next time you get a bright idea, keep it to yourself.

All right, Wells. But I'd still like to know how many.

127, Your Lordship.

He's a real joiner, isn't he?

Yeah.

I hope this thing goes. You know what?

You're not making too many friends.

It'll go.

Let's cruise down Maple. Some of the kids use it to get over to the pool hall.

Coming up, Your Lordship.

7826.7826.

9018 and 9038.9018 and 9038.

Handle the call.

415, juveniles with firecrackers on Van Nuys.

There's a couple that haven't got the word yet.

Wait a minute.

We may have to give them a free ticket this time.

There's a pool of oil a foot wide underneath that car.

This is One-Adam-12 requesting one only

on Zebra King Ida 417.

One-Adam-12.

Zebra King Ida 417. Stand by.

One-Adam-12, Zebra King Ida 417

is a West L.A. stolen only.

One-Adam-12, Roger. You sure can pick them.

Hold off on the tow truck.

Maybe we got more than just a sitting duck.

Stripped clean.

There's where the oil came from.

Like I said, maybe we got more than a sitting duck.

Get us some backup.

It's One-Adam-12 requesting a backup in the alley

east of 7th between Maple and Elm.

One-Adam-12, Roger.

One Xray 22. One Xray 22.

Backup One-Adam-12

in the alley east of 7th, between Maple and Elm.

Okay, let's give it a try.

Cops! Cops!

Hold it!

All right. Climb out of there!

Let go of me, cop! Let go of me!

Turn around and put your hands on top of your head.

Let's go.

Let's go.

- Good pinch. - I'm glad you approve.

I do. I do.

It's just that I thought you guys were off this gig.

What are you doing wasting your time on a couple of car thieves

when we got all those dangerous truants running the streets?

I'll see you back at the classroom.

- These kids are getting scarce. - Yeah.

I've been keeping track.

Monday we picked up a total of 142,

Tuesday, 120, and Wednesday, 80, and yesterday, only 23.

The principal over at Freeman said his attendance is up 30%.

That's good for the schools. What about the crime picture?

Analytical's working on the end-of-the-week figures now.

That'll tell the story. If burglaries are still up,

Operation Truant's down the tubes.

Yeah. And me along with it.

Well, a wise man once said,

"Great hazards accompany innovation."

- Yeah? Who was that? - Me.

Hold it, boys.

We didn't do nothing.

You didn't, huh? What school do you fellas go to?

Don't go to school. We already graduated.

I'm 18. He's 19.

Okay, I'll buy that. Let's have a look at your draft cards.

Uh, well, uh... I mean, we forgot to bring them.

- They're at home. - Okay, real fast.

- What year were you born? - Uh, 1938.

Mmm. That makes you 33. Wanna try again?

We go to Freeman.

Okay, let's, uh, take a ride down to the station.

I think your principal would like to talk to you.

All units in the vicinity of One-Adam-14, One-Adam-14.

See the woman. A 459 just occurred.

1216 Northgate Street. Handle, code 2.

Let's roll by. That's just a couple of blocks from here.

Oh, you boys are surely fast and efficient.

I only called a few minutes ago.

Could you tell us what happened, ma'am?

I came home from grocery shopping

and caught them in the act is what happened.

There they were, as bold as day.

They'd broken the window on the back door is what they did.

They both ran like a couple of scared jackrabbits when they saw me.

- Was there anything missing? - $50 and two gold rings.

The little thieves took it out of a cigarette box on the coffee table.

Can you give us a description?

Well, you boys sure have a sense of humor.

- Ma'am? - Well, you came over

to bring my property back, didn't you?

Isn't that why you're here?

They still have it, don't they?

All right, you two. You come out of there right now! Do you hear?

Oh, I hope your folks whip you but good!

Let's have it. All of it.

Yes.

It's all here.

Well, that's one we didn't prevent,

but it's not too bad if you can solve them

five minutes after they go down.

I don't think we can take too much credit for that one.

Hey, Reed.

Got two more.

You know, this thing's going like gangbusters.

Haven't had a crime reported in my area in two days.

Well, looks like His Lordship is becoming popular.

I don't think I can live with it.

I think we can call this one a success.

Hey, Pete, get this.

Residential burglary is down 63%.

Auto theft down 85%. Car class down 76%.

It's a good program. We're gonna start running it two, three days a month.

- Just to keep the kids off balance? - Exactly.

Oh, by the way, here's something you might like to see.

- Hey, look at that. - Looks like your idea is catching on.

Man, does that put you away? Hey, listen.

"Operation Truant's been labeled as a success

"by both police and school authorities.

"urging all schools, enforcement agencies

"and probation departments countywide

to adopt similar programs."

- That's some article. - You bet.

If we keep it up, who knows? We might just wipe out juvenile crime.

Oh, I don't think it'll go that far.

Some parents will have to care first.

Closed-Captioned By J.R. Media Services, Inc. Burbank, CA