Latest / Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas / Dragnet: Police Academy (EP1394)

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Dragnet: Police Academy (EP1394) · Great Detectives of Old Time Radio Volume 2|Mystery Audio Dramas

0:28
Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho. This
0:34
is your host, Adam Graham. If you have a comment, send it
0:39
to me Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, Follow us on Twitter at
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Radio Detectives, and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com
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slash Radio Detectives. Well, before we do get started, I want to
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let you know that today's program brought to you by the financial support of our
1:02
listeners and for their support. I particularly want to thank Donald and Andrew.
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Thanks so much for your support. You can support the show at support dot
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Great Detectives dot net. Well, now it's time for this week's episode of
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Dragnet. This one is known as the Police Academy. Here's another n NBC's
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great parade of new shows. Ladies and gentlemen, The story you were about
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to hear is true, only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.
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NBC brings you Dragnet. You're a detective sergeant. You're assigned to robbery
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detail. Armed gang of blitz Bandits has started to work in your city.
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Their pace is fast, four and five robberies each night. The criminals are
2:07
not amateurs. They're well armed, dangerous, your job. Get them Dragnet
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that documented drama of an actual crime, investigated and solved by the men who
2:21
unrelentingly stand watch on the security of your home, your family, and your
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life. For the next thirty minutes, in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police
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Department, you will travel step by step on the side of the law through
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an actual case from official police files, from beginning to end, from crime
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to punishment. Dragnet is the story of your police force in action. It
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was Thursday, October twenty third, was windy in Los Angeles. We were
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working a day watch out a robbery. My partner's Ben Rameril, the boss
2:58
is at backstrand Chief of Detectives names Friday. I was on my way back
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from the Statistician's office. That was eleven forty two am when I got to
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Room twenty seven. A robbery detail. How did it work out, Joe?
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Any good prospects. I don't know how good they are, but I
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got a handful as man as you get. Let me see fifteen eighteen twenty
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two pathol down on the stats office, ran them on the IBM for me.
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There they are. Let's see, it's a gang of three men working
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on foot blitz robberies. They only take cash. I'm always tie ups,
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work from eight to ten at night. One of the gangs tall, the
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other too short. And these are the men the machines ordered out under that
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heading. You know if our information is wrong, and so's the machine.
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Got a good bunch of Canada's year descriptions match up with what we got.
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They seem to check the names on that list. Man, some of the
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smartest thieves in the country. Yeah, Tommy Willis Ray Grandpa gimps to tell
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many Roberts. George Crows, Mariokosky reads like June graduation at San Quentin.
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Yeah, George crossing one Willis are in town, we know that. And
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Cosky he's around a couple of weeks ago. And what about the rest.
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It's a big field. Have to check him out. I guess might as
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well to start at the beginning. Did you go through the overnight report?
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Yeah, yeah, no resturants, no liquor stores. That makes five days.
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The gang's laid off. I can afford, you can't. They eighteen
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robberies in twenty four days. That's a pretty good haul. The stop and
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go strategy there is Joe it's got me. Yeah. They work hard for
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a week in one area and then they lay low. They just keep going.
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We might have a better try at them. Hey, Joe, Yeah,
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Chandler Decker, Henry Decker didn't say I want to see him? Yeah,
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send him in. Oh are you joy looking good? Well? Hank
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Decker? How are you? No? What are you waiting for? Applause?
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Come on in and shut the door, Hank. This is my partner,
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Ben Romero, Ben Hank Decker. All right, eh, Hank and
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Iron Service together. Yeah. I just dropped in for a visit. Joe.
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Are you visiting? No more than usual? So thanks. I remembered
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you telling me you were on the PD, so I figured i'd drop around
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and get an inside track. What do you mean? I just filed with
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Civil Service to take the exam next month. Figure, I'd like to work
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at being a cop. Echell shot, Joe, great, pep talk you
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boys hand out? Are you sure you want to be a cop? Look?
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I'm thirty years old, Joe, I'm married. High school education,
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but a year of junior college. What's your wife thinking? She's not sold?
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Well, that's why I dropped in. How about coming out of the
5:28
house for dinner to night. You want me to sell her? Just talk
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to her. Seven okay, seven's okay. I'm glad to met you,
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Ben, say me and Digger see you again. Bye bye, Joe,
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see you to night. Hang well, what do you think Ben? I
5:45
ought to make a good cop. We had a list of twenty two possible
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suspects. By five o'clock, Ben and I had checked out two of them
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who might possibly have had a hand in the Blitz robberies of the eighteen liquor
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store and restaurants in the past twenty four days. Number one man was Thomas
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Willis, Caucasian aged twenty nine, five feet eleven inches, one hundred and
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seventy five pounds, dark hair, blue eyes. Number two man was Mario
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Koski, Caucasian, five feet six inches, one hundred and seventy pounds,
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dark hair, dark eyes, large scar under his chin, running across his
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throat up to and behind his left ear. According to our informants, and
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after questioning some of their associates, either Willis or Koski or both could have
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taken part in the Blitz holdups. We showed their mugs to the victims,
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but none of them could give us definite assurance that either Willis or Koski were
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in the hold up game. At seven that night, I went out to
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Hank Decker's house for supper, met his wife, Linda, his four year
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old twin boys. We talked about the Army, played with the kids for
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a while before we sat out to eat. We put the boys in bed.
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Hank was in the kitchen carving the roast. His wife closed the door
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of the kid's room and we started downstairs for the kitchen. What do you
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think of our two Adam baumbs tither fine kids, Miss Decker. Hank told
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me that you were worried about him wanting to join the force. I was
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twelve years old. My father was shut down. He was a policeman in
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Des Moines. He was only thirty seven when he died. I wouldn't know
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what to do if anything like that happened to Hank. What do you want
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me to say? But does Hank really want it? Can't you talk him
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out of it? You're his wife, can you No? I think it's
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his choice, Miss Decker. He's going to have to make up his own
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mind. I'm sorry, it's what Hank wants. I guess I worry too
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much. A lot of women marry cops they have and they will. They
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all worry. Hank will be all right? Will you guarantee it? Joe.
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During the next month I heard from Hank Decker only once. He was
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studying hard. During the same month, Ben and I were working hard trying
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to find some kind of a concrete lead to break the Blitz Gang. There
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had been no subsequent hold ups which seemed to tie in directly with the gang
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or its operations. From the list of possible suspects which Ben and I made
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up, eighteen names had been eliminated for one reason or another, either they
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were in jail at the time of the robberies, out of the Los Angeles
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area, or out of the state. But four names remained George Cross,
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Tommy Willis, Mariokoski, Julian Brock. During the latter part of the month,
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George Cross was booked on a minor charge and we questioned him at that
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time. He showed no knowledge of the holdups. Nearly two months after the
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robberies were committed, Ben and I were still without a solution as to the
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whereabouts of the gang. Never known a Blitz gang back this way before.
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Joe. Once they get wound up. They usually go into Lick Court.
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Yeah, to get out those telegram checks of the east. Yet last night
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four went home. Send out all three, Willis, Coski and Brock.
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I like to find just one of them. Chicago might have some from A's
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Cosky's old hangouts. Willis too, what about Brock from Kansas City? And
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Yeah, Hank got to work too. Might have an answer from one of
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them tomorrow. It's a slow job. We'll have to wait it out,
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I guess so. No following up from the victims. We do too.
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I'll get it robbery Friday. We'll hire you, Joe, Hank Dick.
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I congratulate me, what for it? Just pass my written exam? Got
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the letter this morning? How about that? That's fine. When do you
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take your physical? Well, not till the end of the month. Next
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week. I take the oral and agility tests and the physical. If I
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get there, you're gonna have a full month at the police Academy. After
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the test. There's a lot of working. It can't be any worse than
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these tests. It's a tough thirty days out there on the hill. Law
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court, procedure, evidence, combat firing, target practice. You'll have to
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wait through all of them. You're ever going to have anything encouraging to say?
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Yeah, when you're graduating, I won't count on it. How's your
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job going slow? How's your wife feel now about taking the job a little
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better? She's had to say a lot. Okay, keep us posted down.
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I'll do that, Joe, right bye. Hank passes written test.
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Oh anxious run it ro got a minute as caper. Come on, Jo,
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you got something? Ed? Yeah, those bitch robberies are handling not
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having much luck. We were gangs disappeared, not a trace of them so
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far. They leave town. Oh, we're not sure, Ed. We
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don't even have a good description. We're guessing most of the way. What
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are your guesses? You've been a couple of months to make them. Twelve
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of the hold up victims we talked to told us definitely that there were three
10:24
men in the gang, two of them short, one of them tall.
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We've just been working from there. All three of them have dark complex and
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started with twenty two possibilities and got it. We did down to four No,
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wit them in three. Yeah. Tommy Willis, Mario Koski, Julian
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Brock, Willis and Kski Eastern hoods. Brocks from the middle West, and
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where are they now? Having sure the frasers around down checking some of the
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cities in the east, it's about, Oh, we got skipper and much
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for two months work. Thieves can be that smart now they are. We've
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sounded out every lead we had ed or doing our best either. Have you
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ever hear of a man by the name of al Mishakov? No? I
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don't think so. Chicago gun man in the ol days, wasn't he That's
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right? I thought he was doing time in Juliet for old last year.
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Then a tippy was spotted on East Broadway night before last. We figured my
11:07
tie in with our job. I don't know find out if I remember right.
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Michikov's brother used to be pretty friendly with Mary Okoski. I helped send
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both of them up thirteen years ago, same rap robbery. Was that all
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you heard? Ed? Somebody spotted Michigov, that's all. If you can
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track him down, you might get some kind of a lead. That's more
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than you got now. That night and for the next two nights following,
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Ben and I had dinner downtown instead of going home, and then we spent
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the rest of the night covering the lower end of the city in search of
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al Michikov. We got more than a dozen leads on where to find him
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from some of our informants, but none of the leads paid off. We
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kept missing him. No one knew where he was staying. No one knew
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or no one would tell us. Worst thing about this job, Joe leg
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were you must be averaging ten miles a night, five feet say twenty almost
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midnight. Here's McCarthy's place. Let's try it right. Let's go down at
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the end of the bar. Ben, Yeah, wow, Hi, Ben,
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let's see you come in. What's no? Oh, not much?
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Bert made my partner, Joe Friday, Oh yeah, Friddy. All you
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fellas have looking for a guy Bert. His name is al Michiakoff, Chicago.
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You heard anything? He was in here earlier tonight, A couple of
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guys with him. Are you sure? What do you look like? Sixth
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Street out forty five? I guess big Bill sounds like him, all right,
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Joe? Is he staying in the neighborhood Burke down here? I don't
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think so. Most of those big time to stay uptown someplace. You're looking
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for Michigof I like to talk to him. How long ago. Was he
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in about eight o'clock? A couple of guys with him. They were talking
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about driving out to the airport, something about Las Vegas. Uh huh.
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There's an eight forty plane for Vegas, isn't it been? And thanks?
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So eight forty eight to fifty. I can't go away, Bert, Do
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you remember the exact time they left exactly? No, Say, there's one
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of the fellas that was with Michikov down there at the middle of the bar.
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Which one were, Yeah, wonder with a sandy here big chin?
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It's him. Yeah, I want to talk to you. Come on,
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Josh what he said? He said when he was in Vegas last week.
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I like to talk to him. Minute. Yeah, who are you police,
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Sergeant Friday? I have a drink, sergeant, No, thanks,
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I said, I wanted to talk to you Square John. Wait a minute,
13:22
George Square John wants to talk to me. Come on outside, we
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can talk better out there. I ain't done nothing. What's the pitch you
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gotta right to know? Let's go outside. Maybe I don't want to go
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outside. I think you better come on alright, alright, quit shoving you
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top shoving people? Ron, What are you trying to do? I said
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you all right down this way of Corus parked up the next day to you,
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Hey, look, what's this all about? I gotta righte to know
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you were seen with Al Michikov tonight? Where is he? Oh, al
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Mishakoff? You honest, it's better. I don't think you can spell your
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own. Nobody's asking you to play smart. Where's Michikov? Out of town?
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What do you care? Here's the car all right inside you. Look,
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you got me wrong. I ain't done nothing. Where's Michikoff? You
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and somewhere? The guy drove to the airport with him tonight, Let's have
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him. I'm clear, I tell you. I just drove out with my
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saw. Where'd Michikov go Vegas? Took the plane for Vegas? When about
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thirty quarter to nine? What's up anyway? Who's the guy traveling with Michikoff?
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Nobody? Who's the guy traveling with Michikoff Kosky? I just met him
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tonight. Mariyokosky is at the guy. Yeah, I'm leveling. I ain't
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done hing. Ben get to a phone call the office contact Las Vegas Police
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asked him to pick up Cosky in Michikoff when we got back to the office,
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we questioned the man we had picked up for almost two hours. His
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name was John Delmar, an ex convict. He'd been paroled from fulsome prison
14:50
two months before after serving three and a half years for burglary. He said
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Michiakoff was looking for a man to work with him and Kosky. He didn't
14:56
specify the work. Delmar said he refused the offer, but they parted on
15:01
friendly terms. They said, Coski and Michikof told him that they were going
15:03
to Las Vegas for a few days, then returned to Los Angeles. But
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when Ben and I checked back with the Las Vegas police the next morning,
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they reported that nobody answering the description of either Costi or Michikoff was seen arriving
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or leaving the airport. We checked with the airlines and sent in parice to
15:16
law enforcement agencies throughout the entire area. No sign. Three weeks went by,
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still no sign. Nothing in the overnights, Joe, mm, no
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nothing. Oh yeah, same here Reno, Sacramento, San Francisco. Nobody's
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seen him. Don't got to come out. Sometimes we can wait, Yeah,
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we can wait. Gets on your nerves. Let's check with Backstrand.
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Maybe he's got a job for us. In the meantime, you're getting his
15:43
eagers. Your friend Hank's Decker Joe and incident. They had things turn out
15:48
for him. He passed all his exams, putting in his month's turning at
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the academy. You know you should do all right? Oh yeah, I'm
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Mike Skipper, busy, not in his office, won't big until afternoon.
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What's matter? He's got a lecture at the police academy this morning. Thanks
16:03
Mike. Come on, Ben, Ben and I drove out to the Police
16:07
Academy in your Allegian Park. We went out to check with ed Backstrand on
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the Blitz robberies, not to listen to his lecture. When we walked into
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the classroom, he was just finishing up, so we sat in the back
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of the room and listened. It was a pretty good speech because of the
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alerteness of the arresting officer, his talent for memorizing detail, and his knowledge
16:25
of how a criminal accent or a given set of circumstances. The arrest was
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made. All that's about it, gentlemen. Thank you for your attention.
16:33
Oh when I ran this speech over at home, my wife said. It
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wasn't a very good talk, but at least it came out on time.
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Now it seems I'm two minutes short, so I guess I failed on both
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counts. If I may, I'd like to use the few minutes that are
16:48
left to tell you what I think of being a cop. After twenty four
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years, For one reason or other, you men have chosen the career of
16:55
a police officer. Let me tell you right now, without any qualifications,
17:00
it's a thankless job. Maybe you can't see it now, maybe you think
17:03
I'm exaggerating, But when you graduate next week and get that uniform on,
17:07
your whole lives are going to change. You're gonna lose friends, a lot
17:12
of them. They'll want parking tickets fixed, some other favors. You'll have
17:18
to turn them down, so you'll be a heel, a fat head.
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When you're on the beach, you're going to meet the cream of society and
17:25
the scum, the lowest. Sometimes you won't be able to tell the difference.
17:30
Some of you will have to work with thugs, two big gangsters,
17:33
dope addicts, cheap women, all a human garbage you can find in a
17:37
big city. You'll come home at night and take a shower to wash off
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the dirt, but you still won't feel clean. That's a job. You
17:45
buy a box of candy and bring it home for your anniversary. Neighbors will
17:49
say you chiseled it, and you save up a few dollars and buy a
17:53
new car or some furniture for the house. It's grafted. People are gonna
17:59
want favors. They'll offer you things, a free beer or a new dress
18:02
for your wife. If you take it, you're a chisler. If you
18:06
don't, you're a tough cop. Oh here's a piece of advice. Take
18:11
nothing from anyone, no matter how good a friend he is. Pay for
18:15
everything you get, and don't ask favors. Treat everybody alike, no matter
18:18
what they look like or what they believe in. You don't play favorites.
18:23
There are going to be times when a few men in the department get out
18:26
of line. The newspapers will play it up because it makes good reading,
18:30
and the average John public will love it because that's the only way he can
18:34
pay you back for that traffic ticket you gave him. Being a good cop
18:40
is a hard job, but it's a good one. Let me warn you
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just once more. It's one of the most thankless jobs on earth. That's
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all, gentlemen. The following week, Hank Decker graduated from the Police Academy
18:57
and hit the transfer list for a get an assignment. He drew a job
19:00
of teaching combat firing and boxing at the academy. He didn't like it,
19:04
so he put in a request for a transfer and waited for the next six
19:08
weeks. Ben and I waited too, for some sign of the Blitz bandits.
19:11
There wasn't anything. The only possible suspects, Mariokoski and al Mishikoff,
19:17
had disappeared completely. We kept a close check on every possible avenue of information.
19:22
Still no sign. Ben and I were transferred to the night Watch on
19:26
robbery for a few weeks, and that gave Hank Decker a chance to drop
19:30
in and visit with us a couple of hours. When he went off duty
19:32
at the academy, he was still as eager as ever. All right,
19:36
ben's you all anything new? Aie, Hank, nothing here? What about
19:38
the academy? Oh big news? What's zem getting a transfer starting next Monday?
19:42
Going to start on a beat? I thought you were all tied up
19:45
with that. Boys, club. You started out there? Oh, I
19:48
was what Hanson's going to take over when I leave. The kids? Sure
19:49
love it, free swimming in the pool, boxing lessons, We teach him
19:52
everything. Where's your big going to be? Huh? Central right in the
19:55
downtown district. Might learn something, you'll learn a lot. You want to
19:59
forget most of it. Look, it's a quarter after seven. Don't you
20:02
ever go home for dinner? Hank getting a wife used to it? This
20:04
new ship's going to be night working though. Wait, you're on it for
20:07
a year and then you tell us how you like it a year. I
20:10
want to be in the detective euro after a year when you're not even gonna
20:12
last a year if you don't get home to dinner. Your wife's called twice
20:15
this week already she calls me. Okay, when did she call the night?
20:18
Yes? And Jane, I guess I better hit her off. Let
20:19
me know if anything breaks. I enjoy. I'd like to tag along.
20:22
Okay, Well on your way, Okay, good night. It's so long,
20:26
isn't I? How eager can you get where? We like that when
20:32
we started? Not me. I never had that much energy at one time.
20:34
The whole life hot shot Joe I'll get it at seven six seven East
20:41
Broadway, a liquor store to eleven and Sluggie at seven six seven East Broadway,
20:48
a liquor store to eleven. Man, seven six seven East Broadway to
20:51
eleven liquor store. Let's go seven six seventies Broadway, King's Liquor Store.
21:06
We pushed our way through the small crowd outside the door and into the shop.
21:10
Two patrolmen in uniform were already interviewing the proprietor. He had two large
21:14
gashes on his head just above the right temple. He was trembling and badly
21:17
shaken, but he managed to give us a good description of the hold up.
21:18
Man, Yeah, I can tell you what they looked like, three
21:22
of them, one short, one tall husky, another short fat. You
21:27
remember what they were wearing. The coats, all three dark coats. One
21:33
of the short men, he had a big scar here on the throat.
21:36
Lot like this. After the three men rubbed the store, they slugged me
21:40
and tied me up. Turner, this man's hurt. You call an ambulance.
21:45
That's fine. We have just one more question, mister King. Here's
21:48
a handful of pictures we'd like you to tell us if any one of these
21:49
men were in the gang that held you up tonight. Let me look,
21:52
hey, yeah, take your time. No, no, not him,
21:59
No no oh, this one here here he took the money from the register.
22:07
Would you look through the rest please anymore? Let me see again?
22:12
No no oh, here another one. The fact went to scar. This
22:19
is him. You think he's the one that slugged me. Thanks, mich
22:23
King, here's our card. We'll be contacting you later. Turner. Would
22:26
you and your partner take the prime report. We got some checking to do.
22:30
Thanks. Come on, man, ye ask and mischakof and picked out
22:34
both of them. Yeah, yeah, I certainly did. Attention all units.
22:41
Attention all units the southeast corner of Broadway and East Third, A liquor
22:45
store and restaurant two eleven pull three all units the southeast corner of When we
22:59
got to the liquors were on restaurant at Broadway in East third men and I
23:02
knew for certain that Cosky and Michigov were back in the city and working hard
23:06
their mo mats down to almost the smallest detail. We put a call through
23:10
the communications and the entire Central Division was alerted. Then we called Chief Backstrand
23:14
and told him the news. He assigned a special detail from the Metropolitan Unit
23:18
to patrol the area until further notice. But at nine to twenty three pm
23:22
before they pulled out of the police garage, the blitz bandits added two more
23:25
liquor stores and one more restaurants to their list of victims. Early the next
23:29
morning, Ben and I met with Chief Backstrand in his office. You gotta
23:32
make on that third man yet. We ran his description through R and I
23:33
early this morning. In closest candidates, a guy the name of Julian Brock
23:37
done time here in New York and he tie up with Cosky or Michigan for
23:41
MoMA. Sheet says he knows Gusky pretty well. And that's good enough.
23:44
Now, how do you think you're going to get these thieves? We've got
23:47
the learn out chiefs, spacial detail for Metropolitan divisions, been brief, communications
23:51
all set, all right. Here's a tip for him. Tell them then,
23:53
if there's a hold up call that only the car in the area of
23:56
the hold up will handle it. These thieves are no amateurs. Let me
23:59
try some decoy trick. Tell them in to stay in the area they were
24:02
assigned to them. Until they receive a call. Jake, we'll take care
24:06
of it in you're going to be on hand to night. And when do
24:07
you figure out starting? We'll have the full detail lave six thirty, play'd
24:11
safe and start at four My chance missing him At three point thirty that afternoon,
24:19
we left the police garage with a special detail from Metropolitan Division and we
24:23
started to cruise the central area. We weren't looking for any action the first
24:27
few hours, and we didn't get any. The five o'clock traffic in the
24:33
downtown area was heavy as usual. Hope that gang holds off til after six.
24:40
We couldn't get out of this traffic. Of our lives depended on We'd
24:42
probably do better on foot if it wasn't for radio contact control Ford eighty K
24:48
control ford eighty K your location, get it? Will you do? Yeah?
24:52
Well look at the money. Eighty K to control four eight OK to
24:56
control four our location on Spring Street between second and third eighty K, dann
25:02
by eighty K call your office code too. Call your office code to eighty
25:11
K to control for Roger cam A three six seven? Yeah, Now what
25:15
do I do for a parking space? You know you're lucky that guy up
25:18
ahead there he's pulling out and that hasn't happened to me in six months.
25:23
Okay, hold on, Ben, I'll be back in a minute. Hetty
25:42
Hall to five one one, Robbery Chandler. This is Friday Bell. You
25:49
want us, Yeah, I just mant a Joe Jeep wants to talk to
25:52
you. Hello. Yeah, Cruiser cond just brought in a guy in during
25:56
the description of Mary Okoski. Yeah, get over here right away and question
26:00
the guy. If it is Cosky waiting, I'll go home early. Ben
26:07
and I went back to the office in question the man, who gave his
26:10
name as Conrad Larkin. It was Koski's approximate height and weight, same color
26:15
hair, same color eyes. The resemblance to Coski's picture was evident. We
26:19
questioned him thoroughly about the Blitz robberies, and then we checked out his fingerprints.
26:23
The coincidence was hard to overlook, but we were satisfied the man was
26:27
not Mario Koski. There was a phone message on my desk to call Hank's
26:33
wife. I called her, and then we checked with the chief Backstrand again
26:36
and started for the police garage. It was ten minutes past six. Hi,
26:41
Ben, wait a minute. Oh hi, Hang, what's all excitement?
26:44
I've heard about those jobs last night? The blitz gang. How about
26:45
tacking along tonight? What's terre? You suit yourself? Heh? When do
26:49
I do home for dinner? I told the wife I'd eat out tonight.
26:52
You sure you're not due home for dinner? Oh? Not tonight? Joe?
26:56
Is every luck? Yet? Not so far? Hang? Maybe now
26:59
you're own? Come on, here's the garage. How close did you come
27:06
to the guy last night? Not close? And the two steps ahead of
27:08
us all the way? And the show must work fast? Five chops in
27:11
a roll? All right, Hey, let's don't rub it in? Hey,
27:19
Ben watching with him? Yeah? Woman driver, how about it?
27:25
Joe? Do you think I gotta make you out? You can talk to
27:26
d Backstrand. He might get your transfer after a while. Yeah, I
27:29
might try it, Joe. Look across the street, the guy coming out
27:33
of the bar. Where in front of the bar. He's standing there?
27:36
Guy in the dark pad you see? Yeah? Two other guys behind him?
27:38
Who is he? I can't be sure, Ben, you better pull
27:41
Upsky looks just like his picture? All right? Come on, all right,
27:48
hold it, mister. They want to talk to you. Get out.
27:53
Get down. Two of them down, Ben, other went up valley,
28:00
Let's go. Did they get Hank? Yeah, hold right here,
28:06
all right, Husky rock your gun is mopping your hands up? All right,
28:10
let's return the fire. Come on, he had his chin, Yeah,
28:22
grab his gun. Let's get back to Hank. Did you get the
28:26
guns from the other two? Yeah, we're dead, Hank got them more?
28:30
All right? One side please, officer? Did you call an ambulance?
28:33
Come on, Ben? One side please? What do you let us
28:36
throw? Hank? How you doing? Yes? Good? Ben? Will
28:41
you get the crowd black? Give him some air? Would you just move
28:45
back? Al right? Easy, Hank. They'll be here in a minute.
28:51
Hank, Hank, how's it doing? Joe going? Yeah? Come
29:00
on? What have you got yo? Phone message from Hank's wife for you?
29:11
Yeah, you returned Nicoll before we left the office. Oh. She
29:21
wanted me to remind Hank he was due home for dinner at seven o'clock.
29:33
The story you have just heard is true, only the names were changed to
29:37
protect the innocent. You have just heard the twelfth in a new series of
29:47
authentic cases from official files. Technical advice for Dragnet is furnished by the Los
29:52
Angeles Police Department. Tonight's program is dedicated to Patrolman James Frank Goggin of the
29:59
Cleveland Police Department, who, on the morning of January thirteenth, nineteen thirty
30:03
nine, gave his life so that yours might be more secure. Dragnet came
30:14
to you from Los Angeles. If you enjoyed tonight's production of Dragnet, you'll
30:18
want to listen to Richard Diamond, private detective, as played by the Screams
30:22
Romantic tough GUYE Dick Powell, heard Saturday on most of these NBC stations.
30:27
This is NBC, the National Broadcasting Company. Welcome back. Before we actually
30:45
get too much into the comments of one thing, I didn't want to address
30:49
something I didn't notice when you're not. When I first listened to this episode
30:56
of Dragnet, I was going through this as someone who basically just listened to
31:02
Dragnet and read about Dragnet and didn't know about any of the other programs or
31:07
actors around. But I caught here that Jeff Chandler appears in the role of
31:15
the want to be a policeman who joins the force. Chandler is of course
31:21
known for his screenwork and He was at this point about one year out from
31:29
winning his or from being nominated for an Academy Award for his work in Broken
31:33
Arrow. So very talented, and he and Webb had actually worked together,
31:40
with Web making several appearances in Jeff Chandler's program The New Adventures of Michael Shane,
31:49
which we'll be listening to in about a year and a half or so,
31:53
with Shane playing with Web playing Lieutenant LaSalle Michael Shane's police spoil as well
32:00
as at least one episode he played a heavy But anyway, before I get
32:05
too much further into the show, because it ties in so well, Joel
32:08
says, as I listened to these shows from the beginning of the series,
32:13
I can appreciate why it became such a hit. The stories are simple but
32:16
compelling. The action and dialogue are realistic. The police procedures are well portrayed
32:22
to the look so the listener gets a good sense of the methods and techniques
32:27
and the matter of fact way Friday and Ramero handled the pursuit and sometimes killing
32:31
them a perp lets you realize the nature of this job. Every now and
32:36
and then, the emotion of a crime can be heard in their expressions.
32:38
But these guys are like infantry in the war. Get the enemy and keep
32:43
yourself safe, then go on to the next battle. Thanks for bringing this
32:46
wonderful series back along with others. You do such a good job selecting and
32:51
commenting about well. Thanks so much, Joel, and really the development of
32:57
this series. You do see it as we go through this whole process,
33:05
and to me this could mind a few of the later episodes of Dragnet,
33:12
and not just the Dragnet Radio show, but Dragnet extending into the nineteen sixties
33:17
and of course even Adam twelve into the seventies. The big thing to me
33:23
was Backstrand speech. And it's somewhat ironic given the reputation that Dragnet developed,
33:30
that the first really big speech about being a police officer in Dragnet history wasn't
33:37
delivered by Joe Friday but by Captain Backstrand, and it does bear a pretty
33:45
big resemblance, at least in themes anyway, there are few phrasings that really
33:52
are quite similar to Joe friday speech on what it means to be a cop
33:59
in the nineteen sixty seven episode The Big Interrogation, Though some of the themes
34:05
were a little different, such as the nineteen sixty seven episode didn't really have
34:10
a conflicts of entrance portion of the spage. You can also feel what they
34:19
were going for with the introduction of this character played by Jeff Chandler. They
34:27
were trying to humanize the everyday policeman who dies in the line of duty.
34:31
Often. The killing police officers and movies and television, not television shows,
34:39
but movies and even on radio was in some way similar to the phenomenon of
34:46
Red Shirts and Star Trek. It's an event that happens without emotional connection or
34:52
buying from the audience, and I think that was really what Web was going
34:57
for here. I'm not certain how well it worked. Introducing and killing off
35:02
a character in the same episode is a bit dicey. Plus, they were
35:07
trying to run the investigation and the character plot, which shortened down the amount
35:13
of time for each of them. When Jack Web would actually get really successful
35:19
of this would be in the nineteen sixty series Adam twelve. The third season
35:29
episode eight, Elegy for a Pig, begins with the death of a police
35:36
officer in the line of duty we've never met before, and kind of like
35:42
a whole movie style of filmography, with only Pete Malloy's narration going over the
35:51
acting, and the result is quiet moving here. Because the plot doesn't dominate
35:58
the story, it doesn't work quite as well well, but you can definitely
36:00
see the beginning of that idea, which really does, in my opinion,
36:07
reach its fruition in Elegy for a Pig. So overall, between Ed Bastrand's
36:15
speech, Jeff Chandler appearing and the whole Police Academy subplot, the mystery was
36:22
actually the least interesting part of this week's episode. A lot to look at
36:29
and really does give you a picture of what would be to come. Oh,
36:32
the one other thing I wanted to comment on. When you think about
36:37
Ed Bastrand's speech and Joe Friday's eighteen years later, if you wanted to look
36:45
at it from a strict continuity standpoint, I suppose you could look at it
36:51
as Friday picking up on the themes that he heard as a much younger sergeant
36:55
from Ed Bastrand. That problem wasn't intended when it was written in nineteen sixty
37:02
seven. And of course it's interesting thing about Raymond Burr's voice. He's clearly
37:08
playing a much older man a generation apart, probably a good fifteen years older
37:17
than Sergeant Friday. In reality, Raymond Burr was only three years older than
37:23
Jack Webb. Well, that will actually do it for today. We will
37:28
be back on Sunday with the Adventures of Philip Marlow TV show, and then
37:34
join us on Monday for the Saint Our. Next Saturday, of course,
37:38
we'll be back with another episode of Dragnet in the meantime. Sendra comments to
37:45
Box thirteen at Great Detectives dot net, follow us on Twitter at Radio Detectives,
37:50
and become one of our friends on Facebook, Facebook dot com. Slash
37:53
Radio Detectives from Boise, Idaho. This is your host, Adam Grahamson and off