"1-Adam-12, 1-Adam-12, please respond to a 10-101 ... sighting of tropes seen in this episode":
By-the-Book Cop: A part of Malloy's character (for the most part), but especially played up here, and Reed – playing off the positive influence of his more experienced training officer and partner – sees the value of planning (albeit quick) to properly handle a given situation. In this case, a sniper who wounds Wells during a disturbance call; the officers have to rescue Wells before setting up a plan (ultimately successful) to get the sniper to surrender.
Cowboy Cop: Officer Edward Wells, who acts before he thinks and often puts himself, his fellow officers and others in danger. Malloy is able to break Reed of his admiration of Wells, explaining to him — calmly but matter-of-factly — why Wells’ tactics are not only wrong but often dangerous.
Good Policing, Evil Policing: While Wells is definitely not evil – later stories will show Wells to be a good man, a loving father and husband and having a good heart – he is often antagonistic, and his Cowboy Cop antics will often contrast with the proper techniques used by Malloy and Reed.
Lemming Cops: Wells and his beat partner, when responding to at least two calls in this episode. The first time (a domestic disturbance), Wells barely avoids getting shot in the head; the second time (a sniper call), he is shot in the arm.
Never My Fault: After Malloy blows up at him, Wells dismisses his rant as being upset that Wells made the arrest instead of him.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Malloy is really peeved by Wells' Cowboy Cop technique of police work, but when he sees that his influence is rubbing off on rookie officers like Reed, he really blows his stack: "Don't roll on any of my calls unless you're assigned. And if you are, stay outta my way 'cause I don't need you." When Wells tries to defend himself, Malloy really loses his cool: "No, you wait a minute! You charge around like some comic-strip character and the sorry part of it is you think you're doing good police work! Well, YOU'RE NOT!!! There's more to this job than kicking a door down and taking a gun away from some nut! Now if you haven't learned that yet, you probably never will! So I don't need you and these kids don't you! If you don't get yourself killed, it'll be your partner or some other policeman!"
Taking the Heat: Mac sternly lectures Malloy, saying he expects the units assigned to handle calls to handle them and not leave it to the backup unit. Malloy doesn't try to shift the blame or make excuses, though it does fuel his anger at Wells later on.
Tempting Fate: Wells and his partner rush in, ahead of Malloy and Reed (and without a without a request for backup) to handle a domestic disturbance, even though the male half of the couple is known to be armed. Malloy, during his tar-feathering of Wells, warns him his tactics could get him and/or others killed.
