First Aired - March 28, 1968
Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Bill Gannon are working in the foothills as Community Relations Officers. They talk to community members to improve relations between police and public. They suggest people call them to find out the truth of incidents instead of spreading rumors. A couple complains they were stopped because of their race.
This was the final episode of the second season of the 1960s Dragnet.
Just the Tropes, ma'am:
- Brutal Honesty: Friday tells the Officers Jeffries and Braven that if they keep acting like they own the place, they won't have much of a future.
- Jerkass: Officers Jeffries and Braven act like this. While Joe does point out that they had good reason to stop the Ericksons, once there was no issue, they should have said WHY they were stopped. When this is brought up, both Jeffries and Braven are defensive and Braven even points out that they see no reason to inform anyone. They get over this attitude after attending community relationships training with Friday.
- Police Brutality: Talked about. While nothing physically is shown on screen, Friday gets on the cops for being mentally abusive and pushing their weight around.
- Rage Against the Legal System: A few citizens in the community have this attitude with the police. Billy Jones goes so far as to leave the community meeting. He is also trying to do this with the officers who stopped him due to an illegal left turn. They found out he had an outstanding warrant - a simple overdue traffic fine of $50.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Friday gives a huge one to Officer Jeffries and Braven on their attitudes.
