Dragnet 1967 (1967) s01e04 Episode Script

1
[Friday Narrating]
This is the city— Los Angeles, California.
Nearly three million people live here now.
A little over 5,200 of them
are policemen.
I'm one of 'em. I carry a badge.
It was Wednesday, November 1 6.
It was chilly in Los Angeles.
We were working out
of Internal Affairs Division.
The boss is Captain Colwell.
My partner's Bill Gannon.
My name's Friday.
Internal Affairs, an administrative division
of the police department
whose sole purpose
is to maintain internal security.
[Man Narrating]
The story you are about to see is true.
The names have been changed
to protect the innocent.
I'll turn on the machine.
In here, Culver.
In here.
Is this off the record, Sergeant?
Nothing's off the record.
Everything that's said in here
will be recorded.
I see.
Is it okay if I smoke?
Yeah. Go ahead.
- All right. State your name.
- Paul R. Culver.
- It's our duty to inform you
of your constitutional rights.
- There's no need for that, is there?
You have the right to remain silent,
and any statement you make may be
used against you in a court of law.
You have the right
to the presence of an attorney.
If you cannot afford one,
one will be appointed
before any questioning.
- Do you understand that?
- I'll tell you anything you wanna know.
- Do you understand your rights?
- I do.
All right. We want to talk to you about
an armed robbery up in Hollywood tonight.
Herbie's Liquor Store.
The radio car officers told me.
We'd like you to tell us where you were,
what you were doing,
anybody who might have
seen you from 8:00 on.
I was up in Hollywood, circulating around,
hitting some of the joints.
- Did you do any drinking?
- Yes, sir.
How many?
Couple of beers. That's all.
How long ago?
Two, two and a half hours ago.
I didn't even finish the second one.
- Are you under the influence of alcohol now?
- How could I be?
- Are you under the influence?
- No, sir.
- All right. Go ahead.
- I don't mind telling you. I'm pretty nervous.
I feel kinda sick.
It's understandable.
- You know, I didn't have anything
to do with that stickup.
- Do we?
- You should, yeah.
- Why? Because you're a police officer?
[Friday Narrating]
Full name: Paul Robert Culver.
Badge number: 35 10, serial 14584,
age: 23,
height: 6'2 and one-half inches,
weight: 185, blood type: "O."
Length of service in the police department
of the city of Los Angeles: 1 14 days.
Present assignment:
undercover out of Narcotics Division.
I met Lieutenant Stephenson
and Sergeant Appier in this parking lot
on Figueroa at 7:15 p.m. tonight.
I told them yesterday
I thought I could make
a controlled buy—marijuana.
That's what I've been working
the past three weeks,
since I graduated from the academy.
Go on.
You know how it goes.
They gave me $110 in a brown paper bag.
Marked bills, serial numbers all listed.
We have it.
It'll be returned to Narcotics.
Then I put the money
in the glove compartment,
and I drove up Sunset to Hollywood.
- I parked on Selma, this side of Cahuenga.
- What time was this?
- A little before 8:00.
- Go on.
Well, I circulated around,
hit some of the joints.
I was looking for this fellow, Kinks.
Real name's Lou Gonners.
Got a record.
My setup with him was pretty loose.
He said if I was interested, I could
find him up in Hollywood tonight.
So I made the Red Fox, the Apex
and this pool hall down the street, Cooley's.
- You talk to anybody?
- Well, let's see.
At the Red Fox,
there was this guy John.
What did he look like?
Male Cauc., about 25.
5'10", average build,
long, brown hair,
mustache, goatee,
wearing a sweatshirt.
Got a little gold earring
in his left ear.
Then there was Barstow, male Cauc.,
about 30, 6'1 "— real heavy.
Must weigh 220.
I had one beer with him.
Wearing a jacket like mine.
Has a tooth missing in front.
He's a cycle hound.
You find a chrome bike up there,
and he won't be far away.
Then I bumped into a couple
of girls out on the street.
- Vangie and Chickie.
Hair out to here. You know the bit.
- Yeah.
Then at the Apex, I don't remember
anybody in particular.
Went on down to Cooley's.
This guy T-Bone, Little "T."
Maybe 35, 40.
About 5'7", maybe 130.
He looks Mexican.
Wearin' some kind of a red sweater.
- You gonna check these people out?
- That's right.
Wish I could give you more to work on.
You can't push for information
with these characters.
Last name,
that sort of thing.
Go on.
Then I went back down the street
to this place called the Absolute.
I spotted Kinks standing outside.
I didn't go in.
Told him I was interested
in a couple pounds of pot.
He said, did I have the bread?
I said, "Yes, in my car."
He told me to go on back there and wait.
He'd come by.
I told him where the car was
and took off.
- What time was this?
- 9:06.
When you check these people out,
I've been using the name Jacobs,
Bob Jacobs.
- Right. Go on.
- I went back to my car and waited.
I was still sitting there
when the black-and-white unit
came by and put the light on me.
I showed 'em my I.D.
and told 'em what was going on.
They took me to the Hollywood station.
You know the rest.
- You sat in your car the whole time?
- That's right. I never left it.
The radio car officers said
they found you looking into the trunk.
Oh, that. Well, I'd put my gun and my I.D.
back there, under the spare tire.
I was sitting there,
and I got to thinking.
This Kinks—
I'd seen his record, and he's a hardnose.
I was reaching in the trunk to get my gun.
I was gonna put it under the seat.
Thought I'd better have it handy.
That's all that was.
Now, these places you went to—
you went from the Red Fox to the Apex
to Cooley's Pool Hall to the Absolute.
- Yes, sir.
- In that order.
- Yes, sir.
- [Knocking]
- That means you passed
Herbie's Liquor Store.
- I could have.
Then from Cooley's,
you went to the Absolute.
You passed that liquor store again.
Isn't that right?
- That's right,
but I didn't go in the liquor store.
- Are you sure?
Yes, I'm sure.
You know I'm sure.
[Door Opening]
We're ready for the show-up.
- Show-up? For what?
- Granousky, the man who was robbed.
- Let's go.
- I didn't have any part of this,
and you know it.
The only thing we know
is we want the truth,
a straight story that'll wash.
I've told you the truth.
I've told you all I know.
You haven't told us who pulled
that 211 in that liquor store.
- It wasn't me. How many times
do I have to tell you?
- Till we believe it.
- If this doesn't tear it.
- What do you mean by that?
- They don't preach
this kind of stuff at the academy.
- What's that, Culver?
All that jazz about the force—
the teamwork, working together.
This is a fine example of it, isn't it?
I'm on the same team as you.
I'm no two-bit punk suspect. I'm a cop.
Then think like one.
You know you're gonna walk out of this room
totally innocent or totally guilty.
There's no in-between for you
or any other man in this department.
If you're clean, we'll do all we can
to help you prove it. If you're guilty,
we're gonna lean on you hard.
One officer to another—my word?
That oughta mean something.
- It does, but just like anybody else.
- Yeah?
It's not enough.
[Friday Narrating]
1 1:47 p.m. The show-up was over.
We returned Officer Paul Culver
to Interrogation Room "D."
Go on in. Sit down.
Those names he gave us?
Narcotics is checking them out.
Yeah.
Better fill the captain in.
Right.
All right, Culver.
Sit down.
- This Granousky— He made me, didn't he?
- That's right.
We wouldn't be back here otherwise.
How good was it?
Positive identification.
Sure.
- Anything you'd like to say?
- Eyeball witnesses aren't always reliable.
Poor eyesight, tricky memory,
bad lighting conditions.
Most all-night liquor stores are well-lighted.
Doesn't seem to be anything wrong
with Granousky's eyesight.
He said the bandit was no more
than four feet away from him.
He made a mistake.
Let's go over it again.
7:15, I got $110 in marked money
from Lt. Stephenson and Sgt. Appier
in that parking lot on Figueroa.
- That part oughta check.
- It does.
We talked to Captain Trembly in Narcotics.
The money, your assignment—
all that checks out.
Wait a minute.
Something just came to me.
I can prove I didn't do it.
- I don't care what this Granousky says.
I can prove it.
- Go ahead.
- How much money was stolen?
- Eighty-seven dollars.
I had 110 in the glove compartment.
That checks out.
I had six dollars and change
of my own money.
Where's the 87?
It wasn't on me
and it wasn't in the car.
Where were you from the time
you left this Kinks character
until you were picked up at 9:22?
- You think I stashed it someplace.
- Suppose you pick it up
from the time you parked.
On Selma, just off Cahuenga,
a little before 8:00.
I cruised around looking for Kinks.
I made the Absolute,
the Apex and Cooley's Pool Hall.
Do you want the people I saw again?
- Only if you can come up
with some new ones.
- No, I can't.
- We're running down the ones you gave us.
- I spotted Kinks in front of the Red Fox.
We set it up.
I told him I'd wait for him in the car,
and I took off.
That was after 9:00
going on till a quarter after.
I was at the car, waiting,
when the black-and-white came by.
That's it.
- Let's go over a couple of points here.
- All right.
- What time did you say you left this Kinks?
- I just told you.
- Tell us again.
- I told him I'd meet him at my car.
- What time did you tell him that?
- A little after 9:00.
- Pin it down.
- Around a quarter after 9:00.
- You're sure?
- I'm sure.
- You sure it wasn't six minutes after?
- It was 15 after.
[Gannon]
You told us before it was 9:06.
Well, I could be wrong.
Which is it—9:15, 9:06?
- I guess I don't remember for sure.
- Try.
- All right! I'm not sure about
nine minutes worth of tonight.
- Get sure.
Why do you keep pushing me?
What's so special about nine lousy minutes?
I'll tell you what's so special
about those nine minutes.
Tonight at approximately 9:05,
a liquor store was held up.
That store is in the immediate vicinity
of your undercover assignment.
The joints you hit are located
all around that store—
the Red Fox, the Apex,
Cooley's, the Absolute.
In order to hit those places,
you had to walk directly past
that liquor store twice tonight.
One of those times
you could have entered the store,
pulled the 211 at 9:06.
We've got an eyeball witness
that says you did.
You could've walked one block, stashed
the money along the way and been there at
your car when that black-and-white rolled up.
You could've done all that
in those nine lousy minutes.
That's what's so special about 'em.
- You don't believe that.
- Don't keep telling us
what we believe, Culver.
That won't prove up for eight cents.
It's not what we think.
It's what you did
with those nine minutes.
Maybe I made a mistake.
Maybe it was 9:06 like I said before.
Maybe you were in that liquor store.
Maybe you pulled your gun on Granousky.
Maybe you walked out
with 87 of his dollars.
I didn't, damn it! I didn't!
- Where did you say you met Kinks?
- In front of the Red Fox.
- You sure it wasn't the Absolute?
- I said, the Red Fox.
- You also told us the Absolute.
- Did I?
- Which was it?
- What's the difference?
The difference is, the Red Fox
is four blocks farther away
from that liquor store.
- Maybe that was it.
- What was it?
- It was the Red Fox!
Not according to what
you told us the first time around.
You said it was the Absolute.
That's a block from where you parked.
All right. It was the Absolute,
if that's the way you want it.
- We want the truth.
- Sure, you do. Your kind of truth.
You got a 211 on your hands.
You gotta pin it on somebody.
I'm handy.
You know better than that, Culver.
Do I?
You keep twisting everything I say.
I told you the straight story
the first time out.
You make me repeat it over and over.
Anybody's liable to get mixed up.
You're a police officer.
You've been trained not to get mixed up.
How would you feel if you were
sitting in this chair right now?
The two of you trying to
hang something on me I didn't do.
What kind of police force is this?
A clean one, Culver,
and you're gonna help us keep it that way.
All right.
Put me on the machine.
[Friday Narrating]
Thursday, November 1 7, 12:02 a.m.
A t his own request,
Officer Paul Culver was given
the lie detector test.
Bill and I met with Lieutenant Lee Clingan
of the Scientific Investigation Division.
We laid out the key questions
to be used in the examination.
12:20 a.m. Lieutenant Clingan began
the Keeler polygraph examination.
Thursday, November 1 7, 1:53 a.m.
You want to go in
and sit down?
What do you think now?
I don't know.
Seven runs.
They all come out the same.
Did you pick up any coffee?
An hour ago. It's cold.
Place is closed now.
Cold.
Sit down, Culver.
What for?
I could tell from
the line of questioning.
You could tell what?
I flunked the test, didn't I?
Let's go over it.
Why? The machine says I'm a liar,
so what's there to go over?
Sit down, Culver.
Come on.
You know that Lieutenant Clingan
spent a long time getting a norm on you.
- It was my idea to take the test.
- You'd have taken it eventually.
It's the usual procedure.
Let's get to it.
Show me how big a liar I am.
What makes you so sure
the machine showed you up bad?
I just know, that's all.
The way things have been going tonight,
I wouldn't be surprised if you tried to pin
the St. Valentine's Day Massacre on me.
There's some definite reactions
throughout all the runs.
- All bad.
- Nobody said that.
You don't have to.
I figured if I volunteered to take the test,
that must show you something.
I'm not lying about tonight.
I've told you the truth,
the best I can remember it.
I don't care what those graphs say.
- Go on.
- This whole thing's so damned unfair.
- How's that, Culver?
- I worked my tail off up at the academy.
I really wanted to be a police officer.
I hit the books day and night,
finished ninth in my class.
I'm a four-dollar shooter.
I make 641 a month.
I owe the police credit union 50 bucks,
and that's it—the whole ball of wax.
I take a job the department asks me to do,
and I end up with my head in my lap.
Now you tell me,
what's it all worth?
You volunteered for
that undercover assignment, Culver.
You know that.
All right. So I did. I didn't know
it was gonna turn out like this.
Being accused of something
I might expect from that ruck and scum
I've been dealing with the past two weeks.
Yeah.
I go there trying to do a job for the city,
and I end up in the hot seat.
Well, I've had a gut full.
You can have the badge, the uniform
and all that goes with it. I've had it.
Tell me something, Culver.
Why? So you can twist it around?
You've got me made.
You've got that eyeball witness, the machine,
nine minutes I can't account for.
- You don't need anything else.
- What's eating at you, Culver?
- Now, that's a brilliant question.
- Never mind the smart answer.
Just give us a straight one.
Something's giving you a problem
besides this mess tonight.
- You don't think this is enough?
- I didn't say that. Now, what is it?
What is it? Trouble at home?
I'm not married.
We know that.
Something's bothering you.
- What makes you so sure?
- You've got a personal problem
kicking around somewhere.
- You wouldn't be interested.
- Try us and see.
- It's something you couldn't arrest me for.
- Come on, Culver. Let's have it.
It's not gonna make
any difference here.
- You're engaged to be married, aren't you?
- Who told you that? That's not in my package.
- That's right, isn't it?
- You two really dig into
a man's personal life, don't you?
No, but these graphs do sometimes.
Maybe that's a lie too.
- Tell us about your girl.
- You want her phone number?
Listen, this is the last time I'm gonna
tell you to save the cute answers.
You understand?
If it’s that personal,
and you don't wanna talk
about it, all right.
But if not, it might be best
to put it right here on the table.
[Shaky Sigh]
What's the difference?
You might as well know.
She told me two days ago.
- Told you what?
- We broke up.
- You're not gonna get married?
- No.
Haven't even finished
paying for the ring.
- She give you a reason?
- Yeah.
- Feel like telling us what it was?
- I've been expecting it.
- Yeah.
- Ever since I took the first exam for the job.
I think she thought I might fail.
I didn't.
- What's the problem?
- She doesn't want to be married to a cop.
She says I can do better.
In other words,
you're a college man.
She'd like to have seen you land a job
with a little more status attached,
- I guess that's part of it.
- But not all of it.
I think maybe
I can understand how she feels,
and maybe she's right, Culver.
It's awkward having a policeman
around the house.
Friends drop in,
a man with a badge answers the door,
the temperature drops 20 degrees.
You throw a party,
and that badge gets in the way.
All of a sudden,
there isn't a straight man in the crowd.
Everybody's a comedian.
"Don't drink too much," somebody says,
"or the man with the badge will run you in."
Or "How's it going, Dick Tracy?
How many jaywalkers did you pinch today?"
And then there's always
the one who wants to know
how many apples you stole.
All at once,
you lost your first name.
You're a cop, a flatfoot,
a bull, a dick, John Law.
You're the fuzz, the heat.
You're poison. You're trouble.
You're bad news.
They call you everything,
but never a policeman.
Maybe she's right.
It's not much of a life unless you
don't mind missing a Dodger game
because the hotshot phone rings,
unless you like working
Saturdays, Sundays, holidays
at a job that doesn't pay overtime.
Oh, the pay's adequate.
If you count your pennies,
you can put your kid through college.
But you better plan on seeing Europe
on your television set.
And then there's
your first night on the beat,
when you try to arrest
a drunken prostitute in a Main Street bar,
and she rips your new uniform to shreds.
You'll buy another one
out of your own pocket.
And you're gonna rub elbows
with all the elite—
pimps, addicts,
thieves, bums, winos,
girls who can't keep an address
and men who don't care.
Liars, cheats, con men.
The class of Skid Row.
And the heartbreak.
Underfed kids, beaten kids,
molested kids, lost kids,
crying kids, homeless kids,
hit-and-run kids,
broken-arm kids, broken-leg kids,
broken-head kids, sick kids,
dying kids, dead kids.
The old people that nobody wants—
the reliefers, the pensioners,
the ones who walk the street cold
and those who tried to keep warm
and died in a three-dollar room
with an unvented gas heater.
You'll walk your beat
and try to pick up the pieces.
Do you have real adventure in your soul?
You better have, 'cause you're gonna
do time in a prowl car.
Oh, it's gonna be a thrill-a-minute
when you get an unknown trouble call
and hit a backyard at 2:00 in the morning,
never knowing who you'll meet—
a kid with a knife, a pill head with a gun
or two ex-cons with nothing to lose.
You're gonna have
plenty of time to think.
You'll draw duty in a lonely car
with nobody to talk to but your radio.
Four years in uniform,
you'll have the ability,
the experience and maybe the desire
to be a detective.
If you like to fly
by the seat of your pants,
this is where you belong.
For every crime that's committed,
you've got three million suspects
to choose from.
Most of the time
you'll have few facts
and a lot of hunches.
You'll run down leads
that dead-end on you.
You'll work all-night stakeouts
that could last a week.
You'll do legwork until you're sure
you've talked to everybody
in the state of California.
People who saw it happen,
but really didn't.
People who insist they did it,
but really didn't.
People who remember.
Those who try to forget.
Those who tell the truth.
Those who lie.
You'll run the files
until your eyes ache.
And paperwork?
Ah, you'll fill out a report
when you're right.
You'll fill out a report
when you're wrong.
You'll fill one out when you're not sure.
You'll fill one out listing your leads.
You'll fill one out when you have no leads.
You'll make out a report
on the reports you've made.
You'll write enough words
in your lifetime to stock a library.
You'll learn to live with doubt,
anxiety, frustration,
court decisions that tend to hinder
rather than help you.
Dorado, Morse, Escobedo, Cahan.
You'll learn to live
with the district attorney,
testifying in court,
defense attorneys,
prosecuting attorneys,
judges, juries, witnesses.
And sometimes you're not gonna
be happy with the outcome.
Maybe your girlfriend's right, Culver,
but there's also this—
There are over 5,000 men
in this city
who know that being a policeman is
an endless, glamourless, thankless job
that's gotta be done.
I know it, too,
and I'm damn glad to be one of 'em.
[Knocking]
- Sergeant?
- Yeah, Culver?
- Nothing.
- [Door Opens]
Joe, see you a minute?
That was the old man.
Yeah?
Guy by the name of Michaelson.
Hollywood's booking him now.
What about him?
He's practically a double for Culver.
Even wearing a black navy watch cap.
Blond, 6'2", the works.
Knocked over another liquor store
an hour ago.
- They have a show-up?
- Granousky says he still doesn't believe it.
Says he's sorry, but anybody
could make the same mistake.
According to Hollywood,
Culver and Michaelson
are dead ringers.
- Michaelson cop out?
- All the way.
Admitted four other
liquor store 211s besides Herbie's
and the last one where they grabbed him.
Well, sometimes it's not
such a sour racket, is it?
I'm buying dinner tonight
for both of us.
You mean breakfast.
- Go on home.
- Huh?
You got a twin, Culver.
They tell us he's practically identical.
Even dressed the same—
navy watch cap, jacket.
- They caught the guy?
- Granousky says it was
an easy mistake to make.
Good night.
Good night.
Either one of you
have change for a quarter?
Just made it.
Thanks.
Gotta make a phone call.
What are you gonna tell her?
What he told me.
Sergeant, one thing.
- What's that?
- The lie detector.
How'd I really do?
The truth.
- You passed.
- How come you didn't tell me?
You didn't ask us, Paul.
[Narrator]
The story you have just seen is true.
The names were changed
to protect the innocent.
Internal Affairs Division concluded
the investigation of Officer Paul Culver.
In a moment,
the results of that conclusion.
Officer Paul Culver successfully completed
his undercover assignment.
As with all Police Academy graduates,
he was given a regular tour of duty.
Six months later,
while on routine patrol duty,
Officer Culver
distinguished himself
in the highest tradition
of the Los Angeles police service.
Together with his partner,
he subdued an armed bank bandit
and was wounded in the encounter.
He was given the Medal of Valor
for his bravery.