Dragnet 1968

Dragnet 1968

We were working the Night Watch out of the Public Morals Division out of the Wilshire Division. The Captain was Lemuel Sancocho. My Partner is Bill Gannon. My name is Friday. I carry a badge. And a grudge.

Bill Gannon walked into the division and hung the shiny jacket of his Robert Hall suit on the hook on the wall at the back of the squad. We had been partners for twenty years. We agree on most things. Except barbeque sauce. And Politics.

"Evening Joe. Want some coffee?"

"No time Bill. Get your jacket. We have to go sit on a witness. Lets go. I will warm up the Rambler. We are taking my car. Don't want anyone to know where we are going."

We drove twenty five blocks away to a nondescript ranch on the Avenue. I knocked on the door. Pete Malloy answered. He was baby sitting our witness.

"Hello Sargent. Your witness is inside."

"Did he eat yet Pete?"

"Not really. He says he is a vegetarian. He only drinks schnapps, eats Linzer Torts and talks about his German Shepard."

Dragnet 1972

We were working the Night Watch out of the Intelligence Division out of the Police Headquarters. The Captain was Lemuel Cuchifritos. My Partner is Bill Gannon. My name is Friday. I carry a badge. And a grudge.

Bill Gannon walked into the division and hung the shiny jacket of his Robert Hall suit on the hook on the wall at the back of the squad. We had been partners for twenty years. We agree on most things. Except barbeque sauce. And Politics.

“Do you want some coffee Joe? I will make a fresh pot.” “We need to get it to go. We have a call. There seems to be a problem at the office of the Democratic National Committee.”

Bill laughed. “Yeah I heard about that Joe. But wasn’t that in Washington DC? I heard about it on the radio. What that have to do with us? We are the Intelligence Division. We deal with organized crime and communist subversion. Does that mean we can arrest the Democrats for being Commies? Wow that would be great. Tell me I can pistol whip that commie scumbag Sam Yorty.”

Dragnet 2016

I was sitting in the dayroom of the Sunnyvale Retirement Home in the early morning hours. The Head Nurse was Evelyn Ratched.  My name is Friday. I used to carry a badge. Now I carry a colostomy bag.

My grandson Pete was coming to visit this morning. Pete was named after my friend Pete Malloy who had just recently passed away. Pete had followed in my footsteps by joining the LAPD instead of becoming a jazz musician like his idiot father. Pete had be a patrolman for ten years in the Rampart Division before becoming a Homicide Detective with my old friend Harry Bosch in West Hollywood. I looked forward to his visits. He always gave me the facts. Just the facts. Just the way I liked it.

Pete walked in to the dayroom.  He was tall and well set up. Wearing a nice suit. Not a Robert Hall suit like Bill Gannon used to wear but still a nice one. He came over to sit next to me on the bench facing the window.

“Hey Pop how are you.” “Good. How is the job going?” “Not good Pop. In fact I have to tell you something. I am going to retire.” “Retire? But you don’t even have your twenty in yet. How can you retire?”

Dragnet 1968

Dragnet 1968

We were working the Day Watch out of the Public Morals Division out of the Wilshire Division. The Captain was Lemuel Sancocho. My Partner is Bill Gannon. My name is Friday. I carry a badge. And a grudge.

Bill Gannon walked into the division and hung the shiny jacket of his Robert Hall suit on the hook on the wall at the back of the squad. We had been partners for twenty years. We agree on most things. Except barbeque sauce. And Politics.

“Morning Joe. Coffee?”

“Get it to go. We have a call.”

“So early? The perverts don’t usually come out until the sun goes down. Is the Democratic

 Convention in town?”

Dragnet 1980

Dragnet 1980

We were working the Day Watch of the Bunco Division out of Hollywood Division. The Captain was Lemuel Plantain. My Partner is Bill Gannon. My name is Friday. I carry a badge. And a grudge.

Bill Gannon walked into the division and hung his Robert Hall suit on the hook on the wall at the back of the squad. We had been partners for twenty years. We agree on most things. Except barbeque sauce. And Politics.

“Morning Joe. Coffee?”

“No time Bill. We have to saddle up. Got a call. Woman complaining she was defrauded. Let’s go.”
We got into an unmarked car and drove to an address off of Sunset Boulevard. It was an old decrepit house. The kind young children told stories about. Witches. Goblins. Strange straggle haired women who would try to feed you cookies and then bake you into a pie. Bill knocked on the scarred and pitted wood of the door.

It swung open. A disheveled woman stood in a stained housecoat with a soggy lit cigarette at her lips.

“Yeah. Waddaya want?”

“Did you call the police man? My name is Friday. Sargent Joe Friday. This is my partner Bill Gannon. We came to investigate your complaint. What seems to be the problem?”

“Come in…come in.” We walked into a darkened living room that stunk of menthol cigarettes and ammonia. I stopped. There were approximately twenty cats in the room. On the couch. The coffee table. The rest of the furniture. That was the ammonia smell. It was cat piss.

Dragnet 1982

Dragnet 1982

We were working the Night Watch out of the Robbery Homicide Division out of Rampart Division. The Captain was Fred Miller. My Partner is Bill Gannon. My name is Friday. I carry a badge. And a grudge.

Bill Gannon walked into the division and hung his Robert Hall suit on the hook on the wall at the back of the squad. We had been partners for twenty years. We agree on most things. Except barbeque sauce. And Politics.

“Hi Joe. How was your weekend?”

“Good.”

“The wife and I went to work on the election. Duke is going to win Joe.”

“Not likely. The polls give it to Bradley.”

“I worked with Bradley when we both came on the job Joe. He is lazy. Always was. He had his path smoothed for him. Politics. He was the well-spoken Negro. Got to lay off a lot of shifts to go to law school. He was the captain’s pet.”

“I don’t want to hear you John Birch Society stuff Bill.”

“It’s not anything but the truth Joe. We have to speak the truth.”