All language subtitles for Dragnet S03E01 Public Affairs (DR-07).DVDRip.NonHI.cc.en

This is the city, Los
Angeles California.

I work here. I carry a badge.

The story you're
about to see is true.

The names have been
changed to protect the innocent.

It was Wednesday, September 4th.

We were working
the day watch out of

Robbery Division. The
boss is Captain Perry.

My partner's Bill Gannon.

My name's Friday.

I was just returning from lunch.

It was 1:05 p.m.

I signed you back
in. Let's go upstairs.

Upstairs?

- Public Affairs wants
to see us.
- What about?

Joe, you're the sergeant.
You got the rank.

What that's supposed to mean?

Nobody confides in me.

We went upstairs to the 7th
floor, Public Information Division.

Sergeant Dan Cooke is the
man who wanted to see us.

- Afternoon, gentlemen.
- Hi, Dan.

- Cooke, how is it going?
- I suppose you're wondering
why we asked you here.

That'll do for openers.

Ever hear of this fellow
named Chuck Bligh?

No. Not me.

- The guy on TV?
- The same.

I have.

We're not asking you to be
a television critic, Gannon.

And by his gaze,
it would be easy.

True. He's not exactly
sympathetic towards the department.

Not sympathetic? He'd sell
the whole force for a dime.

His producer called us and
wanted to know if we could send over

a couple of working detectives
to sit in on his program tonight.

You mean be on it?

That's what they have in mind.

I'm not much good at that kind of thing,
Why not send somebody from Command?

Because the captain
thinks, and I agree with him,

that it would be better to let him
interview two guys in the field level.

Two average policemen.
No harm intended.

Now, we're both talking about the
same program, "Speak Your Mind"?

That's the name of it.

- You've never seen the show?
- No, I haven't.

Well, he's not exactly
what we'd call a friend.

Maybe you can
change his mind a little.

They expect you at 7:30,
Studio B. Here's the address.

- No advice?
- Keep your left up.

You've seen this
Chuck Bligh, huh?

Yeah, wife watches the show
all the time. He's a snag one.

You sit at home and really feel
sorry for the people on the panel.

What's Aileen think
of the program?

She says it's interesting.

Can I help you, gentlemen?

We're from the Los Angeles Police
Department. This is Bill Gannon.

- My name's Friday.
- Right.

You're on the panel with Profession
Tom Higgins and Jesse Chaplin.

Plenty of time. I'll get
you into makeup. Tony!

Makeup? I didn't know
we had to wear makeup.

Take care of these
gentlemen, will you?

We'll begin taping
in about 20 minutes.

Just a little powder and
some eyebrow pencil.

Eyebrows? What do
you think these are?

They're too light. The cameras
won't pick them up. You look okay.

For 45 years, they
haven't been too light.

You look great.

- That wasn't so bad, was it?
- Not so bad.

He gave me the works, everything
but lipstick in a beauty market.

Wait a minute.

There, I feel better.

- Tony, Chuck's cowlick.
- I'm on my way.

He didn't hear me, didn't he?

Rarin' to go? Good. Now,
we start with our theme

then we go to Chuck's
intro then he'll introduce you.

You walk on and take a seat
when you hear your name. Got it?

- I think so.
- Now, you men understand

we employ a rather loose
debate style of presentation.

You men are on the side
with the police department.

That's good.

Now, Higgins and Chaplin
are on the other side, okay?

There we go. Now, enjoy
yourselves. Now, one more thing.

- What's that?
- Don't be afraid. Speak your mind.

- Take a look, Joe.
- At what?

- My tie, is it straight?
- Well, it was.

- You got butterflies?
- Have I got what?

- Butterflies in your stomach?
- No, I don't.

Helen Hayes still
gets 'em. Butterflies.

Fellas, could you hold it
down a minute, please?

"Speak Your Mind,"

the show that every week dares
to be different, dramatic and daring.

This week's guests will discuss the
topic "The Police, Who Needs Them?"

Anything can happen and usually
does when Chuck Bligh is around.

And now, here's that number
one judge, Chuck Bligh.

Thank you.

Good evening, everybody.

I'm glad to see so many of
you here in the studio tonight.

It isn't raining outside, is it?

Well, sir, tonight we're
going to get to the nitty-gritty

about your friendly fuzz,
your local police officers.

Okay, our first guest
needs no introduction.

Professor Tom Higgins, historian,
social critic, and political activist,

is one of LA's
makers and shakers.

No ivory tower for this egghead.

Our next guest is Jesse Chaplin,

editor-publisher of LA's
favorite underground newspaper.

He is the man responsible for "The Free
Forum," the thinking man's newspaper.

Jesse!

Now, on the other side, we have invited
two of the local fuzz to join us tonight.

Hey, Tom, you're a professor.

Maybe you can tell me,
how do you make fuzz plural?

Is it fuzzes or fuzzi?

- Fuzz is plural.
- One fuzz is a fizz.

Well, we have two of
them with us tonight,

Officer Bill Gannon
and Sergeant Joe Friday,

Los Angeles Police
Department. Gentlemen.

Jesse, why don't
we start with you?

Well, as the topic tonight is
"The Fuzz, Who Needs Them?"

Let me begin by saying
not me... or is not I?

- It's neither of us.
- Right.

As far as I'm concerned,

you might as well ask,
who needed the Gestapo?

And my answer to that
would be the establishment.

See, it's the establishment in every
fascist state that needs the police.

It's not the people.

The establishment needs
the goon squads with the mace

and the clubs and the
guns and the teargas

to preserve the evils
of the status quo.

You ask me who needs them
and I say it's not the black people,

it's not the Mexican Americans,
and it's not the students.

They're just trying to make
a new and better world.

Who needs them are the fascists,

the establishment fat cats
who have been rapping on us

and sucking our blood
for thousands of years

and are now getting a little
uptight because we, the people,

are getting sick
and tired of it.

A tough act to follow. Care
to try, Sergeant Friday?

Mr. Chaplin, I'm not certain
who or what this establishment is

that you keep talking about.

If you're talking about the people
who hire us and pay our salaries

or you're talking about yourself

and Professor Higgins
there and Mr. Bligh,

you're talking about the
taxpayers of Los Angeles.

You really think that when
we get a call about a robbery

or a killing, the first thing we do is to
check out the victim's bank balance?

Something like that.

And we have a great
many wealthy people in LA.

Last year, the department
worked on 10,000 robberies,

60,000 burglaries,

1,400 rapes, 281 murders,

26,000 car thefts.

I don't happen to agree
entirely with the remarks

of my good friend on my right.

Geographically speaking.

I'm less concerned with the police
as a so-called law enforcement agency

than as a social arbiter.

I think if they stick to playing
cops and robbers, it would be okay.

Now, if someone swipes
my car, sure, I want it back,

and it's your job
to find it for me.

But if I'm demonstrating against the
president or against some company

that's making blood money from
the production of war material,

I don't want some goon
whom I as a taxpayer

am supporting to break
my head or shoot me.

I've yet to meet a cop who wasn't a
reactionary. Whose attitude wasn't,

"I've got mine, buster, and I
couldn't care less if you starve."

They like their guns and badges.

They like the
power it gives them.

It's people they don't like.

Their idea of social progress
is a bigger pension plan

for themselves.

Gentlemen...

Frankly, I wish we could
stick to cops and robbers.

It's hard work, but at least the only
enemies you make are the criminals,

not the very people
you're paid to protect.

We're not supposed
to be social arbiters.

We're policemen.

If the president of the United
States visits Los Angeles,

it's our job to protect him
because he is the president.

Now, if you want a parade, all you need
is a permit from the Police Commission.

We'll be there not
only to protect his life

but to protect you against people
who might violently disagree

with your point of view.

Now as a citizen, you have
the right to demonstrate,

but you have no right to
break the law and interfere

with the rights of others in so
doing, and that includes the president.

Break whose law?

The establishment's.

Property rights are all
they're concerned about,

not human rights,
and the president now,

if we don't demonstrate, how
do you suggest we reach him?

Like most of us, you
might try the ballot box.

You can't pick and
choose the laws you'll obey

and say this one I will
and this one I won't.

A democracy can't exist under
those terms and conditions, can it?

The same book of laws that
gives you the right to assemble

and demonstrate also
gives others protection of life

and property if your
demonstrations get out of hand.

It's always in the vested
interests of the rich.

Well, then how would
you take it if somebody who

didn't like your newspaper
started picketing you?

That's their right, my friend.

How would you like it if they
started marching through your offices

and laid down in the
doorway of your bathroom?

Would you still think
that's their right?

I think we'd all agree
that you're both exceptions

to the general run of policemen,
but then you're detectives.

What about the boys in the
black and white patrol cars?

Are they concerned with
anything but busting heads?

Aren't they the boys
with the nightsticks?

You men are on an entirely
different level, a much higher one.

That's not quite true.

Hold that thought, Sergeant.

We'll be right back after this brief
word from our benevolent sponsor.

Clear.

You're doing fine, boys.

I'd like to answer
that question.

All those boys in the black
and whites are hardly made

of the stuff as you and
Officer Gannon, right?

Wrong. They're made
of exactly the same stuff.

Everybody on the job from the
chief on down starts the same way

on those black and whites, and everybody
takes civil service exams for promotion.

- I didn't know that.
- Here you go, Chuck.

Thank you, Monty.
How is it going?

Good, fine. Good show. Stand by.

The good sergeant
was just making a point,

but unfortunately, we don't have
time to go into it because now,

we come to this section of our
program where you the people, the jury

get a chance to speak your mind.

Okay, who wants the first crack
at cross-examining our witnesses?

My name' s Harry Wilson
and I'd like to direct my question

to one or both of
the police officers.

I want to know why
we need gun laws.

It's my constitutional right as an
American citizen to own a pistol,

and if I got the cash to pay for it, it's
nobody's business but mine if I buy one.

Tell me, sir, why do
you want to own a gun?

To protect my home and family.

I don't see why I, an American
taxpayer and a veteran,

should have to run around
registering a gun. Crooks don't.

Well frankly, sir, I wish I didn't
have to carry one, but I do.

It's part of my job.

Protecting my home is my job.

Do you have any children?

You bet I do... Three
boys... 5, 7, and 10.

Well, where are you gonna hide a gun and
be certain that your boys won't find it?

If you have the time
to get to your gun, you

have the time to get
to a phone and call us.

All right, look at it this way.

We register all our guns.

A foreign country invades us.

Same thing will happen here
as it has in country after country.

The invading army
just goes to the files

and then goes around
confiscating all the weapons.

We'll be left defenseless.

I want to protect my country.

You really believe
that might happen?

You bet I do. Like I said, it's happened
before in other parts of the world.

If that ever comes to pass
here and there's nuclear age,

I doubt if many of us would be around
for any weapon collecting, will we?

In other words, you men are
in favor of gun registration?

No, sir, we didn't say that.

It's not our position as civil
servants to state any preference.

Gun registration and control,
like all other laws and regulations,

is a matter for the
people to decide.

And we work for the people.
Whatever they decide we'll enforce.

And what's your name?

My name's John Dietz and what I
want to know is why smoking pot is illegal

but drinking booze ain't?

And to whom do you
address that question, John?

To Jesse Chaplin.

It's because society is corrupt

and because
things are run strictly

for the profit of
the establishment

and enforced by the
hypocrites in uniform. That's why.

Sergeant.

Society puts
restrictions on drinking.

Get drunk and you get arrested.

Even bartenders don't
want you to go away drunk.

There's too much chance
you won't live to come back.

Besides, nobody likes to be around
a drunk, not even another drunk.

But with marijuana,
the whole purpose is to

get so high you don't
know who or what you are.

There's no such thing as a
quickie or one to be sociable,

and in pot smoking circles, if
you're not flying you're a square,

and flying means you don't know
where you are or what you're doing.

Son, no matter how you
slice that, that's dangerous.

What about LSD? You
police are against that too.

Even Aldous Huxley dug acid.

Aldous Huxley was a
great writer who took

LSD and wrote of his
psychedelic experiences.

I've read Huxley.

A cop who reads.

That's good,
sergeant. Good for you.

Aldous Huxley experimented with
LSD under a doctor's supervision

and the total amount of LSD
he took in all of his experiments

amounted to less than most
kids take for a single trip.

And I've heard an awful lot of propaganda
about the way the right kind of sugar cube

can expand your mind.

Propaganda?

Son, if you want to expand your
mind, pay a visit to your public library.

If there's a full moon, you
might even find a cop there.

You try the library, boy.

You'll discover the place
is full of magical cubes.

They call them books.

On that literary note, we'll
take time out to pay the light bill.

My name is Charlie Varco.

Before, you were talking
about respecting all the laws.

What about the bad laws?

Thoreau said that one man could
be a majority if he was in the right.

Does the man of conscience have the
obligation to disobey outmoded laws?

Oh, you bet your
booties he does.

He has the obligation
and the duty to his country.

If he doesn't, every good man from
Jesus Christ on has been all wet.

If you break the law,
you must stand trial.

Then it's up to your
peers to judge your crime.

It's their 12 consciences
against yours.

Now, if you don't like a law, you
can try to persuade your congressmen

to help change it or
you can join together

and demonstrate that your conscience
isn't the only one opposed to the law.

In a democracy, the minority has
the right to convince the majority

that laws should be changed, but
that does not give the minority the right

to ignore the laws that exist and
there cannot be a majority of one.

A killer's conscience tells
him it's okay to murder.

What happens to your
majority of one man?

Without laws and the people to enforce
them, you've got anarchy, haven't you?

The law of the jungle.

An awful lot of people have bled
and died for an idea called democracy,

an idea that people
are better than animals

and that a civilized nation
is better than a jungle.

A lot of people are still
fighting and dying for that belief.

A lot of them wear badges because
they believe in those American ideals.

My name is Mondo Mabamba.

I'm the president of
the Black Widow Party

and I'm here to tell you honkies where
you can put all that bull about democracy.

You're all a bunch of Nazis,
only you don't dress as sharp.

Not nearly as sharp, man.

You boys drive through Watts

and all you want to do
is catch one of us alone

so you can work us over
or blow our heads off.

You tell us about that, Mr. Charlie, and
tell us good 'cause I've been there, man.

I've been there.

I'm not here to say that race relations
have always been perfect on either side,

but things are improving.

The chief of police is seeing to that
and that's our number one priority.

But as for police brutality,
that's another story.

We try to prevent it in the first
place by not hiring brutal men.

Only one out of 25 who applies for a
job in the department ever makes it.

We have three-man panels composed
of one sergeant and two civilians

who pass on every man who
wants to go to the academy.

One blackball
and that man is out.

Occasionally, a bad apple slips
through or a good apple turns bad.

Well, my friend, you
don't want him on the job

and the department
doesn't want him either.

One trigger-happy
cop making headlines

is all it takes to give all
police officers a black eye.

I've been on the job 12 years,

and in that time I've
drawn my gun eight times

and I've fired it twice,
and that's about average.

There are great many officers
who have never fired their revolver.

The only place I've ever fired
mine is on the police pistol range.

I wonder how many of you
know there's a shooting board.

It's made up of division chiefs.

Now, if any police officer
fires his gun even if he misses,

he has to make a
report to that board.

And if he doesn't have a good reason for
dropping the hammer, he's in big trouble.

What about that 15-year-old
boy who was shot down last week

by one of you
brave boys in blue?

Tell us about him.
Will you do that, man?

That 15-year-old was sniping
at passersby from a rooftop.

He wounded six people, one of them
seriously before the officer got there.

The officer was a better shot.

You can be shot just as dead by a
15-year-old as by his grandfather.

Oh, yeah?

Men, answer me this.

Now, one of you blue cats
catch it and you get all excited.

You really drop everything to
go after a cop killer, don't you?

You bet we do, but not just
because he killed a friend of ours.

Now, you figure it. If a man
shoots down an armed officer,

do you think he'd hesitate to
shoot down an unarmed citizen?

Okay, answer me this.

Why is it you guys always in
patrol cars or sitting on cycles?

Why don't you boys walk a
beat like the force back East?

You don't mind protecting us.

You just don't want to have to
mingle with us, is that the idea?

This is a city on wheels

so we have a police
department on wheels.

We have to cover
254 square miles,

and we've got only 5,700
men to cover them, 5,700.

New York has 28,000 policemen.

Chicago has 12,000.

As it is, the department is trying to
arrange for more officers to walk a beat.

But as Bill pointed out,

it's not always practical in an
area as large as Los Angeles.

We have to offer as much
protection to as many as we can.

I want to know why the Los
Angeles Police Department

is prejudiced against
Mexican Americans.

How do you figure?

I applied for a job on the
force and I was turned down.

Well, I can assure you it wasn't
because you're a Mexican American.

Just offhand, I'd guess you were rejected
because of the height requirements.

Our department
requires a 5'8" minimum.

Listen, fella. I can
take care of myself.

I know judo. What's
height got to do with it?

It's the department's
experience that a taller man

is less likely to have to take
care of himself as you put it.

Studies have proven that the injury
rate is much greater for shorter policemen.

There is now a policy
change being discussed

that would drop the minimum
height requirement to 5'7".

What good does
that do me? I'm 5'4".

What can I do?

Be happy you never
grew those three inches.

My name's Diane Newcombe.

I just want to say that I'm
all for our police department.

I think they do a good job.

And how long has your husband
been on the force, ma'am?

My husband works at a supermarket
and the police have prevented two holdups

at his store in the
past three weeks.

Very commendable.

Well, I for one am all for them.

Where do you think we'd
be without a police force?

Better off, my dear.

As you may have noticed, Sergeant,
our audience is somewhat partial.

Is that so? It doesn't show.

It's good to see you boys
have a sense of humor.

All right, we're reaching the
end of our time, gentlemen.

Tom, why don't you sum up your
thoughts in about 15 seconds?

Well, I think the officers
have made some good points.

They've defended the system
about as well as they could,

but the system is
actually indefensible.

The system promises
equal justice for all.

But for the poor,
the black people,

the Mexican American,
that promise is a lie.

For the rich, the police
are a protective agency,

and for the poor, they're
professional harassers.

I don't like the system and I
don't like the sort of people

who wear guns and badges

and who enforce that system's
rules like so many machines.

Cops are all right,

but I wouldn't want
my sister to marry one.

Sergeant, 15 seconds.

We're not machines.

If we were, maybe we'd
never make mistakes.

We'd never overreact, never
make errors in judgment.

Unfortunately, we're human
beings, not computers.

Now, the book tells us to use the force
necessary to apprehend the suspect.

How much force is necessary?

No computer can make
that decision when you're

chasing an armed
suspect down a dark alley.

A man has to make that
decision and he has to make it fast.

Sometimes he doesn't use
enough and he gets himself killed.

I usually try to stay
in the middle on this

show, but I can't resist
this one, Sergeant.

A man with a gun has no
business making mistakes.

- Amen.
- Amen.

We try not to, but
we all make mistakes.

Maybe it's only a matter of putting the
carbon paper in backwards in the typewriter

or burning the toast or
missing a business appointment.

You make that kind of
a mistake and you say,

"Well, nobody's
perfect. I'm only human."

But a police officer's mistakes
are a matter of life and death

and his decisions are
made in a split second.

Give him some credit for having
the guts to make those decisions.

His job and his life are
riding on each one of them.

And keep in mind, he is
not asking for your applause.

He knows you reserve that
for ball players and movie stars.

He's only a guy doing his job,

and all he'd really like is a little
common courtesy and some respect.

Respect?

That's right.

We know that you respect
those American boys

who go across the world to protect
us from enemies 8,000 miles away.

Is a police officer less entitled
because he's risking his neck

to protect you from enemies
in your own hometown?

I respect them
just about as much.

Wouldn't it be nice if
that were the alternative?