Ladies and gentlemen, the story you are about to hear is true.
The names have been changed to protect the innocent.
Drag men.
You're a detective sergeant.
You're assigned a robbery detail.
You get a call from the Georgia Street Hospital.
A woman has been brought in to receive emergency treatment.
She says she was kidnapped and robbed.
Your job, investigate.
Drag men.
The documented drama of an actual crime.
For the next 30 minutes in cooperation with the Los Angeles Police Department, you will
travel step by step on the side of the law through an actual case transcribed from official
police violence.
From beginning to end, from crime to punishment, Dragnet is the story of your police force
in action.
It was Wednesday, February 4th.
It's cool in Los Angeles.
We're working tonight, watch out for robbery detail.
My partner is Frank Smith, the boss of Chief of Detective Stad Brown.
My name is Friday.
We're on our way out from the office and it was 832 when we got to Georgia Street Hospital.
A treatment room.
Dr. Hall?
Hi.
Frank, be right with him.
Just kidding.
Certainly, doctor.
All right.
Hi, doctor.
That the Alston woman?
Yeah.
How is she?
Bruised about the face, not too serious.
She can leave when you finish with her.
Good.
Can we go in now?
Sure.
Let me know when you're through with her.
All right.
Thanks, doc.
Miss Alston?
Yes?
We're police officers.
This is Frank Smith.
My name is Friday.
How do you do?
I do, man.
Doctor just told us that you could return to Georgia Street.
I'm sorry.
Doctor just told us that you could return home when we finish questioning you, so we'll
try not to keep you too long.
Thank you.
I'm not really hurt much.
I was more frightened than anything else.
Yes, ma'am.
Would you like to tell us what happened now?
I stopped at a signal at Washington Boulevard in Normandy and suddenly the car door opened
and a man jumped in the car.
I was scared and I let out a yell.
Which door did he open?
Well, on the passenger side.
He got right in the front seat beside me.
All right.
He had a knife in his hand.
He said not to scream or he'd stab me.
Put the knife right against my ribs.
Right here.
Then he said to drive straight ahead.
I did.
We went a couple of blocks, I guess it wasn't.
Then he said to stop the car.
When I pulled over the curb, another man got in the car.
In the back seat.
The woman with the knife told me to get in the back seat.
When I did, he gave the knife to the other man.
Then he started to drive.
And the man in the back took my purse from the front seat and started going through it.
I don't know why I did, but I grabbed for it.
It was a mistake.
He slapped me real hard.
He said that was just a sample.
I'd get some more if I didn't just sit quiet.
He took the money I had my bill filled and he grabbed my arm and twisted it so I had
a watch on.
And I hesitated when he told me to take it off and then he hit me again.
He took your watch too, did he?
Yeah, and my ring too.
Can you give us a serial number on the watch?
Yes, I have it written down at home.
Well, and a description of the ring too.
All right.
Would you go on, please?
Sure, I'd wind up with a picture and a headline in tomorrow's paper one way or the other.
How do you mean that?
Well, he was driving like a maniac.
He's breaking all kinds of laws.
Yes, ma'am.
Then I thought, well, maybe this might be a good thing.
He's driving like that.
I mean, because a police car started chasing us.
I could hear the siren and I thought I saw the red lights flashing.
I was hoping they'd catch us, but well, somehow we got away from them.
This man took so many chances, you know.
I wonder if we didn't smash up sooner.
You mean that you did have an accident later on?
You don't know about that?
No.
Well, after he got away from the police car, this man kept driving real crazy and dangerous.
We went down a dead end street.
He put on the brakes, but it was too late and we smashed into a wall of some kind.
Yeah.
And they got out of the car and they started running.
I started screaming.
Mm-hmm.
Well, anyhow, some man came out of a building.
I told him what had happened and he called the police and the ambulance.
Here I am.
I feel some shaky, but thankfully it wasn't any worse.
Can you give us a description of these two men?
Well, not much, I'm afraid.
That makes me feel pretty stupid, too.
What do you mean, ma'am?
Well, I'm always doing those observation tests in magazines.
I could get real high ratings and when I'm up against the real thing, I fail miserably.
Can you give us a general idea of their age, their coloring, their height, the way they
were dressed?
I don't think they were too old.
Maybe around 20 or so.
They had dark hair.
I can't tell you how tall they were.
The only time I saw them standing up was when they ran away from the car.
As I remember, the one that drove had on a sport coat, tan color, and the one in the
back had on a brown suede jacket, you know, the kind with the knit cuffs and the collar
and the waist.
That's about all I can remember.
I'm sorry.
That's all right, Miss Alston.
We appreciate the fact you're under a pretty bad strain.
I really thought they'd kill me.
Yes, ma'am.
You remember if they were in the car, they'd kill you.
You mean that they have mustaches?
That's right.
No, they didn't.
Well, you remember if either of them had any scars or marks on their faces, anything distinguishing
that might help us identify them later?
Well, if they did, I didn't see any.
Well, there was one thing.
I don't know if it means anything.
Yeah.
The one that was driving had a bandage on his thumb.
I could see that because he held the steering wheel up near the top.
With which hand?
The right one.
It was all wrapped up, you know, all around, not just adhesive kind.
I'm sorry I can't give you more information.
That didn't make me happier than for you to catch them, especially the one that kept hitting
me, the one in the back seat.
Yes, ma'am, I understand.
I think he enjoyed it.
He'd grin when he did it after I made the mistake of grabbing from my purse.
I tried not to give him a reason to hit me again.
It didn't help.
He just hit me when he felt like it.
No reason at all.
It really wouldn't have made any difference what you did, ma'am.
How do you mean, Mr. Frady?
Men like that.
Yeah?
They don't need a reason.
We continued to question Gwen Alston, but she could add nothing further than what ate
us in identifying the suspects.
She did give us a description of the ring.
She said she would call and give us the serial number of her watch.
She couldn't tell us anything about the knife used to intimidate her other than the fact
that it had a blade about six inches long.
We asked her to come down to the city hall and check the mug books.
Dr. Hall released the victim and she returned home in the company of her brother.
The radio unit that had answered the call had gotten out a local broadcast on the two
suspects.
They impounded the victim's car and had been moved to the official police garage.
9.37 p.m.
Frank and I drove over to Wall Street.
The crew from Leighton Prince had just finished going over the car.
Hi, Joe, Frank.
Hi, Harlow.
How long now are you?
You fellas draw this one?
Yeah.
You want to give us some help this time?
Yeah, just finishing.
It doesn't look too good.
Yeah?
Got a couple of partials, nothing real clean.
Well, with what we got from the victim, it looks like we got our work cut out for us
on this.
What do you mean, Joe?
Well, all she could give us in the way of a description would fit any number of guys.
I see.
Well, we got something out of the back seat that might be of some use to you.
What's that, Harlow?
I got it right here in an envelope.
There you are, Joe.
What's this?
That aluminum container has some corneal lenses in it.
What do you mean?
Eyeglasses.
They're kind of fit right in the eye.
Oh.
Where'd you find them?
In the back seat right on top of the cushion.
Well, it might be something we'll have to check with the Alston woman, see if they belong
to her or anybody in her family.
Yeah.
What is this case, Joe?
Kidnapping robbery.
How many suspects?
Two.
One woman in the car?
Yeah.
Hurt her at all?
Yeah, beat her up a little.
Huh.
Real he-man, huh?
I sure wish I had more for you fellas to go on.
Yeah, Harlow, we don't have much, but at least we know something.
What's that, Joe?
When we reach these two.
Yeah.
They won't give us any fight.
This is a big.
The big.
Big good.
That's the story.
Generally less real.
That's a liquor store.
That's a veryíssome wine.
No, I'm just talking about that stall.
We barely dived into any events.
All right.
This is Joe Rubyís server.
We've had enough and the duty to get rid of one suspect.
Yeah.
We've had enough and this is Ray Pinker.
Ray?
Yes.
Andy prior, what did you do?
Us.
See those little facets?
Mm-hmm.
Where is it?
Oh, yeah.
Could you tell us who these were made for, Dudley?
I can give you the name of the optician.
Appreciate it if you could.
I'll have to check our files.
It shouldn't take too long.
All right, sir.
Ordinarily, we'd have to check lens power, diameter,
radius curvature.
Yes, sir.
This is special type lens.
Is that so?
It's used to correct the condition of the eye
known as keratoconus.
What's that, sir?
The conical cornea.
Oh.
We don't make too many of them.
Excuse me.
I'll get the name of the optician for you.
All right, fine.
Pretty good deal, huh?
Yeah.
I know a fellow who wears them.
Says he used to hate to get a haircut, but not anymore.
All right.
Yeah, with these glasses on his eyes,
now he can get his hair cut and still read the magazines.
Oh.
I found it for you.
That's good.
These were made for John L. Roberts.
Just a minute, sir.
I'd like to write that down.
OK, go ahead, please.
John L. Roberts.
Mm-hmm.
439 Camden Drive, Beverly Hills.
Thank you.
Got it?
Yes, sir.
This is the optician that sent in the prescription, huh?
That's right.
All right, fine.
Thanks for your cooperation, Dudley.
Not at all.
I always get a kick out of helping you, fella.
Yes, sir.
A lot of steps to solve a crime, aren't they?
Quite a few, yeah.
Sure hope I've given you a little something.
You have?
A lot of steps.
Yes, sir.
You helped us make the first one.
We drove out to Beverly Hills and we talked to John L. Roberts.
He checked the prescription number against his files
and gave us the name and address of a Robert Briarkin
as the man he had fitted with the corneal lenses.
Frank and I went over to the house on Bedford Street,
but there was nobody home.
We found out from a neighbor that Briarkin
worked for a coin machine repair company on Pico Boulevard.
We located the concern and the manager
showed us where we could find the suspect.
1013 AM.
Robert Briarkin?
Hmm?
Is your name Robert Briarkin?
Yeah.
Police officers.
Sorry to have the occasion.
Joe Friday?
That's right.
Frank Smith.
Mm-hmm.
Hi, Howard.
I'd like to ask you some questions.
What about?
Do you wear those glasses all the time?
Do I what?
The glasses you got on.
Do you wear them for work?
Yeah, most of the time.
What's this about glasses?
You ever wear any other kind?
Yeah, why?
What kind?
How many kinds are there?
Why don't you tell us?
I don't get this.
What am I supposed to have done?
You wear another kind of glasses?
Is that what you said?
Yeah.
What kind?
The corneal lens type.
Where are they?
I don't know.
Home, I guess.
You're not sure?
Look, officers, I don't know what you're after,
but if it's something that happened in the last 20 years,
you've got the wrong guy.
Well, if we have, then you've got nothing to worry about,
have you?
That's right, but a mistaken identity can be embarrassing.
I'd just like to know what I'm supposed to have done.
Suppose you tell us about the other glasses, huh?
The corneal lens?
Yeah.
What do you want to know about them?
Like we said before, we want to know where they are.
Like I said, home.
You sure?
Yeah.
How many pair do you have?
One.
You wear glasses all the time?
Yeah.
Can you see without them?
Yeah, but not too good.
Where were you the night before last?
At home.
How about last night?
Same.
All night.
Right.
Can you prove it?
Yeah, my wife will tell you that.
You can call her on the phone.
She'll tell you everything with the house.
All right.
We'll go out there.
You can call her just as well.
We'd like to see your other glasses, too.
All right.
You mind telling me what this is all about?
Investigating kidnapping and robbery.
You think I had something to do with it?
We're investigating.
OK, if that's how it is, I've got nothing to hide.
You want to go right now?
That's right.
My jacket's right here in the locker.
Wait a minute.
I'll get it for you.
This there?
Yeah, the bounce way with the net trim.
We took Robert Brierton with us, and we drove out to his home.
On the way, he continued to deny any knowledge of the crime.
Because the victim, Gwen Alston, had been unable to furnish us
with much of a description of the suspect,
it was difficult to determine whether or not
Brierton was one of the men.
He had dark hair.
He was in his early 20s.
The suede jacket he wore checked out.
1107 AM.
Anna?
I guess you didn't hear.
It's all right.
We'll wait for her.
Now, I've been trying to make up my mind
whether I should be mad or not.
I know you're only doing what you have to,
so I guess there's no need to get overheated.
But I'll say it again, you got the wrong guy.
Well, if we're wrong, we'll admit it.
Let's hope this doesn't put me in bad down at work.
No need for it, too, if you're innocent.
I suppose so.
You want to sit down?
I don't know just when my wife will get back.
If you don't mind, we'd like to see your other glasses now.
Oh, sure, I'll get them for you.
Where are they?
Well, I usually keep them on the bedroom dresser
when I'm not using them.
All right, we'll go with you, all right?
Sure.
Hope she made the bed.
She's a pretty good housekeeper, but sometimes
she gets a little sloppy about it.
Yeah.
I swear they were right here on the dresser.
Yeah.
I haven't had them too long.
I switch off with these that I'm wearing.
Did you wear them yesterday?
Yeah, but then they should still be on the dresser.
I don't know where they could be.
Well, we can help you.
What do you mean?
Who's back there?
Anna?
What are you doing home?
Oh, honey, these are police officers.
This is my wife.
I do.
How you doing, ma'am?
What are they doing here?
We'd like to talk to you, Miss Bryden.
About what?
Now, don't worry, dear.
What's it all about?
Would you like to step out in the other room, please?
It's all right, dear.
You don't understand it.
Listen, dear, can you tell us where your husband was Tuesday night?
He was home with me.
How about last night?
He was here all evening.
You sure?
Yes, he came home from work and stayed in all evening.
Oh, I see.
What is it?
Police business.
You think Robert had something to do with it?
Yes, we do.
When did this happen?
Last night.
I told you he was home all evening.
That may be true, but these cornea lenses
were found in the victim's car.
They belonged to Robert?
That's what his optician told us, yeah.
What's all wrong?
The victim was beaten by a man who wore a jacket,
brown suede with knit trim.
That's the kind your husband owns, you know.
But he wasn't out of the house, I tell you.
I'm very glad to take him downtown.
No, he didn't do it.
I know it.
I'm sorry, Miss Bryden.
These are your husband's lenses.
They were found in the victim's car.
But he was with me all evening.
Well, it may be, but we're going to have to hold him.
No, he didn't do it.
It was Gordon.
Gordon who?
I let him wear Robert's jacket last night.
Who's Gordon?
My brother.
You are listening to Dragnet, the authentic story
of your police force in action.
Mrs. Bryden went on to explain that she let her younger
brother take the suede jacket the previous night.
She also told us that the boy was living with them
while he attended school.
After questioning her further, we learned that Gordon
Hedig had been in trouble with the police before.
We called the office and asked Jack Crowley to check the name
and description through R&I.
We also asked that if he came up with a record,
he would be able to get the record back.
And we did.
We asked him to give us the record.
And he did.
But if he came up with a record, he'd have Harland Stahl
compare Hedig's fingerprints with the partials found
in the victim's car.
Frank and I got the address of the school that the boy was
attending, and we drove over to see him.
We waited in a small office while the school authorities
located him.
Well, Miss Austin was right about what she told us.
What do you mean?
Well, she said she couldn't give us a very accurate
description.
Yeah.
She said the ages might be around 20 or so.
Mm-hmm.
Not many high school students look 20, not even seniors.
Yeah, that's true.
But according to what the Bryertons told us,
this could be the boy.
Yeah, that's right.
Come in.
Come on in, son.
Close the door.
You Gordon Heddy?
Yeah.
Police officers, Heddy.
What do you want me to do, standard attention?
I told you once to come on in.
Now come on over here.
Sure, but remember where you are.
These ain't soundproof walls.
I don't play tough with us, son.
Sit down.
You see, orders always tell you guys what to do.
Sit down, stand up.
You're all the same.
It'll get off a guy in the back.
All right, just keep still.
I'm sitting in school trying to learn something.
You got to come around and jerk me out of class.
Why don't you wait until General Assembly
to get the whole school in on it?
You don't care what you do to a guy's reputation.
That's what you think, is it?
Yeah.
Now listen, son, we never heard of you before today,
but we're finding out fast.
The way we got it, you've gone way out of your way
to make your own record, and you didn't do it in the classroom.
We've got a good reason to be here.
If you're innocent, you won't have to worry about
what anyone in this school thinks.
You don't sell me, mister.
We don't have to, son.
If you're clean, it's like we never met you.
But I'm going to put it right on the line for you.
The way this thing shapes up right now,
we think you already bought yourself another hunk of trouble.
Figures.
I made before I go in.
That's where you're wrong, kid.
Nobody's going to tag you with a bum beef.
You give us the right answers, and like my partner said,
we never met you.
All right.
What do you want from me?
You can start by telling us what you did last night.
I went to a show.
Where?
Downtown.
What time?
Around seven, I guess.
Who was with you?
Me.
What was the name of the theater?
The Dawn.
What'd you see?
What pictures?
Yeah.
I don't remember right off.
One was Western, and it was about spies.
You're all by yourself.
I said so, didn't I?
What time did you get out of the show?
Around 10, I guess.
What did you do then?
Went home.
What kind of clothes you have on last night?
What do you mean?
What were you wearing?
I don't know.
Jacket, sports shirt, usual stuff.
What kind of jacket?
Suede.
Belong to you?
No.
No, my brother.
How'd you get out to Washington and Normandy?
To where?
Washington and Normandy.
I told you I was downtown.
Say, what is this?
You tell us.
You were in that car, weren't you?
What car?
The one you beat the woman in.
You're crazy.
Who was with you?
I told you I was alone.
What more do you want?
The name of the person that was with you.
I don't know what you're trying to tag me with, but you're not going to make it this time.
I told you I was at a show by myself.
How do you think you can prove I wasn't?
We found the lenses you lost from the jacket pocket.
Boy, this gets wilder all the time.
I was sitting in the show last night.
That's it.
In other words, you don't want to tell us about it.
Is that it?
About the show.
All right, Hedwig, you play it your way.
It's going to take us a little longer.
That's all.
Same old story.
Don't make any difference what I say.
You know I got a record, so I'm guilty.
Don't make any difference.
Either way, I'm the pigeon.
No, you're wrong.
Not with us, Hedwig.
Oh, come on.
I just didn't fall off the Christmas tree.
There's only one way we want you.
Yeah?
If you're wrong.
We took Gordon heading to the city hall for further questioning.
We called Gwen Alston, asked her to come down and see if she could identify the suspect.
Arlen Stahl said the suspect's fingerprints matched the partials found in the car, but
there weren't enough points to build a case on.
2.47 p.m.
Frank and I had the suspect brought to the squad room.
Why don't you give up?
I ain't going to cop out to something I didn't do.
We don't expect you to, but we still want to know how a container with your brother-in-law's
lenses could be found in the backseat of a victim's car.
Now, they were in his jacket and you wore that jacket.
Isn't that right?
Don't ask me.
I was at the show.
Yeah, so you said.
Another thing, you guys better treat me pretty good while I'm in here.
Yeah?
Sure.
I'm a kid.
Don't forget.
Yeah, that's the way it reads in the books.
For my money, that's as far as it goes.
I told you once we can put you in the backseat of that car.
I get it.
Robbery Friday?
Right.
Send her down, will you?
Right away.
Thank you.
I'm going to tag the business officer.
I'll be right back.
Okay, John.
Miss Austin?
Hello, Sergeant Friday.
I got down as soon as I could.
All right, fine.
And have you got the man here?
Well, we'd like you to tell us.
We'll go down the hall here.
What do I have to do?
Just look into this room.
Tell me if you see the man that beat you up.
Do I have to face him?
No.
You can go around here.
You can look around.
All right.
All right, here.
How do you see him?
Well, what about him?
Yes.
That's him there.
We confronted Gordon Heddy with the fact that he'd been positively identified by the person
he had beaten and robbed.
He still refused to admit any knowledge of the crime.
We booked him on section 700-sub-M robbery.
A check was made of the F.I. cards in an attempt to identify the person who'd been with Heddy
the night before.
We called Newton University and 77th Street divisions.
When we checked the central, a clerk went through the files and found that the suspect had been
stopped at 9th and Main Streets at 10 p.m. the previous night.
Frank and I went over to the 1st Street station.
The F.I. card you wanted, Sergeant.
Thank you.
Well, here's what we're looking for.
Yeah?
Wasn't alone.
A person by the name of John Berko was with him.
Officer make a card on him, too?
Yeah, I got it here.
What about the other guy?
Thank you.
John Berko, B-E-R-K-O, age 19, 506 Hold Avenue.
Yeah.
Something else in the back here that checks out.
What's that?
Notation the officer made.
Yeah.
Berko's right thumb was bandaged.
We went back to the office and ran the name John Berko through R&I.
We found a package for him that showed several arrests as a juvenile and one as an adult
for suspicion of ADW.
Gwen Alston was shown his mug shot and she identified him as the other suspect.
We drove out to his address on Whole Street.
It was a boarding house.
The owner admitted us to his room.
We waited.
Four hours went by.
Eight, 19 p.m.
All right, Berko, hold it right there.
Police officers, get your hands over your head.
Come on, move.
Sure.
Over the door.
Come on.
Hands up on the door.
Trying to hold it right there.
All right.
Okay.
He's clean, John.
What's the pitch?
Come on, turn around.
Put your hands behind your back.
All right.
Take it easy with my thumb.
I think I got blood poisoning.
Yeah.
Now you want to tell me what this is about?
Friend of yours sent it to me.
Said you always work together on everything.
It's kind of lonesome without you.
Who are you talking about?
Heddy.
He sent you here.
He copped up to you?
All right, let's go.
What did he say?
You figured.
We're here.
That Fink.
Big talk about how you never cop out to anything.
Never admit nothing.
That's the way it is when you get mixed up with young squirts.
All right, let's go.
Lousy punk.
Suppose you know how he beat up that woman.
Yeah.
Should have heard him after.
I don't know.
Should have heard him after, laughing about how he hit her.
Should have figured he'd cop out if he got nails.
No guts.
Got to beat up on women.
No guts at all.
Well, that's real funny, isn't it?
What's that?
We just talked to him.
Yeah?
He said the same things about you.
The story you have just heard is true.
The names were changed to protect the innocents.
On June 9th, trial was held in Department 97, Superior Court of the State of California,
in and for the County of Los Angeles.
A petition was filed on Gordon Hedig alleging one count of robbery and kidnapping.
He was declared unfit as a juvenile and ordered to be tried in Superior Court.
Gordon Jerome Hedig and John Carlton Burkle were tried and convicted of robbery in the
first degree one count and kidnapping for the purpose of robbery.
Robbery in the first degree is punishable by imprisonment for a period of not less
than five years.
Kidnapping for the purpose of robbery with bodily harm is punishable by imprisonment
in the state penitentiary for life without possibility of parole.
Dragnet, the story of your police force in action is a presentation of the United States
Armed Forces radio service.