Dragnet

What I like about TV shows from the 1950s through the 1970s is that many of them, besides entertaining the viewers, also sought to incorporate moral lessons. I know there have been shows after that era that contained good moral lessons, but not to the regularity of those earlier years.

This morning, I turned on my TV for background noise. (Come on, you’ve probably all had the TV on while you did something else–like I’m doing right now.) Normally, I would have tuned in to “The Andy Griffith Show.” However, this morning’s episode wasn’t one of my favorites, so I did a little channel surfing and landed on “Dragnet.”

Dragnet, as a TV show, was based on actual police cases, where the names were changed to protect the innocent, of course, and written around two characters–Sgt. Friday and Officer Gannon. This episode was one of several written where they were performing a community relations function for the Los Angeles Police Department. 

I tuned in (no pun intended) at the point when a minority race couple who had attended their community discussion the day before had come in to see the two police officers and complain. The night prior, they had been driving home with a TV in the back seat and were pulled over and questioned by the police. The couple assumed it was a race-based encounter. Sgt. Friday showed them the communications shared with all officers regarding a robbery suspect that had been operating in that area, stealing TVs and burglarizing houses. The couple, given that additional information, realized it wasn’t a racially based encounter but one where the police were looking for a criminal.

Sgt. Friday and Officer Gannon then met with the two police officers to ask them how they communicated with the couple during the encounter. Our two stars found out the police officers focused on interrogating the couple to determine whether one of them was the wanted criminal, and didn’t explain why they had pulled them over or why they were asking them questions.

The episode ended with our main characters responding to a call for assistance, where they were serving an arrest warrant for outstanding traffic tickets and the person fled and barricaded himself in his apartment. He was another one of the original community discussion attendees who had decided the police were against him (because he was a minority) and nothing they said could change his mind. Sgt. Friday eventually talked him out of his apartment and he was put in custody.

I realized there were two main lessons in this episode. The first was discernment. In both cases, the community members were basing everything on their preconceived assessment of the situation. In both cases, there also were details they didn’t know. For the couple, that additional information assuaged their anger. The individual eventually had to trust that he couldn’t ignore the situation and that he wouldn’t be shot upon surrendering.

The second lesson was the importance of communication. The police officers who pulled the couple over should have shared the same information with them as Sgt. Friday did the next day. In fact, Sgt. Friday told the two officers that even the tone used could make a difference in whether the encounter was accepted or not. For the individual, Sgt. Friday had to talk him out of his apartment during a situation where the original officers were worried whether he was armed or not (a tense situation).

“And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.” - Philippians 1:9-11 ESV

“Whoever speaks the truth gives honest evidence, but a false witness utters deceit. There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing. Truthful lips endure forever, but a lying tongue is but for a moment.” - Proverbs 12:17-19

The older I get, the more disillusioned I am with current TV shows and the more I long for the morality of older shows.