The Big Safe

Originally Aired: May 1, 1952

Dragnet #151, "The Big Safe," finds Sergeant Joe Friday working the safe detail in Burglary Division, where a professional crew has been hitting drug stores, liquor stores, and markets across Los Angeles for over two months. With his regular partner Bill Lockwood sidelined by an ankle injury, Friday interrogates Charles W. Boyd, a nervous suspect picked up by officers Jones and McCready during a drugstore stakeout. Boyd was caught at quarter to five in the morning trying to jimmy his way into a closed pharmacy, armed with a crowbar he claims is just a tire tool.

Boyd insists he was simply sick and looking for medicine, but his story doesn't hold up under Friday's methodical questioning. The suspect drove ten miles past multiple all-night drugstores, spent over ten minutes casing the location, and tried both front and back doors before attempting to force entry. Friday believes the MO matches the string of professional safe burglaries perfectly—the time, location, and type of business all fit the pattern. As Boyd continues to deny any involvement in safe work, Friday presses harder, determined to crack the case.

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