Pilot Episode: Working out of a patrol car designated "Adam-12," Officers Malloy and Reed perform a typical day's work, which includes a high speed auto-chase, the capture of two robbers, and an emergency call to save a suffocating baby. Malloy decides to turn in his badge after his young partner was killed a few weeks earlier. But at the end of the shift, he comes around and decides that he can't let inexperienced Jim Reed loose on another officer, so he decides not to leave the force.

Malloy and Reed learn of a serial home burglar stealing color TVs. They stumble upon the suspect's car with unusual results. Also, Reed must come to terms with his anger over a drug using mother that endangered her children to score dope.

Officers Malloy and Reed are involved in a high speed chase, a murder case and a family dispute as they work the P.M. watch. Reed worries all evening that the small dent in the fender he caused while backing the car up for fuel might lead to termination, since he is still on probation.

Officers Malloy and Reed assist a young mother whose baby is threatened by a deranged man and they help a woman being harassed by a spiteful neighbor.

Officer Reed learns that a professional officer has to keep their emotions under control; even when confronted with an abusive drunk-driver, right after clearing an "officer down" call & finding his close friend from the Academy critically wounded.

Officers Malloy and Reed look for a robbery suspect, help a woman pinned under her crashed car and settle a family dispute, among other duties.

In an episode where Reed learns to keep his wits under control, the officers deal with a loud noise complaint where an elderly woman refuses to answer, much less acknowledge, a teenaged girl's desperate pleas for help after the woman learns she was at a house where loud party music is being played, and it leads to a tragic drowning of a 4-year-old girl in a backyard swimming pool. Other calls include a brawl at a pop-spirituality temple on the verge of a schism over meditation styles, and a misused silent alarm at a liquor store.

Malloy teases Reed about calculating the cost of a new house while their first baby is still 6 months away. In the meantime they settle a domestic dispute between arguing neighbors, help a taxi driver that was just robbed, and a local man mistaken as the President by a group of rural Mexicans. Finally, they must arrest a psychotic shooter holed up in his house.

Reed gets Malloy to agree to an early dinner when his wife puts him on a low-cal diet. However, one after another event prevents them from going code 7 all night long. Events include the theft of a man's sod, stolen credit cards, and a suspected car theft.

Reed tries to pawn off his new litter of puppies to co-workers, strangers, even victims. The officers work a silent alarm, rescue a boy with his head stuck in a fence, and track down a prowler.

Walters and Brinkman are on a roll lately and like to brag, much to the irritation of Reed. He and Malloy help them out by finishing one of their calls, then rescue a sick teenage girl and arrest the young man who took her in. Back on patrol, they meet an informant who gives them a tip on a big drug buy scheduled for 11 PM. They give the info to Sgt. Miller who asks them to help in the bust.

A ditzy young woman reports her 1958 Ford convertible stolen while she went into a liquor store. She left the keys in the car, has no paperwork, doesn't know the license number or other details but she needs it by 6 PM for a date. She finally tells the officers that her eight-foot boa constrictor is in the trunk as she was coming from the vet.

On Christmas eve Reed and Malloy make rounds distributing police department donation packages to needy families, and pull many heartstrings.

After roll call, Reed and Malloy provide backup at a robbery, help a lost man return home, handle a call about a prowler, then respond to a silent alarm. Malloy demonstrates for Reed the importance of "officer presence".

Reed volunteers to line up entertainment for the department party, just as Malloy needs to serve a subpoena on a famous singer. The team learns of a drug den from their informant and are handed the bust when detectives are too busy to look into it.

Reed and Malloy assist park rangers in catching a horse thief, a homesick Texan who was high on drugs at the time. The officers then chase two gunmen in a high speed pursuit.

It's been a long night of patrol for Malloy and Reed. Just as the two tired officers are headed to the station to turn in for the night, shots are fired at the patrol car. In the blink of an eye, Reed kills whom he believes was the gunman. Back at the station, Reed undergoes a night of intensive questioning from the captain and lieutenant, as part of the superior officers' investigation into the incident. In the end, the captain confides in Reed that his story is credible and the rookie officer will likely be allowed back on patrol upon the completion of the investigation.

Reed and Malloy make a routine traffic stop on a motorist. Before the NCIC check is completed, the dispatcher broadcasts a domestic dispute call in the two officers' patrol area; Reed and Malloy take the call and let the motorist go. Bad choice; the lieutenant soon calls the two errant officers in to scold them. Turns out the motorist had warrants out for his arrest on robbery and weapons charges. Malloy and Reed then come up with and carry out an ultimately successful plan to nab the wanted criminal.

Not long after an elderly woman insists that Reed and Malloy help adjust her television antenna, the officers are called to a high-rise hotel, where a suicidal man is determined to jump. Malloy incorrectly handles the situation and Mac harshly reprimands him the follow-up investigation.

While Malloy is attending college, radicals learn he is a cop. They reject him and antagonize him on the job. After helping arrest demonstrators, his new car is vandalized. When a timer is found missing, he locates and disarms a bomb using it.

Malloy and Reed respond to a call about a drug overdose and track the drugs to a 17-year-old who has barricaded himself in his room with a gun and threatens kill himself. They contend with a distraught mother and an overbearing father.

An impressionable Reed is taken in by the "cowboy cop" antics of fellow Officer Ed Wells (Gary Crosby), a wise guy who takes unnecessary and reckless risks to arrest suspects. At the station, Malloy loses his cool while talking to Wells because Wells' tactics endanger his life and others. Wells tries to play it down until his recklessness nearly catches up with him when he is shot in the shoulder by a psychotic sniper, and because of Wells' disobedience and foolishness Reed is also almost shot. Malloy and Reed are forced to rescue Wells and mastermind a way to end the standoff peacefully.

A "child-left-alone" call turns up a horrifying case of child neglect. A 6-year-old girl is left home with her baby brother and both parents are unable to provide for their children.

Malloy writes a young woman a traffic ticket and then is bombarded with attention and affection, all of which he doesn't want.

A couple of neighbors co-own a boat and continually fight over it so Malloy and Reed do their best to mediate this latest rift.

Reed hears a joke from Ed Wells before roll call, and then spends the shift retelling it to Malloy. The partners solve a mystery for a little old lady. Later, Reed needs to break up a noisy party hosted by an old school chum.

On their day off, Malloy and Reed agree to give a talk to a group of fifth grade students, and then offer to let the kids watch them train for the California Police Olympics. But when the tires of their patrol car are slashed and a stopwatch goes missing out of reed's car, the two officers start to suspect one of the children.

Malloy and Reed are on the lookout for the "Mulholland Mauler," who has raped six female hitchhikers and left them for dead. They quickly make an arrest of a likely suspect and take him to the location of an abandoned vehicle, after learning its owner never made it to her destination.

Malloy and Reed see a man passed out in an alley and stop to lend assistance, deliver bad news to a young wife, apprehend a mentally ill man who then becomes uncontrollably violent in their patrol car, and respond to a robbery that needlessly becomes a tragedy. All along the way the officers have their every move second guessed by a pair of young, unethical freelance journalists who are determined to document police brutality.

Reed busts his first sex offender, who was caught brutally raping a 5-year-old boy in a park restroom, and gets frustrated when he learns the boy died. The officers later find trouble when an arrest in a predominantly Black neighborhood almost sparks a race riot. Another call is a possible dead body that turns out to be rotting fish.

An older husband complains about his wife and friend's noisy karate practice. A hit and run traffic accident looks looks like a homicide. The officers use their investigative skills to locate the suspect and arrest him.

Malloy and Reed double date on their day off to a ghost town only to be confronted by a motor cycle gang. It takes their quick police instincts to save the day as Mrs Reed gets too close to delivering the baby.

Reed's wife is in the hospital expecting their first child, and Reed soon regrets his decision to report for work as usual. Out on patrol, they encounter a drunken man directing traffic, chase down a robbery suspect, investigate the theft of money from washing machines and become involved in a minor traffic accident that results in a major delay.

A former convict and informant who Malloy helped give a second chance is accused of assaulting a priest, dealing drugs and stealing a gun after being fired from his dish-washing job at Duke's Longhorn Café. Malloy and Reed set out to determine if his story, which is full of suspicious coincidences, is actually true.

Reed feels a strong sense of accomplishment when he stumbles upon a large stash of narcotics as he secures a residence after executing a traffic warrant with Malloy and Officer Ed Wells. He's in for a rude awakening at the trial, however, when he's cross examined by the defense attorney.

Malloy and Reed begin their shift responding to a disgruntled tenant who is holding his landlord at knife point. Later, they investigate a rash of property theft from multiple homes in a quiet neighborhood, stake out an apparent bag of laundry left on the side of the road and search for a runaway boy who gets himself into a life-threatening situation.

As Malloy and Reed's patrol begins, an uneventful traffic stop becomes more interesting when something catches Malloy's eye. Later, they discover an unusual situation responding to a break-in at a hospital supply warehouse, which becomes even more odd when the warehouse owner and a group of revenge-seeking thugs show up at the scene. The shift ends in a fitting way when they are called to an apartment where a baby has been left unattended with a pet lion.

Two armed convicts holding up a diner shoot Malloy who entered innocently, and hold him and other civilians hostage.

Malloy and Reed become envious of officer wells, who has been given a coveted assignment in the newly established astro helicopter division. Out on patrol, they require assistance saving a wealthy elderly couple who get locked in their heavily fortified basement safe, and then use air support to track down robbery suspects who escape on a motorcycle.

Malloy and Reed are the first to respond to a downtown rooftop sniper who has been indiscriminately shooting at anyone he can find with his scoped rifle. After risking their lives to get civilians out of his line of sight, they become lead participants in the S.W.A.T. team's attempt to neutralize the suspect.

Malloy and Reed see the same drunk twice in one night, respond to a bar fight and engage in a high-speed pursuit with good samaritans who make a bad decision. They also search for a biker who tries to coerce a woman to repay a debt by riddling her apartment with buckshot.

Malloy and Reed hope to find an impostor as they investigate a boxing promoter's accusation that a police detective stole $350 from him. In the meantime, they deal with a disgruntled wife who is in the process of destroying her own car in the middle of a downtown street, investigate a gun theft from a pawn shop, drive up on a home burglary in progress and obtain critical information while interrogating a suspected car thief.

Malloy spends a weekend afternoon attending a barbecue at Reed's home, where Reed lets him hold his newborn son for the first time and tries to set him up with his wife's friend. However, their relaxation is interrupted when they have to deal with a young neighbor who overdoses on drugs and becomes the target of his dealer.

Malloy and Reed are rendered powerless when a drunken man with no flight experience decides to take a solo flight in a stolen airplane at a busy airport. Later, they try to locate a 17-year-old runaway living in a condemned home with a much older man, engage in a shootout with a convenience store robber and search for a booby-trapped bank safe that has been stolen with a tow truck.

Malloy fears that a boxer who has just been paroled after serving a murder sentence is going to seek revenge against him. Out on patrol, they try to save a man who has been crushed while working under a stolen car, apprehend a liquor store robber who swears revenge against reed, change a flat tire on their patrol car, locate a four-year-old child who locked himself in a refrigerator and become the targets of an ambush.

Malloy and Reed search for a suspect who frames an employee of a manufacturing plant for theft and then plants a powerful bomb on the premises. They also apprehend two criminals after questioning a suspicious man who is carrying heavy bags down the street, and protect an innocent motorist from a street race that still ends in tragedy.

Malloy and Reed spend a night shift on desk duty after Malloy breaks his wrist and another office worker calls in sick. With the assistance of a new female recruit, they deal with a homesick elderly woman who refuses to identify herself, help a lenient father bail out his son and become suspicious of a man who walks in looking for a wanted fugitive.

Malloy and Reed respond to a fire where a young man, Lauro, saves a man trapped inside. But Lauro seems reluctant to receive any praise or attention much to everyone's surprise. Meanwhile, a concerned landlord reports suspicious in-activity from a tenant with heart trouble where Malloy and Reed arrive in time to give him CPR and save his life. Malloy attempts to keep his new hat clean, but finds it an impossibility.

Reed has to deal with the consequences of forgetting to roll up the window on the patrol car before he left it. Back on patrol, Malloy and Reed search for an estranged husband who kidnaps his own child, deal with an elderly man who tries to pay for a meal with trading stamps, engage in a shootout with an escaped prisoner caught napping on a city bus and pull over a hijacked delivery van full of booze.

Malloy and Reed are in for a rude awakening when they report to the home of a former professional wrestler on a domestic abuse call. Later, they become suspicious of an apartment burglary victim after they find one of the suspects dead, deal with a man who discovers car parts that were stolen from him installed on another car and become involved in a shootout responding to a bank robbery.

Malloy and Reed prove they cannot and will not be bribed, no matter how good the offer, resulting in desperation from a young man charged with his third drunk driving offense. An elderly man admits mercy killing his wife.

Malloy and Reed track down a kooky female shoplifter involved in a cult-type relationship with a ego-maniacal spiritualist weirdo. Malloy gets help tracking her down from an old girlfriend.

Malloy and Reed try to investigate a series of beatings at a plant resulting from a loan shark operation, but the employees refuse to talk until the son of one employee stands up to testify. The officers arrest an armed robber who could only bring himself to steal $2, then was robbed himself.

Malloy and Reed investigate the mysterious source behind a boy's suspicious spending spree, wield a blanket instead of gun during a disrobed driver's DUI arrest and bust up a car parts theft ring.

Reed and Malloy have to think outside the box to capture an intelligent yet neglected teenage purse snatcher. Their efforts to talk sense into him before he commits a much more serious crime prove to be futile.

Reed and Malloy report to a burglary call that was witnessed by a boy with a photographic memory. Afterward, they are called to the scene of two drunk men shooting at a box of dynamite at close range in a residential area.

The officers bring down an auto-theft ring where young girls get rides with the victims, steal their cars, and take them to a "chop shop". Other calls include an elderly woman who ran a red light and whose license lists her in her 30s, a would-be motorcycle thief stopped by a feisty woman, a shut-in woman who thinks she is hallucinating while her nephew is hosting a marijuana party, and two men moving a safe down the street.

Malloy and Reed investigate a missing child with a Band-Aid on her leg. Other calls include rescuing a cat and birds from a woman who was trying to get rid of them using gas, apprehending a man who stole a disability check from his uncle, and responding to an auto burglary turned homicide with a Hispanic family more concerned with how the officers would treat them.

The shift starts with Reed being taken hostage by a woman out of her mind. Malloy and Reed are faced with multiple reports of burglaries and the thieves appear to be young boys. After a couple interviews, Malloy picks up on the fact that the victims are all supposed to be playing bridge and it points to one family.

Officer Malloy pays tribute to Officer Tom Porter, who has recently fallen in the line of duty. Malloy recounts the close friendship they developed while training at the academy, as well as the moments where they crossed paths on duty, including the night of the officer's unfortunate demise.

Malloy and reed hunt down a suspect who has been bombing downtown storefronts. Then they report to a scuffle between two native americans at a bar that the bartender thinks may be a prelude to something a lot more serious.

Malloy and Reed search for a serial arsonist who spawns a copycat, settle a domestic dispute that results from a love triangle, rescue a man who wandered onto the ledge of a high rise and deal with a mentally ill man who is holding his wife at knife-point.

It's Christmas Eve in Los Angeles, and Malloy and Reed track down a suspect who beat and mugged a rescue mission Santa, who later gets arrested himself. They also respond to an alcohol-related traffic accident that resulted in a fatality, help a penniless widow who has been detained for shoplifting and take part in the search for a young Native American child who wandered off into a mountainous area while her parents were asleep.

Malloy and Reed start the shift with a call to a liquor store robbery, where a fellow officer was shot but the owner of the store appears to be lying. Further investigation pushes the owner to admit one of the thieves was his brother and he was trying to protect him. In the meantime, they have a zoning issue with an elderly astrology reader followed by the report of a young boy asking a pharmacist questions about Seconal pills.

Reed and Malloy respond to a car rollover where a good samaritan makes matters worse. Afterward, they respond to several victims of a well-known family of seasonal home improvement con artists before finally catching them in the act. In the meantime, they search for a disgruntled ex-employee who is trying to sabotage his former workplace, and take a drunk driver off the street.

Officer Reed loses a robbery suspect while in foot pursuit. Afterward, he and Malloy try to help a priest prevent bloodshed between rival hispanic gangs, and then respond to a battered wife whose husband is very familiar to the officers.

Malloy and Reed drive up on a convenience store robbery in progress, which results in the suspects taking hostages. Later, they pull over a reckless driver who has just committed a heinous crime, learn about a new computer system designed to help them be more productive and finally thwart a group of serial burglars who use motorcycles.

Officer Tony Johnson finds out he has been accused of a shakedown just after saving Malloy's life during a shootout. Reed and Malloy set out to find a bar girl named Ginger who Johnson says will prove his innocence, but her story leaves Malloy with an uneasy feeling.

Reed and Malloy have a gun pulled on them after stopping a car that turns out to be stolen, but the contents of the trunk link the two suspects to an even more sinister crime. Afterward, a recently widowed father and his teenage daughter report that their home has just been toilet papered, which ends up being a prelude for a much more serious incident.

Officer Reed, who is an optimist and still has faith in the human race, is subjected to ridicule from Officer Wells after he is swindled twice. On patrol, he and Malloy come to the aid of a woman whose baby has been kidnapped by a heavily armed man seeking a large ransom. Afterward, wells once again questions Reed's judgment during the search for an intoxicated sniper at large.

Malloy and Reed are on patrol, and find a homeless man stabbed. They take a retired policeman, Jack Donohoe (who lives nearby), in for questioning, but he is released when the real suspect is found. Donohoe later gets involved in a shootout with a robbery suspect. Other incidents include an aspiring actress from Missouri shooting up a phone booth at Union Station after being lured by a theatrical agent who promised a movie career and took her money, and then having her suitcase, containing a rattlesnake, stolen at the station.

The officers respond to a shooting involving police and two black men, one of which was shot by one of the officers and later found dead in an alley. The dead man was the younger brother of Reed's friend Kenneth James; his older brother Cleotis was an accomplice and both were members of a black militant gang, The Brotherhood. Kenneth believes the gang's contention that Cleotis was murdered by the officers until the James brothers confront each other and Kenneth learns the truth; his brother Cleotis is arrested after briefly taking his brother hostage. Malloy and Reed also pull over an elderly driver on his 75th birthday for multiple traffic violations.

Malloy and Reed's day begins with a police garage employee taking a joyride in a police car (Code 3), later finding a young woman trying to cash an old age benefits check she found, checking a garage whose closed circuit TV security system was stolen, an elderly woman thinking she saw a prowler, finding a B&E suspect inside a coffin in a mortuary, and poaching into Officer Wells' territory to check on break-ins occurring in warehouses; finally apprehending two drugged out burglars inside a warehouse.

Malloy has to shoot one of two robbery suspects, then the officers counsel a young woman in a bad neighborhood not to hang around (she is later kidnapped by two men claiming to fix her car), the LAPD's Air-Ten helicopter is used to catch the kidnappers (who already had outstanding kidnapping warrants), find a "mover" (burglar) whose partner hides in a freezer, and the officers visit an apartment on a domestic dispute complaint and find another woman with severe injuries but the couple insists nothing is going on, later arresting the husband on domestic violence charges after the woman's mother calls the police back to the apartment after the woman's husband beats their daughter.

Malloy celebrates his birthday by having to let Reed drive 1-Adam-12 (due to Malloy allowing his driver's license to expire) and is nervous about his young partner driving the car. Calls include a bank robbery reported by the Bank robber, a burglary involving several neighbors, an abandoned baby, a suicidal wife who killed her husband on their 22nd wedding anniversary, and a drug dealer selling his wares out of an ice cream truck.

After beginning the search for a well known suspect who just stole a 600-pound offset printing press, Reed and Malloy try to convince an 85-year-old man to leave the soon-to-be demolished apartment building where he's resided alone for 27 years. Afterward, they pull over a very unusual vehicle, and chase a delivery truck to the end of an unfinished bridge.

Malloy and Reed are called to a riding stable run by retired actor Slim Berkeley. The owner is careless about trusting people and has $100 and a gold belt buckle stolen. Because of a criminal record in New York his young assistant runs, but when searched nothing is found. A call to a phone booth where the man inside is being attacked leads to a drug arrest and sore jaw for Reed. Reed spots a robbery at a drive-in resulting in a shoot-out.

Malloy and Reed investigate a series of safe jobs, which all seem to tie in with a retired safecracker who is taking care of his orphaned niece and nephew, and after a "tip" from him, finds the niece and nephew practicing his old tricks on another safe. The officers also investigate a woman whose baby was held hostage by her cousin and forcing her to meet and steal from other men, after which the officers arrest the cousin and rescue the baby.

Malloy and Reed investigate an extortion racket against a group of Jewish Holocaust survivors, with the owner of a dry cleaners willing to testify but others not out of fear of retribution. The officers return to handle the owner's panel truck being set ablaze and later the owner is physically assaulted. Malloy and Reed capture both suspects. Other incidents involved a robbery at a bar (the perps escaped initially, but are later captured after a shootout), and a drunk man owed back pay by a dockmaster threatens to dump his boat onto dry land from a crane unless he's paid.

Police "buff" Jennings Thornton, a thorn in the side for Malloy and Reed, intervenes in a drunk driving case, runs down a shooter after a robbery (and nearly getting Reed killed), and is finally arrested himself for falsely arresting two teenage boys for stealing mag wheels that were actually legally bought. Another case involves a woman who stole an expensive ring from a store, leaving a cheap one in return; the suspect is later arrested during a parking lot dispute and the ring is found on her during a search

Malloy and Reed investigate a robbery in a store run by a group of "grandmothers", who sell small homemade items, then later return the money. The suspect later robs an antique shop but is captured when he returns to the first store to attempt another robbery, and the officers purchase some items from the "grandmothers". Other incidents include a high-speed chase of three robbery suspects, who are captured with the help of Sgt. MacDonald, and a priest stopped for a traffic violation who wants to have a drug dealer arrested for selling him marijuana.

The radical Robin Saydo on the loose, tied into a number of bombings. Reed spots him and Saydo is arrested by D.A. Paul Ryan. Other calls include an abandoned police cruiser which turned out to be a lone policeman on a foot pursuit capturing a drug suspect, and retired security officer Fred Tibbles assists the officers in breaking up a truck theft ring which took the trucks but not the merchandise within them.

Note: This episode begins a crossover with The D.A. that concludes on "The People vs. Robin Saydo".

1-Adam-12 is back on the streets after routine maintenance, but the radio isn't working properly. During an armed robbery involving two suspects, Reed captures one while Malloy takes off in pursuit of the other one through Griffith Park and loses control of the car, and it rolls into an embankment hidden from the road, with Malloy suffering severe internal bleeding and a broken leg. All available units are called in to search for Malloy, who has to watch helplessly while a suspect hiding in the park takes his shotgun (which Malloy was using as a splint for his leg) and sidearm, and tears off the radio microphone leaving only leaving the wires. Malloy uses the wires to send a signal for help, which Reed picks up and is able to rescue his partner.

A man named "The Ferret" is vandalizing a manufacturing plant due to their poor record on ecology, and escapes Reed easily on foot pursuit. A reporter catches Reed in an unflattering light after the escape and plasters him over the front page. Reed is redeemed when he catches the Ferret when he returns later to the same plant and dumps a bucket of waste in the lobby. Other calls include a man whose pregnant wife fell into a coma after eating mud given to her by a voodoo priest, resulting in her baby boy being stillborn (when the officers confront the priest, he puts a mojo hex on Reed), and an elderly lady pulled over for a traffic violation who thinks the policemen are gas station attendants.

Truancy is on the rise in the district and Reed has a plan to pick up truants on the street, which was approved after a garage break-in by two truants. Results show a drop in crimes committed by truants, in one case two truants were stopped by the police and were implicated in a burglary, and one of the two truants involved in the garage break-in is brought in on another incident. Other incidents include arresting two heroin smugglers who hid the stash in their car's gas tank, which leaked some of the contraband making the car stall, and stop car thieves from stripping parts to build a dune buggy. Starting with this episode, Officer Ed Wells is promoted to Police Officer III (just under Malloy's rank of Police Officer III+1).

Malloy and Reed are sent to assist the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department with transporting a prisoner from Malibu to Los Angeles for outstanding traffic warrants. During the trip, the prisoner reveals he is also a witness in a mob murder and a hit has been ordered on him. Suddenly, the cruiser is ambushed on a rural road, a tire is shot out, and they crash on a dirt road out of radio range. Reed is captured by hitmen attempting to get assistance, but Malloy and the prisoner steal the hitmen's car to get to a phone. The LAPD sends a police helicopter to search for Reed, who ends up overpowering the hit men and are captured.

Sgt. MacDonald's anniversary is coming up and the officers have limited funds to spend on a gift, which is a bottle of champagne, but when the officers pick it up, the owner of the liquor store was shot in an attempted robbery. Malloy and Reed later find the robber dead in a park from a gunshot wound inflicted by the owner. Other incidents include a paralyzed ex-wrestler tearing up a bar, a man driving suspiciously turns out to be the proud owner of several traffic tickets in a 24 hour period, a used car dealer trying to take advantage of a Mexican customer who speaks little English, and two camper thieves pushing a truck with a camper that is too small for the truck bed.

Over the course of their shift, Malloy and Reed deal with a racist gas station owner who is tired of being the victim of repeated robberies. When they catch the suspect, supposedly a black man, they find he is actually just an equally-racist white man in blackface. Other calls include a hitchhiker who extorts money from drivers she leaves in embarrassing situations, and a drunk who is seeing pink elephants.

A phony prowler call results in shots being fired at Malloy and Reed. Shots ring out again when the officers head to the airport to transport a blood donor. The suspect is a known check bouncer, and Reed's wife gets a disturbing phone call. Later Reed heads home and meets an acquaintance who just happens to be driving the same car as the shooting suspect. Other cases include a suicidal man who tries to incinerate himself with gasoline, and a wino who is nearly shot by Reed.

Officer Art McCall returns from eight years on disability and rides with Malloy and Reed to see how much has changed in law enforcement. McCall soon learns exactly how much has changed when he tries illegal techniques to help a young woman with her ex-con husband, fails to Mirandize a boy after arresting him for robbery, and screws up an arrest of a gun-carrying man who later plants a bomb in his ex-wife's car, which requires Malloy to dress down the veteran officer on his use of antiquated (and illegal) police procedures.

Malloy and Reed find a girl who was raped and left for dead in the hills but was actually alive and identified her attacker's car as a red Porsche. Malloy spots the suspect car picking up another girl and gives chase, only to have the suspect dump the girl on the street and the officer loses the car. Later the girl's mother finds drugs in the laundry and determine she was selling and the "rapist" was her supplier, while the real rapist is caught when he checked out of the hospital after being hit by his victim's heavy purse. The officers also handle a robbery at a construction yard foiled by police scouts.

Cases include a woman whose purse was robbed after two men bumped her car while on the road, then are captured along with the loot when a citizen complains about loud noise coming from their lair. A broken-down car leads to a meeting between the car's owner and a counterfeiter, and a fight in a fast-food restaurant results in an arrest of one of the combatants on outstanding warrants.

A disturbance call leads the officers to a nightclub where a singer named Kathy is strung out on drugs, and clings to Reed on the way to the hospital, telling him someone is trying to kill her and give her drugs. Narcotic detectives decide to assign Reed undercover as an AWOL soldier with a large stash of heroin to sell. Reed makes a deal, but Kathy blows his cover, and Malloy saves his partner from being killed and helps bring down the dealers.

Malloy and Reed deal with a woman who thinks she has a rattlesnake in her luggage, an out-of-town traffic violator, and a bar brawl, all while tackling armored truck robbers whose attacks have been predicted in advance by an informant.

Malloy is told that the best player on the recreational league basketball team he coaches has begun using narcotics again, which he flatly denies despite evidence to the contrary. He and Reed also search for a hit-and-run driver who struck a child, and pull over a driver with a seemingly disrespectful and wanted passenger.

Malloy and Reed investigate the ransacking of a college football locker room and uncover a controversial performance enhancing drug program. They also investigate suspicious parents who backtrack after their maid reports their baby as missing, apprehend a reported prowler who is then suspiciously let into the home by the female accuser and engage in a bullet-riddled high speed chase through a residential area.

A young girl from Chinatown is ordered by her father to withhold information from Malloy and Reed regarding her boyfriend, an undercover cop left in a coma after investigating a potential attack on a Chinese elders' association. Meanwhile, the officers also encounter a middle-aged marijuana user and a cross-dressing criminal who leads them to a counterfeit money ring while trying to pay his lawyer.

On temporary assignment at LAX, Reed and Malloy have to save a stewardess who is taken hostage inside a lounge by a man desperately trying to get the attention of a television producer. Afterward, they go undercover as rental car employees to intercept a large narcotics delivery from Toledo, and then try to identify and apprehend a rape suspect before he's able to escape on a flight.

Malloy tries to prove Sgt. MacDonald's innocence when Mac accidentally hits and kills a jaywalker while driving his police cruiser. Every witness on the sidewalk claims she was in the crosswalk, and the burglary suspect MacDonald is transporting is unmotivated to testify on his behalf. The truth proves to be far more complicated than the officers realized.

Malloy and Reed work to curtail the rise in illegal street racing by working with the leaders of rival racing clubs and obtaining the legitimate use of a drag strip through a race promoter. Their work is threatened, along with an anticipated race between Reed and Officer Wells, when one of the racers resorts to sabotage.

Malloy and Reed search for a six-year-old boy who was apparently abducted while walking home from school, and later fear that an elderly witness's wildly inaccurate account may actually pertain to a different crime. They also respond to a barking dog complaint and become suspicious of the dog's owner, mediate a domestic dispute caused by a husband's obsession with watching football, respond to a very creative college prank and pursue armed robbery suspects through a crowded train depot with the aid of a police helicopter.

Reed becomes preoccupied with the well being of a friend, an electrical engineer by profession, who has just qualified as a reserve police officer and has the bad luck of drawing Officer Wells as his partner. On patrol, Reed and Malloy help out a group of distrusting young adults who are planning to illegally camp in a public park after a rock concert, pull over a young couple in a stolen car and aid wells and the reservist in the foot chase of a heavily armed man who has been coercing innocent strangers into committing bank robberies.