THE BIG STOP and THE BIG LOCKER DRAGNET

1001 Radio Crime SolversThis time on 1001 Radio Crime Solvers, Jack Webb stars as the methodical, no-nonsense Sergeant Joe Friday in two classic episodes of Dragnet, the landmark police procedural that brought listeners inside the daily workings of the Los Angeles Police Department.

THE BIG STOP

Original broadcast date: May 4, 1954Episode number: 246

Cast:Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe FridayBen Alexander as Officer Frank SmithGeorge Fenneman as announcerA routine traffic stop erupts into violence when a Los Angeles police officer is shot at a busy intersection. The wounded officer's gun is still in its holster, and his assailant has vanished in a stolen automobile.Sergeant Joe Friday and his partner, Frank Smith, are assigned to the desperate manhunt. Their search begins with a shaken eyewitness, a description of a dark sedan, and a license plate number. Roadblocks are established, police broadcasts go out across the city, and every available lead is followed.The investigation eventually points Friday and Smith toward a dangerous suspect barricaded inside a rooming house. Armed and refusing to surrender, the wanted man threatens to shoot anyone who attempts to enter. Friday and Smith must help bring the tense standoff to an end before another officer or innocent bystander is hurt."The Big Stop" is a gripping example of Dragnet at its best, combining careful police procedure with the very real danger faced by officers performing what appears to be an ordinary assignment.

THE BIG LOCKER

Original broadcast date: November 2, 1954Episode number: 272Cast:Jack Webb as Sergeant Joe FridayBen Alexander as Officer Frank SmithHarry BartellGeorgia EllisHerb EllisHal Gibney as announcerFriday and Smith are assigned to the burglary detail when a man walks into a pawn shop and attempts to sell a valuable emerald ring for a fraction of its true worth. The suspicious pawnbroker contacts the police, and the detectives begin questioning the would-be seller.The man insists that he obtained the ring legitimately, but his story quickly begins to fall apart. Friday and Smith trace the jewelry to a robbery and discover that the emerald may be only one piece of a much larger collection of stolen valuables.Their investigation leads them through pawn-shop records, interviews with reluctant witnesses, telephone calls and a bus-station locker containing important evidence. Each new discovery exposes another lie and brings the detectives closer to the people responsible for the robbery."The Big Locker" demonstrates the patient, detail-oriented police work that made Dragnet so distinctive. A single suspicious ring, a careful pawnbroker and one locker provide Friday and Smith with the threads they need to unravel an increasingly complicated case.Join us for two outstanding investigations starring Jack Webb and Ben Alexander as Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Frank Smith, right here on 1001 Radio Crime Solvers.