Adam-12 (1968)/Log 23: Pig Is a Three Letter Word

Log 23: Pig Is a Three Letter Word
Season 2, Episode 4
Airdate	October 11, 1969
Written by	James Doherty
Directed by	Joseph Pevney
Produced by	James Doherty
← 2x03 Log 52: Good Cop: Handle with Care	2x05 → Log 83: A Different Thing
Adam-12 — Season Two

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Log 23: Pig Is a Three Letter Word is the fourth episode of the second season of Adam-12, and the thirtieth episode overall.

Starring: Martin Milner (Officer Pete Malloy), Kent McCord (Officer Jim Reed)

with Ellen Corby (Mrs. Cunningham), Herbert Anderson (George Barnes), William Boyett (Sgt. MacDonald), Robert Munk (Carl Binger), Tony Fraser (Johnny Standish), Ralph Manza (Frank Standish), Linda Frey (Helen Ryan), Alex Clarke (Smith), Stuart Thomas (Officer Grant), Byron Mabe (George Bates), Breland Rice (Officer Benson), Ed Rue (Vern Bayliss), Noble Nelson (Young Negro Man)

Uncredited: Shaaron Claridge (Dispatcher)

Plot Overview

Reed and Malloy must keep a riot from taking place after the apprehension of a pair of armed robbers sets an entire neighborhood against the police. And what Reed has learned about keeping his emotions in check during tense, often emotional times, will prove to be the difference between a successful arrest and a riot with several dead police officers, looting and much worse.

Earlier, Reed had spoken freely to George Bates, a child molester who had badly injured his victim, a 5-year-old boy, in a park restroom during a sexual assault. Although this is just his first bust of a pedophile, Reed's outburst concerns both Malloy and Sgt. McDonald to the point where they have to remind the young officer -- still a probationary officer and thus in his first year of being on the beat -- that sometimes, it's best to keep your mouth shut. What really helps Reed put things in perspective here is his conversation with a fellow officer, Grant, newly out of probation; he suggests by his comment "That's when I learned about sick people" that, as much as he regards someone like Bates -- who has multiple convictions for sex-related crimes -- as scum of the earth who deserve prison and to rot in Hell, you still have to keep your emotions in check when arresting someone like him for the most heinous of crimes, otherwise you risk the guy getting off completely scot-free on a technicality ... and you might not be a police officer for very long. Malloy, who vows to Mac that he and Reed will talk about it, does defend his young partner like a hawk and expresses his supreme confidence in him. To which Mac, of course, agrees ... but if Reed doesn't cool his attitude, he risks getting washed out.

Things finally come to a head later that morning when Reed learns the boy had died of internal bleeding and punches (and damages) a locker door.

Indeed, it's a rough day for Reed, as his eagerness and rawness continue to mount, even before the locker room incident. In between, the two are called to a suspicious odor call at a residence, where a neighbor woman is just sure that the stinky smell coming from her former neighbor's back porch is a dead baby ... after all, she notes, they moved out quickly and seemed in a hurry to get out of dodge. Malloy wants to call homicide -- even though he knows what's inside the sack isn't a dead body -- but Reed is sure that he can handle this ... so Malloy (uncharacteristically) does. Inside this burlap sack ... a bag full of smelly fish! Back at the locker room, an enlightened Reed now knows that his inexperience could have made for a much worse situation and that if a busybody wants to accuse someone of murder, next time he'll call her on that by calling the dicks.

Back at the station, as Reed is changing his clothes, he gets his nameplate pinned upside down, and that's just before he learns that the young boy who was raped earlier at the park had died. Reed is told (off-camera) he'll have to pay for a new locker door, and later he is musing at his rough day and how he'll never make it through probation. Malloy assures his discouraged trainee that he'll make it, and that he's paid for a few busted locker doors himself (and also unspoken, during his rookie year, he's had far worse days). Reed, who by now has had time to compose himself, will redeem himself in the final act when he and Malloy's cool attitudes help diffuse a potential riot; he also accounts for himself well when he helps bust a burglary ring where the ringleader has recruited his son to help with the dirty work.

So, then, what happened during that deadly robbery bust? Well, two black men -- and let's make no mistake, they were thugs -- rob a neighborhood grocery store and shoot the proprietor and his wife dead ... and that's D-E-A-D! Malloy and Reed arrive shortly thereafter and, after calling backup, get involved in a foot chase before cornering the suspects in a dead-end alley. They are easily captured. One of the two men, Binger, begins insulting the two officers, calling them pigs and much worse. Unlike his earlier run-in with Mr. Bates ... this time, he lets the abuse go and with Malloy begin to walk them to the police car.

As this is happening, a large group of young people -- all black -- follow Reed and Malloy. Binger, aware of this, begins calling for them to start a riot and attack Malloy and Reed. But this never happens ... while the two keep their cool and silently continue leading them to the car, a young, bespectacled fellow named Jessie Smith makes a keen observation: The men that Binger and his cohort blew away with their guns ... were also black. Y'see, these grocery store owners were the faces of the community, looking out for their fellow residents and taking care of their needs ... and it was Binger and his accomplice, Bayliss, who wronged the community. Binger continues his rant while Bayliss complains that all they wanted "was a bottla' wine!" (To wit: They were about to steal it and when they were stopped, the killings happened.) Later on, as Reed and Malloy are talking about the events of the day -- and Malloy reassures Reed that he will learn how to shut his mind off to people like Mr. Bates (which Reed will) -- Smith, who had done his part to avert a deadly riot arrives at the station and thanks the officers for doing their duty and making good accountings of themselves.