07x13 - G.T.A.

[bunniefuu]

FEMALE DISPATCHER ON RADIO: One-Adam-. One-Adam-, a in progress.

One-Adam-, handle code .

[SIREN WAILING]

But why would anyone want to steal

an eight-year-old car, Officer?

If someone wants to steal a car,

wouldn't it make more sense to take a new one?

Not if the thieves intend to scrap it out, Mrs. Corley.

What do you mean?

Scrap steel is bringing $ to $ a ton, ma'am.

Could be that the thief took it to a metal dealer,

ran it through a crusher and get paid for the weight.

Doesn't sound like I have much chance of gettin' it back.

We're not sure that's what happened to your car, Mrs. Corley.

Did you have insurance coverage, ma'am?

Only for public liability and damage.

The insurance man told me full comprehensive would cost

more than the car was worth.

I've survived worse problems.

I'll survive this one.

We'll try to find it for you. Would you sign here?

Took a long time to save up to buy that car.

It just isn't fair.

One-Adam-, requests a clear frequency for a signed stolen.

FEMALE DISPATCHER: One-Adam-, stand by.

All units on frequency one, stand by.

Go ahead, One-Adam-.

Vehicle is described as a four-door Ambassador, medium blue.

California license -- Ocean-Charles-Sam.

Vehicle was taken between hours of May th

and hours, May .

From Gordon Street. KMA.

Roger, One-Adam-, frequency one, clear.

Let's go back to the station and check out

the Abandoned Vehicle Report.

-Hunch? -Yeah.

Well? Come up with anything?

Think so, Mac. In the past days,

we've had abandoned vehicle reports.

Within hours of the time they were yellow-ticketed,

were gone.

The way I figure it, vehicle thefts on older cars

are up almost % and the recovery rate is pretty low.

That's heavy. How come the investigators haven't picked up on it.

They have. I talked to Moss, downtown.

He's got a task force working the Five Valley areas,

same problem out there.

They'll get to us when they can.

They're right about the yellow tickets, Mac.

The chick on the Sam unit in my area

used to tag five or six abandoned vehicles a day,

now she's doing heavy if she gets one or two.

And, like the man said, when she goes back to check the following day,

zero, gone.

You think there's a tie-in on the AVR's and the G.T.A.'s?

I think they're all winding up in the same place, Mac.

Shipped overseas as scrap metal and six months later

they're back on the streets as imported compacts.

There's got to be or auto wrecking and salvage yards in the city,

take every man we've got to cover them all.

The ones we're interested in have crushers, Mac.

That cuts it way down.

Yeah. The question is what do we do about it?

No problem, Mac. They'll just catch one of them right in the act.

Yeah. Sure. You ought to give it a try too, Woods.

One-Adam-, clear.

FEMALE DISPATCHER: One-Adam-, clear.

Jean's really looking forward to getting together with you and Judy, Saturday.

Doesn't look like we're going to be able to make it.

Why not?

David's report card, he got C's in three subjects.

C's passing, isn't it?

[CHUCKLES] Not to Judy.

Up to now, the kid's been holding a B- to A work.

And this is the first time he hasn't gotten an A for effort.

And that's the reason you're not going to the beach Saturday?

It's her decision, not mine.

If you ask me, I think you're making a mistake,

punishing a nine-year-old kid isn't going to make him try any harder.

That's what I said, but we're not married and he's her kid.

Oh, okay.

Has he had any trouble with other kids in school or one of the teachers?

Not that I know of.

FEMALE DISPATCHER: All units, additional on the -- P-S

which occurred at hours.

Suspect is described as a male Caucasian, to .

'", .

Suspect was wearing a red windbreaker, black slacks.

Last seen running westbound on Dalton.

Suspect will have in his possession a green plastic purse

with the identification of Nancy Dolan, $ in miscellaneous change

and an Old Age Benefit check in the amount of $.

Guy must be real proud of himself.

One-Adam-. One-Adam-, a -E.

Meadow Glen.

One-Adam-, roger.

Hi.

I wouldn't have bothered you

but that thing's been here for three or four days now,

and I'm getting tired of squeezing by it.

I'll run it.

Can I have your name, please?

Tara Wheeler.

Did you see who parked the car here, Miss Wheeler?

No, and it doesn't belong to anybody around here.

One-Adam-, requesting wants and warrants and DMV

on California license -- Ida-King-Nora.

FEMALE DISPATCHER: One-Adam-, stand by.

One-Adam-, -- Ida-King-Nora,

no wants, two parking warrants.

Lincoln, registered to Gerald Green,

East LaBrea.

One-Adam-, roger.

Parking warrants, Pete.

Does that mean you're going to take it away?

Not right now, ma'am.

That yellow ticket on the antennae is a warning for the owner

to move the vehicle within hours.

After that, we can impound it as an abandoned car.

If anyone shows up and tries to move that car,

particularly if it's a tow truck,

we'd appreciate it if you'd call us.

I wouldn't want to cause trouble for anyone.

You could be saving someone trouble.

-Okay. -Thank you.

We'll try to push it back a little out of your driveway.

Okay, thanks.

Pete, the guy on the bench.

I saw him. The jacket was white, not red.

Not if it's reversible.

He can't be far. Probably ducked into a store of that gas station

across the street.

[TIRES SQUEALING]

One-Adam-, my partner is in foot pursuit

of a possible P.S. suspect,

east bound on Hesby from Whitman.

[BRAKES SCREECHING]

Jim!

[GRUNTING]

Hands behind your back!

Give him his rights.

If it was stolen, nobody will ever know.

Hey!

What brings you two jokers around this morning?

Want to see what working people do for a living, huh?

Hi, Mike. How's it going?

Ain't what it used to be, Pete.

There was a time when I used to charge guys to bring in junkers

like that for scrap.

Now I gotta' pay 'em, and top dollar at that.

The price of scrap steel is gone crazy, can't get enough of it.

That's what we wanted to talk to you about, Mike.

I didn't figure this was no social call. [LAUGHS]

Come on into the office.

I got some coffee that'll float a b*llet.

Help yourselves.

It's fresh, I made it yesterday.

Think I'll pass, Mike.

Suit yourselves.

Now, what can I do for you?

We're trying to get a run-down on some wildcatters, Mike.

J.J.W. to circuit. I need a front end of a ' Cougar.

Hold it a minute, fellows.

Funicello, in Pedro.

I got a ' front end.

Couple of dings in the right fender, busted headlight,

but outside of that she's A-.

What're you askin'?

$.

That the total price?

Where you at?

Walton's Body and Fender, Bakersfield.

It'll run you an extra six bits to get it there

and I can have it to you by noon tomorrow.

That the best you can do on price?

Bottom dollar.

Okay, it's a deal, $.

You got it.

Louie, dig out that ' Cougar front end.

Got to move it out in the morning.

Sorry, boys, but my business comes before your business.

That's quite a setup, Mike. How far does it reach?

On relay, we can pull in seven or eight states.

Okay, now I'm ready for your business.

What do you wanna know about wildcatters?

We've been getting a lot of rip-off's lately, Mike.

Not late-model stuff, older cars.

We think somebody's grabbing them for scrap.

Why come to me?

I run a clean operation, deal with straight people.

A wildcatter comes in here, without the right papers,

and he gets tossed out on his butt.

We know you're clean, Mike. You've been in the business a long time.

If anything's going on we figured you'd have heard something.

Yeah, I heard some things,

but as far as I know they was just rumors.

I don't put much stock in rumors, and I sure as heck don't pass 'em on.

That's the way it is, fellas.

Sure, Mike, we understand, just thought we'd give it a try.

Yeah, see you around, Mike.

Wait a minute.

I can give you one tip.

A lot of them wildcatters ain't really wildcatters.

I think we get the message, thanks Mike.

[REED SIGHS]

It's hard to figure a legitimate towing outfit

risking their license for a couple of junkers.

More than a couple of junkers? The count was over .

And that doesn't include the unrecovered G.T.A.'s.

At roughly bucks a car, that adds up to big money.

It could be a personality conflict.

What?

I said it could be a personality conflict.

I could probably give you a halfway intelligent answer

if I knew what you were talking about.

I was thinking about David.

Maybe a new teacher he doesn't like.

A lot with kids are like that.

They'll get a new teacher and not get along,

so they let their grades drop to get back at the teacher.

You know what I mean?

Sure.

FEMALE DISPATCHER: All units in the vicinity and One-Adam-.

's there now, Alderton. Code .

One-Adam-, roger.

They're in there now. Two young men, looked like teenagers.

How long have they been in there, ma'am?

I'm don't know, maybe or minutes.

Before they went in they tied some kind of cloth over their faces.

Did you call the fumigation company?

Yes. They said they'd be right over.

One-Adam- requesting an ambulance, Alderton.

Possible victims of Methal Bromide poisoning.

FEMALE DISPATCHER: One-Adam-, roger.

Couple of kids are inside.

If they've been in there more than minutes, they've had it.

Put these on. Make sure they're snug.

Kids!

Why can't they read the signs?

How bad is that stuff?

Methal Bromide? Penetrate a solid X in a few second.

No rag over their face is going to stop it.

This thing is only good for about minutes.

Let's go.

FEMALE DISPATCHER: One-Adam-. One-Adam-.

Call the station. Code .

One-Adam-, roger.

Tell her we'll be there in a couple of minutes.

Okay.

Miss Wheeler called in.

Some tow truck just hooked up to that Lincoln we tagged yesterday.

One-Adam-, on a follow-up, Meadow Glen.

FEMALE DISPATCHER: One-Adam-, roger.

He just left, not more than a minute ago.

He made a right turn on Paseo Del Mar.

Thanks.

[CAR HONKING]

What's the beef? Something wrong with my tow lights?

MALLOY: They're okay. What we're interested in

is whether you have some kind of authorization to move that vehicle.

Sure, the owner called in and asked us to pick it up.

Let's have a look at your order sheet.

Ain't got it with me, must've left it in the office.

Let's see your I.D.

You're under arrest, suspicion of grand theft auto.

Turn around.

Put your hands on top of your head.

Something I can do for you, fellas?

-Are you the owner? -That's right, K.Q. Ken Quinnlan.

We'd like to take a look around the yard.

Huh! Could you make it another time, fellas?

Everything's on the fritz today.

My crusher broke down this morning.

Had to give most of my drivers the day off, with full pay yet.

Come back tomorrow

and I'll give you the grand tour, personal.

You operate under a Police Commission permit,

that gives us a right to inspect the premises at any time.

Maybe it does, but that don't give you no right to push people around.

I got friends downtown, important friends.

So do we.

We'll take that tour now.

Jim.

That's it, Pete, Mrs. Corley's car.

You are under arrest.

Put your hands on top of your head and turn around.

Of all the times for that stinking crusher to break down on me.

If it had been working, you guys would have nothing!

A big pile of nothing!

Yes, ma'am. You can pick it up at the police garage

tomorrow morning.

You're welcome, ma'am. I'll tell them. Good-bye.

Mrs. Corley sends her thanks.

-Where's Pete? -Telephone.

REED: How'd it go?

Judy found out what the trouble was with David.

He's too bright.

You're going to have to explain that.

Some kids started giving him some heat,

calling him teacher's pet, stuff like that.

So David decided he'd rather join them

than keep his grades up.

Did he really decide that

and not some bigger kid?

Some people just can't stand seeing somebody

trying harder than they do, or have more on the ball.

They've just got to cut them down to build themselves up.

-Did you tell him that? -I'm going to.

This Saturday, at the beach.

[CHUCKLES]