The Big Student

Originally Aired: June 8, 1954

Dragnet #251, "The Big Student," finds Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Frank Smith pursuing a dangerous bank robber who has been systematically hitting financial institutions across Los Angeles. After two months of investigation, they finally get a positive identification on their suspect: Louie Rhode, a former San Quentin inmate with a history of burglary who has returned to crime. The detectives track down Rhode's half-sister, Viola Clark, hoping she can lead them to her brother's whereabouts. During their interview, she reveals that Louie was always looking for the easy way out, even as a child running a library racket in their garage, charging neighborhood kids to read dime-store novels he'd collected.

As Friday and Smith continue their search through Rhode's known associates and hangouts, the suspect strikes again, robbing a Hollywood Boulevard bank for eighteen hundred dollars. Working methodically, the detectives track down cab drivers who transported the fugitive from the crime scenes, piecing together his movements. With each robbery, the stakes grow higher, and Friday and Smith must use every resource at their disposal to corner this elusive criminal before he can strike again.