The Big Tear

Originally Aired: September 11, 1952

Dragnet #168, "The Big Tear," Sergeant Joe Friday and Officer Frank Smith take on a cunning burglar who has stolen approximately $80,000 in money and jewelry over the course of a year. The suspect's unusual calling card is drinking a glass of milk in the living room of every house he burglarizes, carefully wiping away any fingerprints before leaving through the back door. Despite operating in broad daylight between 3:30 and 6:00 PM in the Wilshire to Pico area, he remains a phantom—victims who have glimpsed him leaving provide wildly contradictory descriptions, from tall and thin to short and husky.

Captain Wisdom assigns Friday and Smith to the case full-time, supplementing their investigation with ten Metro Division patrol units to saturate the neighborhood. For two months, the detectives work the area methodically while the burglar strikes only twice more, somehow evading the heavy police presence. Then, just fifteen minutes before the end of their watch on September 5th, Friday and Smith spot a man struggling with a door lock using a suspicious-looking tool—and their patience may finally be rewarded.