User Reviews

This episode always stood out in my memory, partly because I love to watch our heroes when they go undercover and we get to see criminals in action-something that happens too seldom on this series-and because of the great line delivered by Friday near the end.

After the comical intro where Bill extols to Joe the wonders of sugar-"pure energy" he calls it as he drops six cubes into his coffee, the pair meet an out-of-town businessman who reports how he was conned by two men pretending to be policemen. He returned to his hotel room the last evening of his visit-in LA on a business trip-and found a woman in his room.

He barely had a chance to find out why she was there when a knock at the door saw him admit two men who said they were police and that this woman was a known prostitute. They tell him he needs to stay in town to testify at her arraignment. When he protests that it would be most embarrassing or worse back home to do so, they suggest that if he could be sure the woman will make bail, she'll never show up and he won't have to testify.

He goes with the policemen the next morning to what Friday usually calls the PAB-the Police Administration Building-where one cop goes up to the third floor while the other treats him to coffee in the building's cafeteria. He is soon told the bail is $1000 and he pays it so he can go home that evening.

Only after he says good-bye to the cops does he realize something wasn't kosher, which is when he wound up talking to Joe and Bill.

It is decided since Bill "looks" married, that he will pose as an out-of-town businessman who checks into the same hotel and hopes that whoever is working at the hotel will set it up with his team to swindle Bill. Joe slips into Bill's room and actually stays overnight so he can be there whenever the crooks approach.

The stakeout is planned for three nights. On the second night, a man comes to the door and says he is a house detective suspicious of Bill because while he has registered solo, he has reports that there is a second occupant of the room, and he wonders if Bill is there for some illegal high-stakes poker game that might be going on at the hotel. At this point, Friday comes out and the pair let the hotel detective in, to an extent, on what's going on. They promise to cooperate if they learn anything about the poker game.

In the hotel bar the next night, Bill gets the bartender to supply him a room number for the poker game. He (off camera) phones the house detective and suggests they get a new bartender and gives him the room number. In Bill's room, a knock at the door sends Friday scrambling for the bathroom and Bill admits a woman rushes in, asking to use the phone because there's an intruder in her room. She claims to be so unsettled that she sits down to compose herself. About a minute after she enters, another knock admits the two phony detectives, with the same prostitute, you-can-pay-her-bail story. This time the four are going to police HQ right away. Friday follows in his own car and manages to get close enough to join the three crooks and Gannon in the elevator.

As they emerge from the elevator, two of our guys' buddies see them and give a pleasant greeting. Friday immediately whips out his gun and the trio are quickly arrested. The fellow officer who greeted them teases Friday about how they've got quite a thing going-their busts come right into the station. Joe says his friends didn't do anything wrong. "They" (the crooks) just made one mistake...They thought they worked here."

To me this was about the best line ever on this series.

Now the episode was quite good, but not great. We see, realistically but in a not-too-exciting way, how a stakeout requires a lot of waiting to see if something happens. Part of the premise doesn't really make sense.

We learn these criminals, at least the fake cops, have been pulling the same sort of stunt in several cities around the country, usually 4 or so at one hotel before they move on. They require a bellboy, or someone at the hotel to tip them off as to who seems a likely target among their many out-of-town guests. They also seem to use a different woman in each city.

I think, especially in those days, it wouldn't be too hard for a lobby-sitter to spot out-of-town businessmen and follow them to their rooms (if they didn't overhear the room number, which you commonly could in those days). The ploy of the woman saying there was an intruder when she knocks on the guy's door would seem quite effective-no need for a bellboy or someone to admit her to the guy's room before he returns. And if they're cleaning up $1000 or so per job, there's plenty of money for a key person, the woman, to travel with the men. I didn't get why they use a different woman in each city.

Furthermore, not everyone was a nitwit in terms of understanding police proceedings. Nobody testifies at an arraignment, that is simply where one is charged, makes a plea, and bail is set. Since these fake cops claim to have followed the woman to the hotel room, they would know she hasn't been with the guy more than about one minute. What is it he is supposed to testify about?

A far more workable ploy would be for her to stay there longer, talking to the man, then have the "vice squad" show up, wanting to arrest him for doing business with a prostitute. They might agree to let him go for a little consideration, which he would pay right away, and they wouldn't need to go through that hassle of taking him to the police station. Rather than being "charged" with a crime, the guy might well pay to avoid ruining his marriage and reputation back home-that makes sense.

But this notion that he would happily pay $1000 bail money for someone, even though the cops know he didn't do anything and are not going to charge him makes no sense. It would probably be cheaper for him to fly back on another trip to LA (two vacation days from his job) than to fork over what would have likely been 7% or more of his yearly earnings (explain that to the wife).

So I can't give this episode the highest score, but it definitely was pretty good for this series, so I give it a 9.

Every once in a while, a television show (even the very best) feature story lines similar to others in the past. That feeling of familiarity surfaces, and the plot seems recognizable. I think that's the case with "The Badge Racket" where Sgt Friday's (Jack Webb) partner, Bill Gannon (Harry Morgan), goes undercover as a businessman from out of town, hoping to catch a trio of crooks who move from big cities in different states preying on other out-of-towners with a "bunco scheme" (bunco schemes have a regular place on the Dragnet show, hence why I started the review with that "feeling of familiarity"). A pretty young thing either shows up at victims' doors at a certain fancy hotel or is in the room waiting for them (it is suspected a bell hop is also involved in this scheme), two older men pretending to be police show up to supposedly arrest the girl for prostitution, in turn, using a falsity regarding appearing at an arraignment to testify, knowing that those tricked would rather pay for her bail rather than show up in court. So Gannon hopes he can dupe them into thinking he's another ripe-for-the-pickings victim while Friday keeps tabs from a distance or in another room, both hoping that the trio will try to con them. It sounds and is treading territory with tracks still fresh from episodes seen in times past. Since these episodes of the show are based on real cases, I guess we can't expect completely/wholly original crimes every time out. That said, it is always satisfying watching the cops con con-artists, and the criminals of this episode actually lead victims right into police buildings to pay the bails! It takes some serious cojones to do that! There's a particularly interesting development involving a hotel detective and a gambling ring that finds its way into the case of Friday and Gannon, considering they "fit the description" of the secretive types who might participate in such a crime (Friday showing up to Gannon's room, the knowledge that he's supposedly from Lincoln, Nebraska, such behavior curious to a hotel detective looking for suspicious suspects).