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21st Precinct. Sergeant Waters. What do you mean you were robbed? Oh, broken in your apartment. Where is it? 761. I want apartment number. Is that B or C? You are in the muster room at the 21st Precinct, the nerve center. A call is coming through. You will follow the action taken pursuant to that call from this minute until the final report is written in the 124 room at the 21st Precinct. Yes, sir. All right, I'll send an officer right over there. Yes, sir. They'll be there in a few minutes. You just wait. That's right. Yes, sir. You just wait there. 21st Precinct. It's just lines on a map of the city of New York. 173,000 people wedged into the nine tenths of a square mile between Fifth Avenue and the East River. The security of their homes, their persons and their property is the job of the men of the 21st Precinct. The 21st. 160 patrolmen, 11 sergeants and four lieutenants, of whom I'm the boss. My name is Keogh, Thomas P. Keogh. I'm captain in command of the 21st Precinct. I was doing night duty 4pm to 8am it had been one week exactly since I had been transferred to Command of the 21st Precinct from Bow Headquarters, the Bronx, where I had been assigned since my promotion from lieutenant to captain in August 1954. On assuming command, succeeding Captain Vincent T. Cronin, who had been transferred to the office of the Chief Inspector, I spent the first few days getting acquainted with various conditions in the precinct by remaining on patrol as much as possible during my time on duty. This is my first assignment in Manhattan since I was a detective attached to the 34th squad. As a sergeant and subsequently lieutenant and captain, I did duty in Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx. On this particular night, I had been out on patrol since 6:30. And it was nearly 9:30 when I returned to the station house and walked into the muster room where Lieutenant Snyder was desk officer and Sergeant Waters had telephone switchboard duty. Hello, Captain. Sergeant. What's doing? Nothing much. Lt. King is the one in the talk to you. Is he upstairs? Yes, sir, I think so. Swing up there and tell him I'm back while I sign the blood on. Yes, sir. Hello, Lieutenant, 21st Squad. Detective Novak, Sergeant Waters on CS. Would you tell Lieutenant King that Captain Keough is back in the house? Yeah, sure. Lieutenant, Captain Keel is downstairs. Stairs? Yes, sir. All right. Yes? The captain awake there? Lieutenant King is coming downstairs. Yeah, okay. Is that Lieutenant King? Yes, sir. He's on his Way downstairs. Oh, directive came through just after you left, Captain. Short sleeve shirts and open collars are permissible for all men on day tours. Okay. Have Fallon posted on the board. I already told him, Captain. Excuse me. Yes, go ahead. 21st Precinct. Sergeant Waters. A lady. I told you before, there's nothing we can do about that. We chase robbers. We're not plumbers. I know about Captain. Matt, what's going. Can I talk to here in your office? Yeah, sure. I'll be in my office. Sergeant. Yes? I can't send a police officer. What do we got, ma'? Am? Go ahead. I know, but why don't you keep talking? Sit down, Ad. Well, what is it? Looks like we've got a cop and a jam from here. Yes, sir. Who? I don't know yet. What's it all about? Well, the commander of the 6th Squad called up here about an hour ago. Two uniformed men jumped a burglar coming out of an apartment building. Had to chase him into the courtyard. But they finally collared him. Yeah, they brought him into the station house. He admitted he was in an apartment there. He dropped a pillowcase during the chase. Had a portable radio, an electric razor, a few other things in it. Came out of the apartment. We took him up to the squad down there and started to talk to him about other deals. The boy admits to about 25 burglaries. Well, what's that got to do with us? Well, the boy, his name is Eagley Leroy Eagley. Told him he burglarized an apartment in this precinct three or four weeks ago. Got a couple of suits, some jewelry, good stuff. A gun, about $600 in cash. Said he came down the service entrance, walked out into the street. Said as soon as he hit the sidewalk, a cop was there and shoved him against the building. Said he thought he was through. The cop went through the stuff? He admitted he burglarized his apartment. Said the cop went through his pockets and found the cash. He said the cop put the money in his own pocket, gave him back all the merchandise, hit him on the can with his knife stick and told him to get out of the precinct. The roy. Said he ran to the subway station, got on a train, hasn't been back on the east side since. What does it sound like to you? Have you got a cigarette, ma'? Am? Yeah, sure, Captain. Thanks. Thanks. You're welcome. Well, I. I went through our squeals June 18th to Mr. Philip Rooston, 761 East 68th Street. A lawyer with offices at 156 Wall street reported his apartment had been broken into. Three suits of his. A diamond ring, a wristwatch, and a diamond pin belonging to his wife.32 caliber S&W revolver, which he had. A permit and $575 in cash were taken. Well, that sounds like the same deal this boy was talking about. Yes, there it does. Check the story. Police said he burglarized the house. He reported this on the 18th? Yes, sir. When did the burglary occur? At night of the 17th. Good of any to the 15th. 16th or 17th, Captain. Over the weekend. Mr. And Mrs. Ruth left the city Friday afternoon to spend the weekend in the country. I discovered the burglary when I got back Monday morning. What time of night did all this occur? Did you find that out? No, sir, not yet. The squad commander down there, Lieutenant McInerney, told me they were still questioning the boy. Wanted to let me know what they were developing. Uh huh. 20 place preaching. Sergeant Waters. Sergeant. 761 East 68th Street. Is on what post? Post number nine, Captain. Get out the telephone switchboard record and the post list for the 4 to 12 and the 12 to 8 tours for June 15th, 16th and 17th. Yes. Bring them in here. And bring the blotter, too. Right away. Something the matter, Captain? Yes, something's the matter. Get those records out and bring them in here. Yes, sir. Right away. For this and other purposes, the records of the precinct contain a detailed account of the movements of every member of the command. The blotter, for instance, shows reach, tour and the handwriting of the desk officer, the assignments of patrolman to post and motor patrol duty, the time each post is vacated for meal period, all post changes and movements during a tour of duty, and a notation of the nature, time and location of duty performed by each member of the command. From these records, Lt. King and I narrowed the possibilities down to four patrolmen who had worked post number nine on either the night or late tours, June 15th, 16th and 17th. In order to narrow the list still further, we drove to the 6th Precinct at 135 Charles street in Greenwich Village to interview the burglary suspects there. With Lieutenant King, I went upstairs to the 6th. Detective Squad. Yes, sir. Can I help you? We're in the job. This is Captain Keogh, the 21st Precinct. I'm Lieutenant King. Oh, yes, sir. Lieutenant McInerney is in his office. Thanks. Big squad. Detective Rob. Ed. Come in, man. Yes, ma'. Am. Want to close the door, man? Yeah, sure. Lieutenant McInerning, the squad commander. Captain Keo. How are you, Captain? Well, I don't know yes, sir. I get how you feel. Do you want to sit down? Thanks. What about this boy, Ed? Well, he's a good boy, all right. Done one bit and things. Burglary. We think he's been into 25 or 30 flats all over town, maybe more. He can't remember them all. What about the story he tells? Well, unfortunately, it sounds pretty straight, Captain. It checks with a squeal we've got, huh? Well, that cop had his hands on a good burglar. Nine chances out of 10, he would have gotten accommodation. Promotion to detective, pay raise for one year alone. Would have amounted to as much as he took off the boy. That cop is an idiot. A little more than an idiot. An idiot with everything else. Kid, you got him spotted. We've got it narrowed down to four. The complainants were away Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. Could have happened on any of those nights. Neither the four to 12 or 12 day tours. You didn't take the time. Any closer to Jed? No, I thought I'd wait until you got down here. You. You'd want to talk to him about it. Where is this boy? He's outside. I'll have him brought in. Ross. Yes? Bring that Leroy in here. Yes, sir. Got it down to four. That's right. We've got one man who was working the 4 to 12 on Saturday and Sunday nights. He was swinging Friday night. Another man was working the 12 to 8, was swinging Saturday night. Those two men, the two who relieved them. Well, if you fix it, either on the 4 to 12, 12 to 8 that had knocked two of them out of the box, man. Yeah, we've got the right knights and the boy to be down to the man. Well, this Leroy was pretty vague about dates and times. He's been in so many flats, he doesn't know one from the other. Yeah, who is it? Come in. Go ahead, Leroy. Where? Over there. Listen, I was sleeping back there. He wants me out now. On, Leroy, your time is not your own. Sit down there. Yeah, okay, Roy. Thank you. Yes, leroy? This is Captain Keogh and Lieutenant King. They're from uptown the 21st. You want to know something about that officer taking the money off you? Oh, yeah. You told Lieutenant McInerney it was five or six hundred dollars. Yeah, that's right. Five or six hundred. You burglarized an apartment there. You took some suits, the guns, some jewelry and the cash. Once you have time to stop and count the money, well, you know how human nature is. I found a cash in a drawer there. The first thing I was tempted to do was look at it. I saw a couple Hundreds, a couple 50s, tens and 20s. I figured five or 600. I shoved it in my pocket. What does it do with the gun you got out of there? Oh, I don't care for guns. I figure you have a gun on your head, you're gonna shoot it. I never did go in for that kind of heavy stuff. I gave it to a very good friend of mine. What's his name? His name is Jack. Jack Agnew. But he don't have it. He sold it. He told me. A lot of nerve. I give him the gun and he sold it. Where is this Jack Agneau? Can we locate him? That's the easiest thing in the world. But he don't have the gun. Where is he, Leroy? In the Tombs. He got picked up last week on a deal. Where'd he get picked up, In Times Square. Yeah. I told him a dozen times, if he's gonna go in a public place like Times Square, he shouldn't wear a sports jacket that's three sizes too large for him. You know, a real fine sports jacket, what he called cashmere. He got it out of some flat and he fell in love with a cloth. The cloth was fine, but in a million years it couldn't have been his jacket. Some detective stopped him on Broadway and said, hey, bud, where'd you get the coat? That was that. That's what comes of being too much at Clothes Horse, you know. Well, to get back to the night you got the gun and the money up on the 21st. I don't know. It's the 21st. I couldn't swear it. Well, it was. Do you remember what night it was? What night it was? What do you mean? Well, it had to be either Friday, Saturday or Sunday. No, I couldn't remember what night it was. I've been working almost every night. Nearly. My memory don't serve me on that. June 15th, 16th or 17th, Friday, Saturday. A Sunday night. It beats the living daylights out of me, Lieutenant. That Sunday was father's Day, the 17th. Oh, was it? Does that locate the time in your mind? I ain't seen my old man in years. Oh, my friend Jack. Jack, I know. Lieutenant Jones. Yeah, yeah. Jack was worried what to give his old man. I said he ought to give him a hit in the head. When was this you talked to Jack about it? Well, it was the night before. He said Father's Day was tomorrow. He didn't have a thing to take him. Oh, that was. That was after I did this deal. The One with the cop. Why then? Yeah, because he mentioned this Father's Day to me while we were out at the trots between races. And that was the night after the night I went into that particular flat. So that must have been Friday night. I was in the flat and the cop nailed me. Friday night, June 15th. If you say so. Okay. What time of the night was it, Leroy? Tribe of the Nice. Yes. That also would be kind of hard to say. Well, let's start at midnight. Would you say it was before or after midnight? Or does it make a difference? Yes, it does. What'd you do before you went over and broke into that flat? Let's see. I don't know. I can tell you what I did after I met Jack. And he and I went to my place to drop the suits and the scum I got. Jack sure figures into your life a lot, doesn't he? Well, he's my best friend. And then from my place, we went over to meet a girlfriend of his after she got off work. Oh, yeah, it must have been 10:30 or 11. I hit the flat because this girlfriend of Jack's works in the cafeteria down here in the Village over 7th Avenue. She gets off at midnight. You're sure about that? I'm telling you. Well, it pretty well sets the time for you, captain. Friday, June 15, during the 4 to 12 tour. Yeah. Leroy, do you think you'd be able to identify the officer who took the money off you? Well, I'll tell you the truth. I don't know about that. What does he look like? A cop with a blue suit. Was he young? Was he tall? What? Well, look, Cap, I wasn't interested in what he looked like. Young, tall, short, I don't know. All I could see was a cop. I was nailed when he took the money, slapped me with a stick and said, go. I went. I didn't turn around to see what color eyes he had. Well, we're gonna give you a chance to identify him, if you can. Well, if I can, I will. I opened up and told you about this, didn't I? If I didn't want to help you, I could have clammed. A cop catches me and takes me in. I got no beef against him. But if he turns out to be a bigger thief than me, I got no regrets. No regrets at all. Except maybe that my good friend Jack is laying in the tomb all alone in the world. Don't you worry about that, Leroy. You'll be down there to keep company. Lieutenant King, Lieutenant McEnany of the 6th Squad. And I continued to interrogate the burglary suspect, Leroy Eagle. The officer he referred to was most likely Patrolman Philip Austin, who the record showed was assigned to post number nine during the 4 to 12 tour. On Friday, June 15, it was decided to continue the investigation of the 21st, and arrangements were made to transport the prisoner in the custody of Patrolman gerber of the 6th Precinct, one of the resting officers. Before we left, I phoned through CB to Lt. Snider, the desk officer, the 21st, and gave him instructions to detain Patrolman Austin and all the members of his squad, which again was working the 4 to 12 tour for my arrival. At 12:10, after having been relieved from his post, the foreman Austin, returned to the station house and walked through the front door into the muster room. Yes, Sergeant. Come here. What is it, Sergeant? Just a second, honey. Place precinct Sergeant Waters, Lieutenant. Who? Oh, Lieutenant Gorman isn't doing here until 8:00am yes, sir. That's all right. What's the trouble? The captain wants to hold your squad, you know. He's on his way uptown. Wait for him in the back room. Why? Just wait. Look, Sergeant, my wife's brother has a birthday party tonight. I told him I'd get over there as soon after 12 as I could. He'll have another birthday next year. What do you say, Phil? Farrell. Yes, Sergeant. Come here. What's it all about? You want to say me siding? Yeah. Wait in the back room for the captain. He'll be back any minute. What's the trouble? There's no trouble. Just wait. Okay, Sergeant. Oh, and don't change from your uniforms. Leave them on. Look, Sergeant, he's liable to be another hour. Will you stop giving me an argument? Go ahead. Sure, Sergeant. Come on, sir. Yeah? I don't know. Why do I have to get all the dirty details? That's not that bad. Hi, fellas. Anybody know what this is all about? Big deal. The guy is in the precinct a week and he's got us jumping. Come on, Phil, sit down. There's no sense getting worked out. I don't know if the captain wants to see us. Where is he? Look, we're all in the same boat. No, but you got no place to go except home and to bed. Farrell, every time somebody can think of some extra detail, they think of us. Don't get mad until you find out what it is. Hi, Austin. You know as much as we do. Grab a seat. They probably got the midnight snack on the table over there now, and the beer has just flown. Stop aggravating yourself, will you? What do you expect me to out walking a post for 8 hours? When the tour is over, my time should be my own. This is something I'm going to take up with the delegates. Watch if you get. I'm sorry to hold you, men. Sorry, Captain. Hello, Lieutenant Barrel. Lieutenant King and I would like to have you stay around a few minutes to help us out on something. Is that all right with you? How long will it take, Captain? Not very long, Austin. I have to go into my office. We'll be ready for you in a few minutes. Come on, man. Okay, Captain. Now, that's awesome. Haven't you met him before? Yes, but I didn't connect up the face and the name. Rough having something like this your first week in command. Yeah. Sergeant. Yes, sir. You getting the other men in here? Yes, sir. The rest of them should be on their way. All right, Sergeant. When they get here, send them into the back room, then let me know. I'll be in my office. Sergeant, would you ring upstairs and have Novak come see me in the Captain's office? Jackson, what kind of a record has Austin got? The department, Jackson, All I got to look at is UF42 as the fair. Good educational background. Two years in the Coast Guard. Nothing outstanding in the department. Up on charges once about three years ago for leaving his post without permission. Not from this precinct. He lost five days pay. No trouble with him since. They say he isn't the best man we've got, but he's been doing his job. Go ahead, man. Thanks, Gooden. Well, what's gonna happen? Don't get in a hurry, Leroy. You've got plenty of time. I'm not getting in a hurry. I'm just getting hungry, that's all. Is there a delicatessen? Clothes? I'd like to send out for a sandwich. Just my luck to get collared right before supper. You'll get something to eat in a little while, but there's no time like the present. Leroy, you told us you burglarized a flat. And on your way out, a police officer collard you. Yeah, that's right. That's the honesty. Goodness, truth. Now, we want you to identify the police officer. Well, I told you I didn't know whether I could do that. You stood there and talked to him, didn't you? For how long? It was only a couple of seconds like that, that's all. That's long enough to get a look. It was in the nighttime. It was dark. Let me get this straight. Where was this? Right outside the service entrance of that apartment building. Yeah, that's right. Right outside as soon as you came out the door. Yeah, it was like he was waiting there for me when I came out the door. Listen, could your son offer a sandwich for me? Soon, Leroy? I like a corned beef on rye with coleslaw and some pickle. Also cough. Yes, as soon as we get through here. Yes, who is it? Novak. Come in. Want me, Lieutenant? Yeah, Novak, I want you. I'm entitled to get something to eat before you ship me down the tombs. The bill of fare down there ain't nothing to write home about. You know, I saw this girl that goes with my good friend Jack the other day. She was down there to see him. He says the bill of fare hasn't improved on you since the last year or so is. And Jack ain't hard to please when it comes to food. Giving any old floppies happy. All right, get going now. Back, Justin. All right. I guess we're about set, Captain. What's that for What? To give you a look and see if you can identify the police officer. Well, I told you I didn't know whether I could do that. I couldn't tell him for, madam. We think we can, Leroy. We think we know who he is. Want to give you a look and see if you agree with us. There are 23,000 members of the Police department of the city of New York with their families. The force comprises a community larger than all but 94 of the most populous cities in the country. As in any group so large and from such varied backgrounds, occasional deviation of character is expected, and the methods of dealing with it are provided for in the laws of the state, the rules and regulations of the department, and the manual of procedure. These provisions afford the same protection to an accused police officer as to any other suspect. In all criminal cases, identification is usually the most important criterion. In this one, we proceeded to determine whether the burglary suspect, Leroy Eagley, could identify the police officer he accused. In addition to the principal suspect, Drone Austin and a dozen other officers were waiting in the back room. When we were ready, they were formed into a line and marched into the musket room. Last fate, right, Fred Brown? At ease. All right, I'll tell you what the story is. All right? We're conducting an investigation. We're holding a man who has made an accusation against a police officer. I want to see right here and now if he can identify that Patrolman Farrell. Would you go into Captain's office, ask him to come out here? Yes, right away, Lieutenant. What's this cop supposed to be accused of captain. Among other things, receiving stolen property and failing to take proper prefection. All right. Come over here, Leroy. I'll come in, but I don't know what good it'll do the number of police officers there. Leroy, take a good look at every one of them. Yeah. And tell us if you see the man who took the money off you and Leroy. Yeah. You say this police officer spoke to you? If you want to hear the voice of any one of these men, just ask him to talk. If he asks any of you to talk, state your rank, name and field number. Go ahead, Leroy. Take a look. You see the man, Leroy? I don't know. Take another look. I'd like to hear this fella say something. Go ahead. Name, rank and field number. Patrolman John Farrell, 24381. Now, you let this one talk. Go ahead. Patrolman Philip Austin, 31650. Would you come again? Patrolman Philip Austin, 31650. Nah, I can't make him. I don't see him. You want to take another try down the line? I can't make him. It was too dark there. I told you that. Austin and Powell, wait in the back room for a while. Right. Sergeant, dismiss the squad. What a 10 shirt. Dear Miss. Come on, Leroy. Yeah, I'm coming. Let's go back to my office. I'll go anyplace. Don't look at me like that. What do you want me to do, say it with somebody? If I wasn't positively sure, what do you take me for? Did you think it was any of the men there? Didn't I tell you it was dark? Go ahead inside. Lieutenant. Yes? Now that. Sit down over there, Leroy. What I want to know is when I'm going to get something to eat. He'll get you something to eat, Leroy. Oh, that's good. A guy could starve to death around here. How much trouble would it be to send out to a delicatessen? I got some money. I can pay for it. You wouldn't let me starve, would you? No, we wouldn't let you starve, Leroy. There's something I'd like to get straight. Yeah, sure. You said you couldn't see the cop over there because it was pitch dark. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. It's a service entrance. Yeah, the side door. The service entrance. Lvac skeleton. You just came back from that apartment building over there, right? Yes, sir. You look at the service entrance where the cop was supposed to have called it? Leroy? Yes? Was it dark? There's a light over the door. Cooper Told me it's never out at night. In addition, that door is right under a streetlight. Would you say it's light enough over there to see a man's face? Lieutenant, it's light enough to read a newspaper. What have you got to say about that, Leroy? Well, listen, maybe the electric was off that night. Electric wasn't off, Leroy, you're just a plain liar. You've been wasting our time all night. No, I've been giving it to you, sir, around corners. We're not going to waste any more time. What about it? Did you see that cop or didn't you? You don't want to waste any more time, huh? No. All right, I won't waste any more time. I didn't see a cop because there wasn't any cop. Then why the story? Well, it's very involved. This has been very involved all night. Yeah, Cap, you got a point. Now, I told the story for two reasons. One is I told it before to my good friend Jack. You see, he was in that flat with me. I didn't tell him about the money when I found it. After we got out, we broke up and met later, just like I told you, at the cafeteria where his girl works. I figured this flat we made might belong to some celebrity. And the papers would have the story and tell exactly how much cash was took. So I made up the little tale about the copter Jack. He bought it because, being a thief, he believes that's a logical thing for a cop to do. That's what he would think. Yeah. So when I got called tonight, I knew I was going to see Jack in the Toons again. So I stuck with a story because he's big, boy, he's big. In addition to which, if I played it along and told the same story, maybe I'd get a break. You know the newspapers and DA Everybody go for that stuff. I thought I'd get a break out of it, but I was honest. I didn't identify any cop. I didn't get anybody in a jam. Not me. No, you didn't identify anybody because you might have picked somebody who wasn't anywhere near that spot. Oh, that's a point. I grant you that. I'll be right back, Matt, but you still gotta give me credit. Captain? Yeah, Sergeant, Is everything all right? That bum was lying. He pulled the whole story out of the air. That makes me feel a little better. Yeah, well, I feel better too. Much better. Oh, Austin and Farrell are waiting here. Shall I let them go, Captain? No, I will. Thanks, You men. Yes, sir. You can get changed now and go home. Right, sir. Just a second, Austin. Yes, sir. Never mind. Good night. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Captain. How do you like that? What? We have to stay around here on our own time on some deal we've got nothing to do with. We don't even get a word of thanks. Well, what can you do? That's the trouble. There's nothing you can do. 21st Precinct, Sergeant Waters. Where? East. What? East 77th. Do both of them have guns? What is this? Oh, in the liquor store. A cop is what? Oh, wait a minute. Not so fast. What about a taxi? And so it goes, around the clock through the week, every day, every year, a police precinct in the city of New York is a fresh and blood merry go round. Anyone can catch the brass ring, or the brass ring can catch anyone. 21st Precinct, a factual account of the way police work in the world's greatest city is presented with the official cooperation of the Patrolman's Benevolent association, an organization of more than 20,000 members of the police Department, City of New York. Les Damon in the role of Captain Keogh. Ken lynch is Lieutenant King. Carol Stone of Sergeant Waters. Featured in tonight's cast were Bill Quinn, Bill Zuckert, Mandel Kramer, John Sylvester and Lawson Zerby. 21st Precinct is written, produced and directed by Stanley Niss. Art Hannah speaking.