Help me ID this Barney Miller episode

Cafe Society
1

I’ve never seen it, but it was recounted to me a long time ago. So details may be off.

They arrest a guy who robbed a bank (or something) just before the statute of limitations expires.

The guy makes some sort of comment about how he was expecting the police station to be more like “Dragnet”.

He had hidden out in an apartment above a diner for seven years. Detrich asks him what he did for all that time. He said he made potholders.

Detrich remarks, “And you were the one who got burned”.

When the guy registers confusion, Detrich explains, “Hey, you wanted Dragnet”.

TIA.

2

I remember that one, I’ll find the episode for you.

3

Uniform Day

4

Thank you both.

5

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/BarneyMillerS6E17

Recap

6

That is so weird. I was just thinking of this exact episode earlier today. I remember the guy saying he was afraid to go out, because he knew they’d be looking for him and Dietrich says he started last Thursday or something like that. I can’t even remember what brought it to mind.

7

This isn’t the only episode in which a person is let off because it’s beyond the statue of limitations. That also happens in the episode at the beginning of the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9SrR89SoIU . This video isn’t a “Season 2025” episode as the title of the video claims. It’s apparently a bunch of episodes from various years of the show. The episode I’m referring to is the first one in the video. In this case the person is let off because his crime happened 25 years ago.

8

Not what happened in Uniform Day though. Here after almost 7 years of hiding the criminal was caught.

9

As I recall, Dietrich was trying to clear up a bunch of cold cases before the statute of limitations expired. I don’t remember if he was successful with any others.

10

Dietrich is my favorite character. In some ways, he is me. I like the times when Barney turns to him for an explanation.

11

If I could be any Barney Miller character, it would be Dietrich.

12

And to this day I can never watch a Gregory Peck movie without interjecting “go away, Beverly is busy!”

13

That may be true of many of us. “Pedantics R Us”:grinning_face:

14

I remember one episode in which a suspect was ranting about the Trilateral Commission or the Council on Foreign Relations. At the end of his rant, Dietrich simply said, “I’ll bring it up at the next meeting” (implying that he was a member of the group).

15

But he was smiling his little smile, so…. but there were many thousands of people working for them, so who knows?