Boy, that’s an oldie! Didn’t he also have it firing by electrical charge? Way ahead of his time.
No, just metal springs. The springs were small enough that he could conceal them in the rabbit’s foot charm on his keychain, along with the cartridges.
When the detective is questioning the suspect or witness, and the person says, “I can’t tell you that (or answer that question), but I swear on <insert the name of a highly esteemed person or deity> that it has absolutely nothing to do with the current investigation,” you can be 100% sure that it has everything to do with the current investigation.
The following applies to all TV and movies, not just cop shows: no physical symptom is ever benign or inconsequential.
If an adult man has a pain in his left arm, it is (or will soon turn out to have been) a heart attack. If the guy coughs, in stories set after 1950, it’s lung cancer, in older settings, it’s tuberculosis (consumption). If a woman of child-bearing age is nauseated or throws up, she’s pregnant. If she’s post-menopausal, it’s some kind of cancer, and she will be dead very soon.
If a woman of child-bearing age is nauseated or throws up, she’s pregnant.
Also known as Chekhov’s Tum.
Hell, if he complains about “a little indigestion” at the dinner table, he won’t even make it to dessert!
If a character complains of a headache, it’s a stroke.
This is why I love this place.
I’m reminded of some shows where the caller dials 9-1-1 and a squadron of black-and-white cars roll up, lights & sirens blaring, within 30 seconds. This is on top of the instant recognition of location by the “magic landline location database” or “sooper-accurate celltower triangulation magic method” that all dispatch centers miraculously have.
Sorry bub, it’s gonna take the dispatcher at least 10-15 seconds for the dispatcher to get an address out of you, especially if you’re hyperventilating or under duress, then a li’l while for the Cavalry to ride in to the rescue (depending on how many units are out on patrol, and how big your town is).
Tripler
First question dispatchers ask nowadays: “Where is your emergency?”
It takes a little time, but they can get an address from a landline phone number.
Once, while trying to dial a number with a 915 area code, I accidentally dialed 911, then hung up and started over. The dispatcher tried to call me back, and when they got a busy signal, they sent a cop to my house to make sure that I was alive.
Waaaaaaaay back when I had dial-up at home, the guy who set up my access accidentally input the dial-up number to start with 911. I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t connect until the LAPD ended up at my door. And they were quick!
It was the weekend, so my sister was home, and they wouldn’t take my word that she was o.k. They had to go upstairs to make sure. I guess I feel o.k. about that.
Well don’t leave us hanging halfway through the story. Were you alive?
Tune in next week, to find out.
I’d been living in my house for almost 8 years when I had to call 911 for a fight at the end of the street involving a gunshot. Not only could I not remember the name of the cross street, I could not for the life of me remember my own address (luckily, my daughter was nearby and told me).
Wow, I mean it is a formula show but a recent epi of Death in Paradise- One of the salient and important clews was that a woman had a “recovered memory” 
That her cigs and booze had been taken away as she went to bed, thus she couldnt have burned down the house 20 years ago by smoking in bed. Well, first of all a recovered memory is totally worthless, not to mention- she could have just lied about it. Next, if you have ever met or lived with a die hard nicotine addict, taking away the cigs wont stop them. They will find butts and smoke them, find cigs elsewhere, or if needed go out in the middle of the nite in their PJs to buy them. But “The Inspector” simply accepted the recovered memory, which led to the big break thru in the case.
Dont get me wrong, I enjoy the show, but a mistake like that, with several ways of it being wrong, takes me out of the show.
His story was ripped from the headlines.
Maybe not every state has up to date equipment. We didn’t have a central dispatch center. We have our own for the department. If you are calling from a landline the address will come up before they even answer. If it’s a cellphone that location is often extremely accurate, under 10 meters. Every now and then it will be so inaccurate that it’s useless. In any case they will ask your location to verify. An old out of service phone will still call 911 and will give the location.
I remember an episode of Mission: Impossible where they had to duplicate a purloined envelope that was important for one reason or another, and Casey had only seen it briefly before she was conked on the head.
So Barney tried stirring her memory by asking a bunch of questions:
What color was the envelope?
What kind of stamp was on it?
What was the postmark?
What city was it from?
What was the address on it?
They were eventually able to reproduce the envelope well enough to fool the bad guys.
I’ve tried this technique many times, and I’ve never had any luck with it. Maybe I’m doing something wrong? 
Maybe it would work if someone’s life depended on you getting the answers right? Just spitballin’ here. 
That would make me so nervous I’d screw up for sure.
It’s always amazed me how Patricia Neal could remember “Klaatu barada nikto” while being scared to death.
Steve McQueen as Bullitt drove a Mustang.
My first car was a Mustang.
Anybody, cop or not, who drives a Mustang is cool.
Maybe you didn’t conk hard enough?