After roll call, Reed and Malloy provide backup at a robbery, help a lost man return home, handle a call about a prowler, then respond to a silent alarm. Malloy demonstrates for Reed the importance of "officer presence".

Malloy writes a young woman a traffic ticket and then is bombarded with attention and affection, all of which he doesn't want.

Malloy and Reed see a man passed out in an alley and stop to lend assistance, deliver bad news to a young wife, apprehend a mentally ill man who then becomes uncontrollably violent in their patrol car, and respond to a robbery that needlessly becomes a tragedy. All along the way the officers have their every move second guessed by a pair of young, unethical freelance journalists who are determined to document police brutality.

Reed feels a strong sense of accomplishment when he stumbles upon a large stash of narcotics as he secures a residence after executing a traffic warrant with Malloy and Officer Ed Wells. He's in for a rude awakening at the trial, however, when he's cross examined by the defense attorney.

Malloy spends a weekend afternoon attending a barbecue at Reed's home, where Reed lets him hold his newborn son for the first time and tries to set him up with his wife's friend. However, their relaxation is interrupted when they have to deal with a young neighbor who overdoses on drugs and becomes the target of his dealer.

Malloy and Reed start the shift with a call to a liquor store robbery, where a fellow officer was shot but the owner of the store appears to be lying. Further investigation pushes the owner to admit one of the thieves was his brother and he was trying to protect him. In the meantime, they have a zoning issue with an elderly astrology reader followed by the report of a young boy asking a pharmacist questions about Seconal pills.

Malloy and Reed drive up on a convenience store robbery in progress, which results in the suspects taking hostages. Later, they pull over a reckless driver who has just committed a heinous crime, learn about a new computer system designed to help them be more productive and finally thwart a group of serial burglars who use motorcycles.

Malloy and Reed's day begins with a police garage employee taking a joyride in a police car (Code 3), later finding a young woman trying to cash an old age benefits check she found, checking a garage whose closed circuit TV security system was stolen, an elderly woman thinking she saw a prowler, finding a B&E suspect inside a coffin in a mortuary, and poaching into Officer Wells' territory to check on break-ins occurring in warehouses; finally apprehending two drugged out burglars inside a warehouse.

Malloy has to shoot one of two robbery suspects, then the officers counsel a young woman in a bad neighborhood not to hang around (she is later kidnapped by two men claiming to fix her car), the LAPD's Air-Ten helicopter is used to catch the kidnappers (who already had outstanding kidnapping warrants), find a "mover" (burglar) whose partner hides in a freezer, and the officers visit an apartment on a domestic dispute complaint and find another woman with severe injuries but the couple insists nothing is going on, later arresting the husband on domestic violence charges after the woman's mother calls the police back to the apartment after the woman's husband beats their daughter.