10-8: Officers on Duty

Brooklyn bad boy Rico Amonte was sliding into a life of crime. Then his policeman brother caught him in the act ‚ and hauled him off to Southern California to get him on the straight and narrow. Two years later, Rico is a graduate of the Los Angeles Sheriff's academy ‚ a Deputy Sheriff trainee about to hit the streets in uniform, and with a gun and a badge. New York's streets were dangerous, but nothing has prepared Rico from the hazing he gets from his own department. His training officer, John Henry Barnes, is the meanest, toughest veteran on the force and is determined to hammer Rico into a by-the-book officer of the law -- or break him in the process.

At the start of his shift, an exhausted Rico is looking forward to some time off. But after a black cat crosses his path, his day goes from bad to worse. Based on his Italian family's history with black cats and bad luck, Rico is convinced that the cat is to blame for his day of missteps and mishaps. Meanwhile, sexually frustrated trainee Lopez inadvertently reveals to Jablonski what she plans to do on her much-needed day off.

Rico and his visiting dad, a retired boxing champ from Brooklyn, revert to their old verbal sparring as Rico—who wants his Pop to see that he's left behind his bad-boy days—tries to figure out the real reason his widowed father has come to see him and brother Angelo. And Rico's natural sex appeal helps him track down an assault suspect.

In spite of Barnes' warning to not get emotionally involved, a genuinely concerned Rico goes beyond the call of duty to search for an abused boy's real father; and although Valero and Williams fear the worst after seeing a white woman get into an SUV with four gang members, the outcome is certainly not what they expect.

The booking of a drunk clown and a mishap involving airplane lavatory ""residue"" pale in comparison to what becomes the day's priority for the sheriffs—finding a ruthless murderer. Barnes hopes an ex-con now in the business of gang intervention can lead them to the killer, and, during a frightening confrontation, Rico's respect for his training officer increases.