Log 122: The Thief Who Stole Christmas

It's the Christmas Eve shift, and Adam-12, along with all the other units, is delivering donated toys to many of the disadvantaged families in the area in-between calls. One of those families is the Wards. Malloy and Reed learn directly from young Harvey Ward that he has his heart set on a yellow toy dump truck for Christmas. Beyond arranging to meet Mrs. Ward later to give her the toys then so that Harvey and her other kids won't see the toys before Christmas, Malloy and Reed discuss the pros and cons of themselves adding to the Christmas donations of a yellow toy dump truck for Harvey. Regardless of what Malloy and Reed decide to do about the toy, they later find out that Harvey may not get any presents at all as Mrs. Ward's old beater of a car gets stolen, along with all the toys in the trunk. With a few leads of past GTA cases from Sgt. Miller, Malloy and Reed hope they can locate Mrs. Ward's car by the end of the shift to get the toys back to her. But Reed also realizes that the toys may not get back to Wards regardless by Christmas, unless he and Malloy can do some sweet talking to Miller. The other issues Adam-12 deals with on this shift are a too common one on this day, namely a drunk driver, who has far too much alcohol induced Christmas spirit, and a domestic dispute call where balancing the traditional festivities against the cost of doing so is the issue of contention between husband and wife. Malloy and Reed just hope that that Christmas spirit, which got the couple into their argument, will also get them out of it.