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Juvenile detail. Fake talent scouts are promising young girls stardom are relentless in their misleading work.
Audio quality is OK, but a little on the low end of good.
A concerned citizen recognized a girl from his neighborhood in an obscene photo that was being sold in a bar. Is there hope of finding the girl? Rescuing her from the life she had been led astray into? Is this a matter for a missing persons case? Joe shares the tragic truth that the girl had recently been found dead from an apparent suicide. Investigating further, he learns of the scam that led to her demise.
Setting out on the trail of fake talent scouts, Joe finds the local source of the photographs. He’s just a guy with a negative, but will he talk, and reveal his source? Beyond the middleman in the ring of pornographers, the trail runs dry.
Another young girl turns up dead at the hands of the insidious form of crime. According to Joe Friday, despite it’s ruthlessness, porn is a crime that too many take lightly.
Soon, the investigation has Joe talking to a girl who encountered the fake talent scouts. She tells about the pitch to model, and be in the movies. It starts by posing in bathing suits then, after being drugged, more explicit photos are taken. The pressure continues, and dates are set up to escort men and do… whatever they asked them to do.
Armed with addresses, phone numbers, and names of people identified by Joyce, Joe’s investigation kicks up to high gear. The claim is that Raimer calls the 17 year olds psychos, well cared for, and far from being abused. Will Joyce be able, or ready for a fresh start once Raimer is behind bars?
PS: Usually Dragnet makes use of soundscapes to put the listener in the gritty work of police procedure. Clinking cups and saucers, doors opening, foot steps, chairs scraping along the floor, car doors, and any environmental noise to paint the audio picture of following the cops in their mundane existence.
In this episode, there is almost no sound affects. The delicate topic of what we might today call sex trafficking, is handled with care. Joe Friday’s voiceover carries the show, and even interviewing the victim, criminal, and witness are minimalistic. Still it manages to cover this age old, and ongoing crime with dignity.
