When burglar Brad Gifford is arrested, his cop-hating, now orphaned son, Jody, is taken to Lambert Hall where he is befriended by Ryker, a former orphan himself. Jody is just beginning to trust and like Ryker when his father, aided by Augie Baker and P.G. Larkan, escapes custody and comes for him. Ryker is taken hostage. The group is traced down by Mike and Terry. In the resulting shootout, Augie is killed, P.G. arrested, and Brad Gifford is mortally wounded. Jody is taken back to the home where he is given foster parents, and a new life.
Guest Stars:
Matthew Labyorteaux, Tom Atkins
After the tragic death of a bright high school student, the rookies put in a team effort to get the pushers off the school campus. They get some help from a pusher who is pretending to scorch for the source.
Guest Stars:
Scott Jacoby, Beth Howland, Amy Irving, Dennis Erdman, Mitzi Hoag
Mike is critically injured when he tries to capture the leader of a militant group and Terry is taken hostage.
Guest Stars:
Michael Parks
An unidentified nine-year-old girl is accidentally hit by a car after two hedonistic ""swinging single"" men spike her lunch with narcotics. Before she dies, she begs Terry for help. Terry, reluctant to let her die a Jane Doe, investigates.
Guest Stars:
Michael Cristofer
Jill is working in a womens prison, fighting an outbreak of diphtheria. In order to protest for better food and working conditions, inmates take Jill Danko and Dr. Malcolm hostage.
Guest Stars:
René Enríquez, Laurie Walters, Fran Ryan, Barbara Stuart, Marki Bey
Young crooks Pat Stevens and Glen Barton rob ticket agent Brewster and shoot rookie Chris. The scene is witnessed by mailman Charlie Brooks, who is adamant about not getting involved. Eventually his wife, Nadine, and daughter, Stacy, encourage him to cooperate with the rookies, and finally, the criminals are apprehended.
Guest Stars:
Raymond St. Jacques, Jared Martin
A female officer is blamed for her partner's death during a jewelry store robbery. With her new partner, Mike, she sets out to solve the crime and prove her worth to the police department.
Guest Stars:
Katherine Helmond, Paul Koslo, Susanne Benton, Dave Shelley
The rookies must investigate a robbery at Memorial Hospital. The blood bank was robbed and its contents sold to the black market, leaving an infant at the hospital on the critical list.
Guest Stars:
George D. Wallace, Didi Conn, Cleavon Little, Anne Bloom, Fritzi Burr
Chris' sister makes a surprise visit on her brother. He is suspended after conducting an unauthorized bust of the man who molested her.
Guest Stars:
Season Hubley, Bill Quinn, Philip Bruns, Richard Stahl, Sarah Cunningham
An ex-convict, out on parole, desperately wants to go straight, but is sought after by his ex-cellmates to use his safe-cracking abilities in a robbery.
Guest Stars:
Pepe Serna, Jack DeLeon, Victor Brandt, Charles Napier, Doug McGrath
Terry is run down by a car driven by the leader of a street gang in his old neighborhood. When one of the members of the gang is overheard calling for an ambulance, he is forced to kill Terry or he will be killed by the gang for betrayal.
Guest Stars:
John Calvin, Ian Sander
A rookie accidentally overpowers a professional assassin and is named ""hero"". The assassin vows to kill the rookie and escapes with Jill as a hostage, offering to exchange her for the rookie.
Guest Stars:
Bert Remsen, Jack Colvin, Chuck Hayward, John Ritter
Chris and Terry have their patrol car stolen by teenage vandals while investigating a major robbery in a department store and three heavily armed killers trap them there.
Guest Stars:
Michael Lembeck, Reni Santoni, Roger E. Mosley
After a series of Sunday bombings of porno bookshops and massage parlors sweep the city, Chris and Terry recognize the same girl, at the scene of each incident. The dangerously schizophrenic top fashion model believes she is being instructed by a supreme being.
Guest Stars:
René Auberjonois, Henry Brandon, John Carradine, Gail Strickland, John Zaremba
The rookies stake out an abandoned factory where a heroin deal is about to take place, and are able to seize the drugs and arrest all but one man. This man must get the heroin back from the police.
Guest Stars:
Jaclyn Smith, Anthony Eisley
Forest, a tough career cop, takes $10,000 from the scene of a robbery after his partner is killed by the robbers. Lt. Ryker puts an undercover investigator on the case to retrieve the money.
Guest Stars:
Linda Marsh, Linda Thompson, Patsy Garrett, John Aprea, Ned Beatty
A man who was forced to spend eighteen years in prison for a crime he did not commit is determined to get the men who framed him.
Guest Stars:
Robert Lansing, Antony Carbone, Bert Freed, Inga Swenson, Cliff Osmond
Mike, a former helicopter pilot in Vietnam, becomes the prey of a deranged ex-POW who blames the policeman for his capture by the Vietcong.
Guest Stars:
Thom Christopher
Terry vows to find the murderer of Dan Kennedy, a retired cop turned security guard. Dan was the father of a blind girl, Terry's former girlfriend.
Guest Stars:
Sally Kirkland, Tyne Daly, Michael Forest, Keenan Wynn, Craig Richard Nelson
After a woman is fatally assaulted by three junkies, her son, a doctor in the same hospital where Jill works, announces his intention to get revenge against the three, who were released from jail on a technicality.
Guest Stars:
John Rubinstein, Stephen Davies
The rookies are given undercover assignments in order to smash a syndicate-owned porno film company responsible for the deaths of some of its actors.
Guest Stars:
Richard Benedict, William Boyett, James Hong, Raymond Guth
A frightened sixteen-year-old boy is forced to take the blame for the crimes of a junkie he has become mixed up with. The two had committed a burglary and escaped after killing a cop. The boy is Terry's current girlfriend's brother.
Guest Stars:
Kevin Hooks, Phillip Pine, Victor Brandt, Joseph Mell, Marlene Clark
A gambler kills his creditor and is witnessed by Jill Danko whom he and his accomplice must now do away with. Another episode dedicated to nurse Jill Danko. In this episode Jill bears a big resemblance to her later character Sabrina Duncan.
Guest Stars:
Marc Singer, Marc Lawrence, Geoffrey Lewis, Biff McGuire