Down Time

Written by
 Directed by
 Previous

## Briefing

Ponch is injured in the line of duty and if forced to have 5 days leave. Ponch decides to drive to San Francisco in his newly repaired firebird. His excitement is short lived when his car is stolen and his neighbour might be involved. Jon loses his wallet and begins the painful process of replacing everything that was lost.

## Report

Ponch has a surprise for everyone and herds everyone outside including Jon.  He reveals his car, now finally
finished.  Grossie and Cahill can’t
believe it was the same car he bought for $83.  Getraer comes out and tells everyone to hit the bricks.

Ponch arrives at his apartment and bumps into his neighbour, Kim Balford.  She comments on his car and Ponch hasn’t seen
her before.  She tells him she moved in a
few days ago.  Ponch welcomes her to the
complex and tells her his apartment number in case she needs a cup of sugar.

Later, two ladies riding on a motorbike spot Ponch’s car and one of them proceeds to steal it.  The car is driven to an auto dealership where it’s parked and a sold sign is placed on it.  The woman then walks off and then gets in a car with Kim and they drive off.

Ponch has bored Jon to death with his car and asks him to change the subject.  Jon spots a ’77 corvette with old plates and start pursuit.  Ponch calls it in.

After a lengthy chase the corvette passes through a parking lot and
narrowly missing hitting a man in a wheelchair upon exiting it.  Ponch isn’t so lucky however since more
people started crossing the exit and Ponch has to break hard, causing him to
fall off his bike.   Jon asks if he’s
okay, and Ponch tells him he thinks he is.

Jon radios in that they lost the vehicle, then notices Ponch nursing his hand.  Ponch tells him he banged up his little finger.  Jon decides to take Ponch to hospital to have it checked out, no arguments.

The corvette arrives at the same auto dealership where Ponch’s car was taken.

Back at Central, there’s a lot of building working going on.  Jon and Ponch arrive back and Getraer wants a
word with them.  Ponch asks what’s going
on and Baricza tells him they’re building a woman’s locker room, which makes
Cahill extremely happy.

Getraer’s office is a makeshift storage room while the refurbishment is
taking place.  Getraer wants to know what
Ponch’s prognosis is.   Ponch raises his
little finger and quotes the doctor, “severe hyperextension of the fourth
phelangrum”.  Getraer wants to know what
it means.  Jon tells him in simple terms,
“down time, light desk duty for at least a week.”  Getraer is beside himself, he tells them that
he’s got people standing in the corridor.
Ponch seems pleased as it means he can get back on his bike.  Getraer has another idea.  He heads over to Ponch’s file and tells him
he has a chance to make both of them happy.
Getraer tells Ponch he has 5 days vacation time coming up.  Ponch doesn’t look pleased.  Getraer tells Ponch if he doesn’t use it he’ll
lose it anyway.   Jon tells Ponch he’ll
have his days if he doesn’t want them.

Ponch tells him as long as he has them coming he’ll take it, and it’s not often he has Getraer wrapped around his little finger.

Jon enters the break room which is also being refurbished.  He goes to get something out of the vending
machine.  Cahill and Baricza are sitting
at the table.  Ponch enters with plans
for his vacation,  he’s going to take his
car to San Francisco.  Jon is struggling
with the coffee machine, and asks everyone if they’ve got change for a buck.  Jon realises that his wallet is missing, at
the same time Getraer enters the break room and asks if anyone has seen the duty
roster.  Everyone is focused on Jon’s
predicament, and Getraer leaves the same way he came in.

Jon takes Ponch home and Ponch asks Jon to look after his motor while
he’s gone.  Jon asks Ponch if he can take
a look at his balcony to see if he dropped his wallet there.  Jon looks up from the balcony and sees
someone looking down at them with a pair of binoculars, she smiles and waves.  Ponch tells him about Kim.  Jon finds it odd she’s spying on them with
binoculars, Ponch puts it down to the new age.

Jon asks if he can use his phone since he had some blank cheques in his wallet.

Ponch is all packed and heads to the parking lot, all he finds is an
empty space.

Ponch arrives at Central in a cab, Baricza and Grossie spot him and
asks him if he’s into rebuilding taxi cabs now.

Getraer is overseeing the refurbishments when Ponch asks for him but he’s
too busy.  Ponch tells him his car was
stolen, but it falls on deaf ears.  Ponch
finds Jon in the locker room, Jon tells Ponch he didn’t just lose his wallet,
he lost his identity with it.  Ponch
tells Jon his car was stolen, Jon asks if he filed a report,  Ponch tells him he did.  Jon is still searching through his locker and
Ponch walks out.

Ponch is on the phone to his insurer in the reports room.  Jon walks in and apologises to Ponch.  Getraer pokes his head in and tells them he’s
not running a social club.  Ponch tells
Jon he’s all heart.  Getraer pokes his
head back in the room and tells Ponch he’s expedited his stolen car report, and
will make it a special item in the next briefing.  Ponch thanks him.  Getraer tells Ponch to go home and
relax.  Sindy walks past and Ponch asks
her if he can borrow her wheels since his was stolen.  Sindy asks if he can ride a bike.  She lends it to him and tells him she can always
bum a ride.  Jon asks where he’s going,
Ponch tells him he’s going to auto theft.

Ponch arrives at the auto theft division and knows the man working
there, he tells Bill that he can help him with his stolen car.  Bill asks where it was stolen, and Ponch
tells him it was at the marina.  Bill
tells him there’s been a spate of thefts from that area of high performance
cars and believes it’s organised.  Bill
tells him he’s come up empty so far.
Ponch tells him it’s going to change now he’s on the case.  Bill tells Ponch to back off and let him deal
with it.  Bill tells Ponch to speak to
his neighbours in case they saw something.

Ponch goes to see Kim at her apartment, and tells her his car was
stolen and asks if she saw anything.  Kim
tells him she was studying  a script all
night.  Ponch talks to her about work and
family.  Kim asks him what he does and he
tells her he’s a highway patrol officer.
Kim’s cheery demeanour drops and tells Ponch she has a reading at
8pm.  Kim rushes Ponch out of the
apartment.

Back at the auto theft division, Ponch tells Bill he came up empty
handed.  Bill tells him they’re organised
and tells him to go home.  Bill tells
Ponch before he leaves, another car was stolen from the marina.

Jon is out with Ponch.  Jon tells
Ponch he spent so much time on the phone cancelling credit cards.  Ponch tells him at least he had something to
do.  Ponch spots Kim walking past with a
friend and calls her over.  Kim
apologises and tells her she has a reading with her friend Melodie Fisher.

Melodie asks Kim what that was all about, she tells him the talkative one
is a cop.  Melodie asks why she picked out
a cop, Kim tells her she didn’t know.
Ponch notices something odd and tells Jon he thought she drove a 280Z,
she drives off in a black Lincoln.

Grossie is on patrol and spots Kim speeding on a turn, he gives
chase.  Unable to shake Grossie, Kim has
a plan B, and tells Melodie to take her clothes off.  Kim drives the car off the end of a pier.

At auto theft, Bill straight out tells Ponch, no.  Ponch asks what the question is.  Bill tells him it’s whatever he’s going to
bug him about today.  Bill tells Ponch to
speak to his insurer since the cars been missing for over four days.  Ponch tells him he still has 24 hours.  Bill is looking over a car and Ponch asks
what it’s about.  Bill tells him they
recovered it from the water, and believes it was done by amateurs, since the
ignition was smashed and a fingerprint was left on the mirror.  Ponch tells Bill that his neighbour drives a
280Z, but the other day he saw her drive off in a Lincoln.  Bill tells Ponch that Grossie was the one who
attempted a routine stop and indicated that the people in the car were two young
women.  Bill asks Ponch to get a set of
prints since he wants to be a fully fledged investigator.  Ponch believes it’s just coincidence and that
she’s a nice young woman.  Bill doesn’t
believe it and asks Ponch to write down her name and address.

Jon is at the bank and having problems withdrawing money from his own
account, since his account has been flagged by himself.  Jon is unable to write a cheque on his new
account because it will take two weeks to get a new cheque book.  The teller tells Jon she will speak to the
manager.  Ponch finds Jon at the bank and
asks him for a favour, he wants to check out Kim and needs his help.  Ponch believes Kim’s been using the binoculars
to spot cars.  Jon tells Ponch it’s his
day off tomorrow, Ponch pleads.  The bank
teller returns and tells Jon the manager is out for lunch.  Jon tells Ponch he can’t win and they walk
out.

At Ponch’s place, Ponch is telling Jon all he needs is her fingerprints
and then they can split.  He knocks on
Kim’s door and she tells them to wait since she’s not dressed.   Jon tells Kim it’s Ponch’s birthday and they
want her to join them in their festivities.
Kim seems upset.  Ponch asks her
what the matter is.  Kim tells him her
father died last night.  Ponch reminds
her that her father would be proud of her career.  Kim tells him it was a big fat lie.  Ponch asks about the apartment, Kim tells him
she’s done it all, slinging drinks at a bar, selling cosmetics door to door,
she tells them to name it and she’s done it.

Jon offers Kim a drink of apple juice.
Kim apologises to them.  Ponch
offers her works of encouragement regarding her acting career.   Kim
tells them they forgot their things.
Ponch grabs Jon and tells her he’ll pick them up tomorrow.  Outside the apartment Jon tells Ponch they
had a good set of prints on the glass that Bill Ross needed.  Ponch tells Jon he didn’t feel  right about it.

When Kim believes the coast is clear she calls out to the bedroom,
Melodie walks out with another woman, they congratulate Kim on her
performance.  Kim tells them to call
Oscar to get the cars ready for Arizona.
Their friend doesn’t understand.
Kim tells them the cops have been poking around and might connect her
with the stolen Lincoln which is why they need to pull out.

Back at Central, Ponch is in the reception area speaking to the
insurer.  The insurer reminds Ponch there’s
a 30 day waiting period before they pay.
As Ponch didn’t have extended cover he isn’t entitled to a loaner
car.  Baricza takes a call and  Getraer walks in and asks about some annual reports
he can’t find.  Ponch tells the insurer
his firebird is probably in pieces by now.
Getraer walks out.  The insurer
tells Ponch they’ll find out in 26 days.
Jon walks in with a smile on his face, he’s going to go home now and
relax now that everything has been sorted with his credit cards.  Baricza tells Ponch he has Bill Ross on the
phone.  Bill tells Ponch they’ve been surveilling
her and hit pay dirt.  Ponch asks if he’s
sure.  Bill tells him she’s part of a big
organisation.  He wants him to drive past
their premises and see if he can spot his car, if he does he wants him to call
him back.  Bill tells him not to blow the
stake out and advises him to take an unmarked car.  Ponch tells Jon he needs his pick up, Jon
refuses and just wants to go home and relax.
Ponch tells Bill, that he has Jon’s pick for as long as he wants.

Ponch’s car has been loaded onto an auto carrier.  Jon and Ponch drive towards the auto
dealership and spot the auto carrier with Ponch’s car on the back driving in
the opposite direction.  Jon makes a
u-turn when Ponch notices his car.  This
hasn’t gone unnoticed by Kim.  The
Sheriff was meant to be there at 3pm but they left at 2:30pm instead, Jon believes
they were tipped off and decide to follow them.

Ponch spots Grossie travelling the opposite direction, Jon honks his
horn and weaves in and out of traffic to get his attention.   Grossie calls it in.  Melodie tells them they were being tailed and they flagged down a cop.  Kim tells her they need to outsmart them since she can’t out run them.  They lose sight of the auto carrier and Jon honks at Grossie again.  Ponch tells Grossie to
back track as they have turned off.   They u-turn and Grossie spots them down a
side road off loading the cars.  Melodie
releases one of the cars to stop Jon from going any further in his pick up.  Melodie drives off in Ponch’s firebird leaving Melodie and her friend on their own.  Grossie, apprehends them.

Ponch, puts the brake on the car that hit Jon’s pick up so Jon can move
out the way, they chase after Kim.  Ponch
comments on how well his car takes corners.
Kim is driving to fast to swerve and hits a parked car causing her to overturn.

Ponch and Jon rescue Kim, then  Jon attempts to tackle the fire.  Ponch asks Kim why she did it.  She tells Ponch she’s not a good actress.  Ponch asks if her father’s
story was balony.  Kim confesses.  Ponch doesn’t understand.  Kim tells him the margins of profit were
better.  She apologises for crashing his car.  An ambulance and patrol car arrive to take Kim away.  Jon struggles to put out the fire and his extinguisher runs out, he makes a run for it just as the car explodes.

They get back in his pick up and Jon asks Ponch to get his coat.  Whilst putting it on Jon notices his wallet was in his pocket all along.  Ponch tells Jon he must be relieved he’s found it.  Jon tells him he’s kidding after all the things he did to change things around.  Finding his wallet was awful.

## Notes

* Ponch's apartment number is 127.
* All the time and effort Jon put into restoring Ponch's car is undone by the end of the episode when it blows up.
* All the candy bars in the vending machine at Central are back to front.

* When Kim and Melodie get into the Lincoln after bumping into Jon and Ponch, Melodie asks Kim what that was all about. Kim tells Melodie the one on the left with the mouth is a cop. The person on the left was Jon, not Ponch, whom Kim was referring to as she had never met Jon prior to that day (although she did spy him on Ponch's balcony earlier).
* After speeding through a turn, Kim drifts into the next lane, the next shot she's back to the original lane.
* Randi Oakes would later appear in season 3 as a regular cast member playing the character of Officer Bonnie Clark. Randi took over from the void left by Brianne Leary when she left after a clash of personalities with Erik Estrada.

### Quotes

* Jon: I didn't lose my wallet, I lost my entire identity as a human being.

### Codes Used

* 10-29
* 10-36
* 10-20
* 10-4

## Cast

### Main Cast

* Larry Wilcox: Jon Baker
* Erik Estrada: Frank Poncherello
* Robert Pine: Joe Getraer

### Recurring

* Brianne Leary: Sindy
* Brodie Greer: Baricza
* Paul Linke: Grossman

### Guest Stars

* Burr DeBenning:  Bill Ross
* Randi Oakes:  Kim (Balford)

### Others

* Susan Kiger: Brandy
* Deborah Zon: Melodie (Fisher)
* Cynthia Brian: Teller
* Barry Cahill: Kinneman
* John Hart: Boat Owner
* Alfred Dennis: Companion #1
* Art Lewis: Companion #2
* Norman Mont-Eton: Oscar