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Chapter 26: Radar & the Greasers

With the war in VIETNAM having ended on APRIL 30TH, 1975, RADAR was gonna anticipate the hiring of some brand new deputies to the ITASCA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT. Some of the recruits came from TULSA, OKLAHOMA. Their names were PONYBOY CURTIS, SODAPOP CURTIS, DARRELL CURTIS, STEVE RANDLE, TWO-BIT MATTHEWS, TIM SHEPARD,& CURLY SHEPARD. Two others from LOS ANGELES were LARRY HUBERT & LARRY HARRIS. Upon passing their civil service exams & academy training in ST. PAUL, RADAR began assigning them to various patrol cars, which they could take out of the motor pool each time their shifts ended, officially that is!

PONYBOY & TIM were each assigned a 1972 AMERICAN MOTORS MATADOR 4-DOOR POLICE CAR. CURLY (being TIM'S brother & everything) was assigned to a 1964 CHEVROLET BEL AIR 4-DOOR PATROL CAR, which when bought by RADAR was only a used taxi cab. SODAPOP, STEVE, & TWO-BIT would take turns borrowing different patrol cars from the motor pool until RADAR (some years later assigned a 1986 FORD LTD to ol' TWO-BIT & one 1980 PONTIAC BONNEVILLE 4-DOOR PATROL CAR each to STEVE & SODAPOP). For the time being DARRELL was assigned to a 1971 CHEVROLET BISCAYNE 4-DOOR PATROL CAR. As for the two guys from LOS ANGELES (both named LARRY)? Well, RADAR assigned LARRY HARRIS to an ex-CALIFORNIA HIGHWAY PATROL mid-sized 1972 DODGE POLARA 4-DOOR PATROL CAR, & LARRY HUBERT was assigned to an ex-CHICAGO P.D. 1963 PLYMOUTH SAVOY 4-DOOR PATROL CAR. Of course, although the lettering had been changed on the car, the old blue & white paint job with the five-pointed badge on the door remained somewhat intact. So with the two boys from CALIFORNIA & the GREASERS from the north side of TULSA, OKLAHOMA, RADAR'S newest lineup of deputies was certainly starting to improve a great deal!