Barney Miller - Season 5

After Wojo brings in a prostitute and her john, a call comes in about a political activist kidnapping a department store magnate, resulting in Barney and his detectives to find the victim before his captors d something drastic.

After Wojo volunteers for the ransom drop off, the prostitute he arrested decides to stay in the squad room to see if the department store magnate is safely released from his captors. Meanwhile, Harris brings in a rioter from the department store for resisting arrest.

Harris is less than thrilled at pulling mugging duty in the park and is reluctant to shave his mustache. Wojo and Yemana work on assisting a woman on a missing persons case involving her father. Dietrich brings in the host of television science show after going berserk when a teenaged assistant insulted him on air.

After going out on a dog fighting call with Yemana, Wojo gets bit by a potentially rabid German Shepherd. Dietrich makes matters worse for him when he starts sharing some sobering statistics regarding rabies treatments. Harris is tasked with aiding a wife in filling out a missing persons report for her husband who disappeared. Barney shares with the guys that he and Liz are going through a trial separation and they try to cheer him up about his situation.

When Wojo brings in a couple for attempting to kidnap a woman at the bus terminal, he unwittingly uncovers an illegal adoption ring. Harris and Dietrich go on a call at a nearby park and arrest a language professor on obscenity charges. Meanwhile, Barney gives Levitt some career advice when he finds out that Levitt is taking stimulants to get through an extend shift.

Lt. Scanlon pays the detectives room a visit when a lonely spinster misinterprets Dietrich's kindness while taking her statement about a mailbox break-in for lewd behavior. Harris and Yemana arrest a rabbi after receiving a tip that a casino is being run at his synagogue. Wojo arrests a suspect for attempting to rob a liquor store.

Dietrich and Harris are working on a case involving a cat burglar that causes Harris to shares familiar details to a past case. As a result, they soon discover that suspect‘s widow has taken up her late husband's proclivities. When Wojo and Yemana bring in a recent parolee on a gun possession charge, Wojo is surprised to hear that he did what he did because he wants to go back to prison, where life is structured and his time behind bars didn't prepare him for freedom. Meanwhile, Inspector Luger stops by to warns Barney the department is sending a chaplain to see him about his recent separation with Liz.

Wojo and Dietrich bring in a pair of suspects after they start a fight in a tattoo parlor. When Harris takes a statement from a neighborhood fence in hopes of finding a new loan shark who's starting to set up shop in the area, he's surprised at finding out that he's a minor with a large am of money and is driving a nice car. Meanwhile, when Yemana starts lashing out uncharacteristically, Barney and the guys soon feel bad that the previous day marked the 20th anniversary of when he joined the force and has been feeling unappreciated.

When Barney and the detectives arrive at the squad room and find it vandalized, Barney suspects the guilty party is Levitt. Meanwhile, Wojo and Dietrich assist a television executive when he is assaulted at a coffee shop.

When a rookie patrolman mistakenly shoots at Harris, thinking he was a burglar, his colleagues have to deal with the fallout. Meanwhile, Wojo arrests an out of work stockbroker who was on the streets, working as a beggar.

When Wojo brings in a shoplifting suspect, it turns out he's wanted by the FBI for being a war protesting radical from the 1960's. Harris and Dietrich bring in a burglar who attempts to get the detectives to make jokes about his weight.

Christmas is rapidly approaching and Barney is facing the harsh reality that he'll be spending the holiday alone. Meanwhile, the detectives bring in a claustrophobic suspect and competing toy executives who got involved in a fight.

Harris is tasked with helping a woman whose shoes were stolen off her feet while waiting for a bus. Wojo and Dietrich bring in an aging Indian who creates a disturbance by stating his final wish to die in Central Park.

When a series of articles are published, insinuating police corruption amongst the various precincts of the NYPD, Lt. Scanlon brings a lie detector to the squad room to root out the dirty detectives. Meanwhile, Barney suspects a fur dealer's robbery report isn't truthful.

Wojo brings in an unemployed former spy for disorderly conduct at an employment office, and soon holds them hostage. Dietrich and Harris arrest a business owner and mime following a scuffle.

A wife arrives at the twelfth precinct, looking for the detectives help in talking her husband out of becoming a soldier of fortune. Meanwhile, Wojo and his girlfriend Nancy take a big step and move in together, resulting in him starting to have second thoughts about it.

Wojo and Nancy struggle to adjust living together.

As Harris fills out a robbery report for a Hasidic Jew who was a target of a diamond theft, Barney starts to feel his are when Wojo brings in an aging Olympic hopeful who causes a scene practicing the javelin in Central Park and he makes a comment about his age and physique.

The detectives at the twelfth precinct try to track down a counterfeiter and find out why he's passing phony bills. Wojo and Levitt get called to a medical office after a man attacks a cosmetic surgeon after he discovers she had work done while he was on a business trip.

When the detectives hold an open house for the twelfth precinct, the only guests they have are a handful of vagrants. Wojo and Harris work on tracking down a serial arsonist at the nearby piers. When Barney announces to the guys that he's moving back home, he's in for a surprise when the hotel informs him he won't be getting his deposit back.

When a robbery suspect is brought in by Wojo, the detectives soon discover he is in the witness protection program after testifying against the mob. After he and Dietrich get shot at while on a call, Harris realizes his partner saved his life and starts acting strangely as a result.

When Dietrich and Levitt bring in a broker firm employee accused of embezzlement, the owner is reluctant to press charges and would rather handle the crime internally. Harris and Wojo have to take the statement from a young doctor brought in for causing a scene at the apartment of an Obeah woman he claims placed a voodoo curse on him.

The men of the twelfth precinct are working the graveyard shift and have to deal with several crises, one of which includes a bomb threat downstairs and an insomiac who caused a disturbance at a nearby drugstore.

Following the death of their cast mate Jack Soo, the men of the 12th Precinct come together to remember some of their favorite moments working with him.