Ambush

"Ambush" refers to the absence of Yemana, the victim of a cop hater who opened fire on Nick, Chano, and Harris, hitting Yemana in the cheek (as Barney reaches for his face, Chano remarks, "not that one!"). This explains the presence of Dick O'Neill's Det. Kelly, last seen in "Graft" (in his final appearance), while another semi-regular, Milt Kogan as Officer Kogan, was making the last of his six episodes, replaced next season by Ron Carey's Officer Levitt. Chano and Harris go through the files searching for suspects guilty of violence against cops, and find one already behind bars... for tax evasion (Chano: "sure, he FINALLY went too far!"). They do manage to bring in a suspect with a high powered rifle (David Doyle), who belongs to a special club- The Staten Island Shoot Club and Personal Armament League, whose members hope someday to actually fire a gun! Barney gets an offer for police chief in a small town in Florida, which he believes Fish may be better qualified. Fish learns that the late police chief actually died of boredom ("he was sitting behind a desk one day in his office when a guy who was bored came in and shot him!"). He too decides to turn down the offer: "a man has to have something to keep him out of the house!"