The Rookie: Which Episode Is The Infamous 'Dine And Dash'?

As a police procedural, "The Rookie" deals heavily with concepts of right and wrong. Of course, things aren't always crystal clear, and shades of gray exist. It's vital to navigate those gray areas properly, especially when someone is an officer of the law and should be better than the common person. "The Rookie" dealt with this area in the Season 1 episode, "Caught Stealing," which recently went viral online for one particular scene.

The clip involves West (Titus Makin Jr.) and Lopez (Alyssa Diaz) called to a restaurant to deal with a dine-and-dash situation. A man left his date at the restaurant to deal with the bill, which comes out to $680. The clip sees Lopez encouraging the woman to order a couple more things to bump the bill over $700, at which point the cops could charge the man with a felony, who's currently being held by the restaurant. West doesn't like this idea as they're intentionally trying to change the outcome, but Lopez pulls rank and forces West to look the other way, with it certainly seeming like the woman was about to order more food.

The scene plays into the larger themes of the episode. The guy will face more jail time, which Lopez orchestrated, but the restauranter stated how he's been doing this all over the neighborhood. Is Lopez in the wrong by giving the man a harsher sentence even though he was being a menace? That's for the audience to weigh.

"The Rookie" dine-and-dash episode came out in 2019. While the show's still popular, it's a little strange the clip is making the rounds all these years later. But there may be political reasons for why people are giving the scene a second look.

The dine-and-dash scene deals with felony thresholds. Every state has a set amount by which a theft goes from a misdemeanor to a felony, assuming other contingent factors, such as a previous criminal record, aren't present. It's an important distinction as a felony charge brings jail time and impacts the person's ability to vote, apply for jobs, and buy housing. In "The Rookie" scene, the amount stolen is just below the felony threshold, so Lopez wants to raise it so that the man faces harsher consequences.

California, where "The Rookie" takes place, had a ballot measure pass in 2014 that raised the threshold for felony theft to $950. The proposition is still making headlines, with primarily conservative politicians and news outlets singling out the law as evidence that California is soft on crime. But these news stories also tend to contain much misinformation, and many states, including Texas, have even higher felony theft thresholds than California. 

But some fans seem to enjoy how ridiculous the entire scene comes across. In the comments section on YouTube Reels, many people have pointed out how the officers' bodycams would've picked up their conversation, and the case would've been thrown out anyway as they attempted to alter the outcome. There's a reason fans claim these shows function as "copaganda" where police view themselves as above the law. The law may have gray areas, but police should be better than the average person.