There are a lot of images from that show which are seared in my mind.
The theme song. Badge number 714. The hammer coming down on the whatever it was at the end of the show.
Joe Friday lecturing some unfortunate guy.
I watched Dragnet and Adam-12 in syndication as a kid. Man, I really enjoyed those shows. I also watched SWAT and Emergency!
What fascinated most about Dragnet is they’d let Joe Friday get the last word in a lot of scenes and his argument was so profound, so wise that, no matter who it was directed at- his partner, his boss, a citizen or some crook, they were so overcome by his logic, they were incapable of responding. Watch the show. It happens at least once in every episode.