Sergeant Esterhaus dies unexpectedly and the whole station house tries to deal with their grief as they eulogize the man. Meanwhile, Leo finds out his wife is cheating on him; Bates may get a unique promotion; Mrs. Furillo is mistakenly arrested for soliciting by a rookie; Sandy is raped.

Belker meets an eccentric calling himself ""Captain Freedom"" while on a stakeout; LaRue gets more than he bargained for as a cell plant when he overhears an arson suspect taunting an accused child molester; and Furillo issues an ultimatum to the gangs after a savage massacre in a local tavern.

Bates plays in the interdepartmental poker finals; Fuchs refuses to help out one of his own men caught forging prescriptions; Henry goes undercover on a smash-and-grab purse snatching detail; Delgado admits he's afraid of testifying before the commission; Joyce chides Furillo for being naive about his supposed innocence protecting him against the commission; the scam saloon closes down after a gun battle; and a furious Furillo testifies before the commission and offers his resignation to Chief Daniels.

Furillo throws away the rule book when two young men rape and murder a nun during a church robbery; Belker befriends gay prostitute Eddie Gregg; Calletano faces a tax audit; and Joyce feels helpless as public opinion works to destroy her client.

Sid and Furillo work to find out who is setting up Buntz while Daniels publicly vilifies him; LaRue decides to beat a TV crew doing a live broadcast from a gangster's cellar to the punch; Bates agrees to go out with Sal the plumber; rumors are flying about what will happen to the station house after a three-alarm fire guts it.

Furillo and Neal go out of their way to help clear an obnoxious, racist narcotics detective accused of shooting an unarmed black man; LaRue's drinking gets really out of hand; and Hill and Renko try to help a young black woman accused of neglecting her children.

Bates loses a junkie prostitute through an error in judgement; Hudson beats up his lawyer after his release on bail; Furillo and Joyce reconsider their separation; and Esterhaus ends his friendship with Mac.

Precinct Captain Furillo tries to defuse a hostage situation despite the advice of his gung-ho Emergency Action Team leader and the temperament of a self-absorbed gang leader; public defender Joyce Davenport tries to find a client who has been lost in the bureaucratic maze; Detective LaRue gets a lapful of coffee; Sgt. Esterhaus confides to Fay about his teenage sweetheart; Officers Hill and Renko are shot in the line of duty.

Hill and Renko handle a domestic call involving an old man threatening his neighbors with a shotgun; Hudson looks for the informer in his gang; and Joyce asks Furillo for advice about the Downey case.

LaRue and Washington open Maizel's safety deposit box and find evidence of his corruption; Bates and Coffey try to help an abused child with her baby; Belker ends his insurance scam investigation with a visit to Hill's doctor; and Daniels pressures Furillo to keep quiet about Maizel.

Bates poses as a bus driver; LaRue continues to groom Vic Hitler for his debut; Daniels is ready to sacrifice Coffey to quiet public opinion; and Furillo and Davenport take a major step in their lives.

Belker and LaRue learn that Washington was set up by someone in the station house; the long overdue cash payroll is hijacked; Joyce meets a really nice purse snatcher; and Furillo finds Jesus Martinez behind bars.

Bates and Coffey clean up ""Buck Naked"" for a court appearance; a busted bookie turns over several tapes incriminating cops on the take, including a rookie Hunter; Belker pursues a paraplegic who spray painted his car; and Hill boxes for the precinct.

Belker has a final run in with his bald headed pickpocket with many names; Joyce defends a man whose brother plans to threaten the prosecution witness into silence; and Operation Stop 'N Cop begins.

Belker goes to the dogs working undercover at the pound; Furillo chases down the reason he's been denied mortgage insurance; LaRue and Washington bust a former baseball star for drunken driving; and Buntz is held hostage by a vicious parolee.

Neal continues to investigate Macafee's life as a way of clearing LaRue; Belker and several others go undercover dressed as women to catch a rapist; Esterhaus broods over his two women; and Goldblume questions his ability after losing a jumper.

Furillo and Neal go out of their way to help clear an obnoxious, racist narcotics detective accused of shooting an unarmed black man; LaRue's drinking gets really out of hand; and Hill and Renko try to help a young black woman accused of neglecting her children.

Belker tries to renew his expired driver's license; Renko tries to take his father home from the hospital; LaRue rehabilitates himself with Furillo; and everyone follows the trail of the gun used to kill two officers during a burglary.

The courts settle Daniels' crime operation; a jealous Furillo questions Joyce about her interview at the Justice Department; LaRue imports a surplus tank; Fay gets herself arrested so she can confront Judge Grogan about the paternity of her expected child; and Goldblume outthinks some gang members threatening a stand up young man who turned in their friends.

The only witness to a massacre in a gay bar is an off duty cop; the Cisco Kid ties up traffic; and Goldblume offers to be Fay's natural childbirth coach.

Commander Ozzie Cleveland enters the mayoral race; Officer Perez accidentally shoots a little boy; Daniels begins ""Operation Tenderloin"" out of a sexual cafeteria; and Mahoney tries to make political capitol for Daniels out of a shooting.

On election day, Goldblume tries to keep a last minute candidate clear of the polling places; Mahoney turns on Daniels; Wachtel reports gangsters threatening to torch Murray's Wonderland; and Furillo tries to help Perez' family.

The rats return; Esterhaus is hospitalized for tests; Bates, Coffey and Joyce try to protect a woman and her children from her abusive husband; the latest cop killing looks to be a hired gun copying the random killer; and the corruption investigation strikes close to Hill Street; Hill Street gets word of the murder of Marty Nichols.

Furillo's chances for promotion are threatened when a city councilman is implicated in the murder of the teenage prostitute; LaRue continues to look for money for his ""saloondramat""; Fay's obscene caller breaks into her home; and Belker confronts an anti-Semitic cop just transferred to the Hill.

Night court interferes with ""Monday Night Football"" as LaRue and Washington are accused of entrapping a mugger; Bates and Coffey look for gang members responsible for the drive-by shooting of a child; Fay announces that she's getting married again.