San Luis Obispo, CA —Today California parole officials will consider releasing Gregory Powell 47 years after he and his crime partner, Jimmy Lee Smith kidnapped LAPD Hollywood Division detectives Karl Hettinger and Ian Campbell at gunpoint in Los Angeles. In March of 1963 the two criminals drove the captive officers up to farmer’s field just outside of Bakersfield and the trip culminated in an attempt to execute them. Hettinger was able to escape but Campbell was brutally murdered by the salt and pepper pair. Originally Powell and Smith were sentenced to death but after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the famous Fuhrman vs. Georgia case the cop killers were given life and the possibility of parole. Smith was paroled several times but kept reoffending and died in prison in 2007. Powell never made parole and blamed former LAPD cop and author, Joseph Wambaugh for bringing him too much publicity and wrecking his chances for parole after the book and movie The Onion Field were release...

Los Angeles, CA —Former LAPD cop turned author, Joseph Wambaugh captured police work on paper like few other authors. Wambaugh’s work gave millions a realistic view inside the crime scene tape that shuts out prying eyes. Many of Wambaugh's works were made into feature films or episodes of his hit TV series, Police Story . When I met Wambugh a couple of years ago I asked him a question he could not answer. Where are the DVD’s of his best stories that made the large and small screens? These days almost anything is in print and available at Netflix. Absent are copies of my two favorite Wambaugh films, THE ONION FIELD and ECHOES IN THE DARKNESS . Also missing are any episodes of Police story. Some of the actors that rocked on Police Story included Tony LoBianco, Don Meredith, Vic Morrow, Chuck Connors, James Farentino, Jan-Michael Vincent, Danny Bonaducci, Ralph Meeker, Diane Baker and Hugh O’Brian . There has to be film and master tapes somewhere. It can’t be that difficult to...