Night Watch was the inevitable result of Dragnet's, an attempt to bring the crime documentary to its peak by having a microphone present as the crime was being committed. Reporter Don Reid rode with police during the 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. shift, wearing a hidden wire to capture the high drama of the job. Before the premier broadcast, Reid had accumulated 100 reels of tape--criminals caught in the act, including a homicide confession and the "statement of a dope fiend." _{Johnn Dunning}