The cops could use a little luck. For about three months a burglar has been breaking into homes stealing anything of value he can stuff into a pillow case.

Cops know the burglar’s routine. First he listens for sounds inside the house. Technicians lifted ear prints from windows at each break-in location.

Detectives also have shoe tread imprints made from the ground under where the ear prints are found. Wanted flyers describe the suspect as 5 feet, 11 inches tall, and weighing between 170 and 180 pounds. "The ear print and the shoe print tell us that much," says Dog, the detective assigned to the case. They call him "Dog" because once he gets his teeth into something he doesn’t let go — kind of like a pit bull.

For many weeks Dog checks the shoes of every new inmate, and finally gets lucky. One evening a deputy arrests a peeping Tom. While the prisoner is changing into his inmate jumpsuit, Dog goes back to the jail and takes a look at the prisoner’s shoes.

Comparing his shoes to the crime scene photographs, it looks like a perfect match. The tread is Rockport but the nicks and cuts in the tread make the tread unique for the suspect.

The prisoner denies everything. Dog shows him the matching ear prints. He even shows him a criminal science textbook with examples of ear prints and body measurements once used for identification.

"I knew I had him, but he kept stonewalling me," Dog says. The suspect finally loosens up when Dog flashes an index card with a thumb and index fingerprint on it.

The prisoner is stunned. "They couldn’t be my prints," the prisoner says, "I always wear gloves."

Dog never claimed they were the suspect’s prints. Actually, they were Dog’s own prints which he keeps on a card in his desk for just such "emergencies." The ruse works! After Dog plays back the videotape of the interview, the suspect gives it up.