Sometimes It’s a Thin Line Between Ambition and Opportunism

Such is the power of television potboilers that one of the most frequent lines LAPD recruitment officers hear these days is “I want to work CSI.”

A more unusual request came from a would-be applicant “who asked if we had a waiver where she didn’t have to work patrol and could go straight to K9,” reports the Thin Blue Line, an L.A. Police Protective League newspaper.

“Seems she invented a new holistic organic dog food that could greatly benefit our department.”

Bummer: Brad Nelson of Oxnard came across a mention of some sensitive surfers who were trampled (see accompanying).

Which reminds me: That certainly looks like the silhouette of a dude in an ad for a women’s clothes store, forwarded to me by Ike Shatori of Torrance (see accompanying).

And chew on this: Tim Allen of Moorpark noticed that a toothbrush seemed to hold dear the notion of gum disease (see accompanying).

Pet peeves: Don’t know about you, but it burns me when I answer someone’s e-mail and receive this answer: “I apologize for this automatic reply to your e-mail. To control spam, I now allow incoming messages only from senders I have approved beforehand. If you would like to be added to my list of approved senders ... “ Grrr.

Transitions: I hope that my item here about KFWB-AM (980) playing an excerpt from Jimi Hendrix’s “Purple Haze” didn’t mislead people into thinking it had gone back to its old format.

Radio buff Tom Bratter recalled the confusion when the station switched from top 40 songs to all news in 1968. For days afterward KFWB received music requests from unknowing listeners. After a while, Bratter said, station employees took to quipping to callers, “We’ll play that right after the news.”

Speaking of KFWB: Longtime anchor Don Herbert remembered reporting a story on that station about a man who was fondling women on New York’s subways.

“As soon as I finished the story, I pushed the button to play the next commercial,” he said. “It was Ella Fitzgerald, for the phone company. She was singing, ‘Reach out, reach out and touch someone.’ ”

miscelLAny: Valerie Fields saw a license plate on a hybrid gasoline/electric Prius that said 4 OPEC.

Steve Harvey can be reached at (800) LATIMES, Ext. 77083, by fax at (213) 237-4712, by mail at Metro, L.A. Times, 202 W. 1st St., L.A. 90012, and by e-mail at steve.harvey@latimes.com (don’t worry -- you’re an approved sender).