Michael J. "Mickey" O'Hara is a former police reporter for the "Philadelphia Bulletin". He is regarded as one of the best police reporters on the East Coast, and he is held in high regard by the police for several reasons, including listening to their side of controversial events. O'Hara drives a car equipped with several police band receivers (at the time the series was written, computer-controlled scanners were not available). In this, he resembles Larry Krebs, the former police reporter for WMAL in Washington, D.C.