What has become of our American police?

In 1950, the image of a police officer could easily be a little like Andy Griffith or Barney Fife, slowly driving down the street with his arm hanging out the window, smiling and waving at each person he passed. His patrol car would have one large red light in the center of the top and a single star on the door of the car. He would have a simple uniform with very little on his belt. Most of his job was helping the good town's folk solve their problems and being a listening ear to whomever needed to vent about something on their mind.

There would be times when an unruly person needed the law's attention, but this was more of a rarity than it was the norm. The six shooter on his side (if there was one) would be more for looks than for use, and the chances needing to pull it out on a call was something not even the police officer would perceive as imaginable.

The entire police world has changed drastically over the last several decades, but it is not the only thing that has changed. "Gone With the Wind" was the first major motion picture to use a curse word; it was a shock to many people and created some controversy at the time it premiered in theaters in 1939. Would it be hard to find a movie that did not have some type of curse word today? What about one of the first scary movies, "The Blob"? Anyone remember when that came out? It was way before my time, but I have talked to many people who have told me that was considered a "scary" movie at the time. It is sad to say but even my kids would believe that movie to boring and dull to watch now.

I would venture to say today's generation is much more used to violence, death, and horror than ever before. Remember some of the first games that could be played on your T.V? I remember playing a game on an old Atari called Asteroids. At the time, we thought it was something from the future! Then they came out with the Nintendo and the big hit "Mario Brothers." In that game if you "died" you would simply fall off the screen and disappear. There was no blood, no sounds of pain and cries for help.

The average teenager today can more than likely tell you the name of a wide variety of weapons, their caliber, and their rate of fire because they are so realistic in video games and TV. Most movies today show multiple deaths by the end, and it is becoming more and more common for the "bad guy" to be cool for killing the cops and anyone else who stands in their way.

The newest controllers for video games even go to the point of providing vibrations in the controllers so you can feel the effect from your gun shooting; and with better and improved video cards and graphics, some games look almost like real people. The game makers want to make the experience as real as possible as you storm through buildings gunning people down. There is one thing that is not realistic however, and that is the ability to simply start over when you die.

Some children start playing violent video games very early in life and play them on a daily basis. Any time you do not like the outcome, you can simply start over and try again. It becomes normal to shoot at anything you want, and in many cases the idea of pointing a gun at person can start to blur from gaming fiction to reality.

The idea of the small town friendly cop smiling and waving and never needing his six shooter is great and the attitude towards helping others should still be the same. However, I am puzzled at how many people still voice the opinion as to why the police need body armor, helmets, ballistic shields, and assault rifles.

I also keep getting asked more and more "why are agencies militarizing the police?" Although I have my opinion about what militarizing the police really is, I would also ask why are there so many young people gunning people down in the streets? What happened to the old days of boys like Opie playing in the creek and singing songs while they played jump rope and hop scotch?

The six shooter does not work for police anymore because the criminals went from people like Otis to people like Jeffery Dahmer, Ted Bundy, Richard Ramirez (AKA The Night Stalker), and many more. The crimes went from J-Walking to raping, torturing, and murdering people; and over the last few years, cops have become just as much a target as anyone else. People want to ask why the cops dress like they do and carry the weapons like they do?

It is because they still want to protect the people of our communities. But now there is a new type of criminal and he is much more aggressive, more eager to kill and more willing to carry out their deadly acts on anyone.

We have become who we are because we adapt to the dangers around us and are prepared to be just as aggressive towards those who would harm others. It is because we are still willing to stand and say we will not let this happen, not on my watch.