Police dramas have been on television since 1951 when Dragnet first appeared. But in the early 1960s, primetime television began to present real documentaries following police on their beats as they did their duties. Most police departments did not allow what you watching here. But the cops in Kansas City, Missouri did and documentary filmmakers like me found themselves on the streets with the cops filming scenes like these.

Several of my colleagues did this work with Frederick Wiseman director and after a while it got their work sent to me. It was depressing. Seeing drunk people, drugged out people, stoned people, poor people, violent people, angry people, frustrated people, on a fairly regular basis violent people, and a continuing series of victims, got to them. They had PTSD and either became completely numb to what they were filming or had to quit their jobs.

Although I did not film these scenes, I have filmed in the police cars during the night hours or walking a beat with a cop. It is scary. It is stressful. And it is very difficult for police officers to maintain their humanity and empathy when dealt with these situations day after day.

When I saw scenes like this back then and when see them today I have the same reaction – I feel that the cops are being asked to do incredibly difficult jobs with incredibly sick people. Violence against children. Abuse sexual and otherwise. Drunks and drug addicts. It's a tough job for sure.

I also feel for the police as they try to deal with these people without special techniques that many have not been trained to deal with. Some will say society is to blame and to some extent maybe they are. But in my life and times, it is how a person is treated at home in their early life that most likely creates people like these. A part of me would like to just sit down with them and talk reasonably about the choices that they had at that time.

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