More photos from this shoot

Photo: Dan Videtich The Rock Island County Deputy Sheriff's Department and many other local police forces have made many technological changes over the years including the use of tazer guns.

Photo: Submitted In 1915, the Moline Police Department received its first motorized vehicle, dubbed the ‘Black Maria.’ Critics said the vehicle would keep cops from walking the beat, causing them to lose contact with residents.

Photo: Submitted Charles Miller was a motorcyle officer in Rock Island when this photo was taken in 1928. He served until 1940, and his son became chief.

Photo: Submitted Rock Island police officers Ed Houston, left, and Chet Brandt in front of their cruiser in 1944. Officer Houston was one of the department's first black officers.

Things have changed a little bit since. Where their predecessors might have gone on patrol with a badge, a gun and a club, police today have Tasers., tear gas, radios, computers and a myriad of other things to help them fight crime.

"I think that is one of the reasons why people skills were important in earlier years," said Rock Island Police Department Chief John Wright, who has about 80 officers under him. Without equipment like radios, officers had to deal with people on a more one-on-one basis.

That hasn't changed, Chief Wright said. Policing is about people and their problems.

"I think at the very basic level, you're still dealing with people 90 percent of the time," he said. "Just like you were back then."

In fact, he said, technological advances in policing may have actually helped make police officers' people skills rustier than they should be, although technology has made police work more efficient and safer.

"I think law enforcement has acknowledged that in the last 10 years or so," Chief Wright said.

The law-enforcement community has been trying to improve their relationship with the public, Chief Wright said, and Lt. Jerome Patrick of the Moline Police Department agreed.

Radios have had a drastic effect on in police work, Chief Wright said. Thirty years ago, police didn't have portable radios.

Lt. Patrick said computers in squad cars were also something that was unheard of, even a couple of decades ago.

Police also have more less-lethal options to deal with violent situations, including Tazers and bean bags that can be fired from a gun to stun opponents, Lt. Patrick said.

Police also face different duties than they did in prior decades as well, Chief Wright and Lt. Patrick said.

New technology has also brought new kinds of crime, they said.

Internet sexual predators, credit card fraud and computerized identity theft are all things police didn't deal with in years past, they said.

Lt. Patrick said that police are still learning how to combat terrorism, which has been a part of American life since the 9/11 attacks.

In addition to using new and improved gadgets, law-enforcement agencies are working with each other more and sharing information, Lt. Patrick said.

They are also looking for more highly educated and "higher-caliber" candidates to be police officers, he said. Those officers also receive more training than their colleagues from the past.

"In the old days, they'd give them handcuffs and a gun and tell them to hit the street," he said.