Playing With Life: Game Draws Criticism for Violence From Police

By Andres R. Martinez, The Monitor, McAllen, Texas

Jan. 28–A new video game that lets gamers play a cop-killing drug dealer or a trigger-happy police officer has local officers worried children may be getting the wrong idea about police officers.

“Anytime that we teach kids that killing anyone, whether a police officer or citizen, is just a game and is OK, I think we are getting away from what we should be teaching them,” said Sgt. Michael Zellers, president of the McAllen police union.

25 to Life, produced by Avalanche Software and distributed by Eidos, has already inspired a national boycott by an influential private police organization. Released on Jan. 17, 25 to Life is similar to games in the Grand Theft Auto series, in which gamers play criminals battling police and other shady characters to clear their names.

The game has been rated M, which is intended for gamers 17 and older, for its “blood and gore, drug reference, intense violence, sexual themes and strong language,” according to the Entertainment Software Rating Board’s Web site. The game missed out on the Adult rating, the raciest possible.

The National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to honoring police officers killed and injured in the line of duty, has an online petition asking retailers to not sell the game. They hope to get more than 17,500 signatures, the number of officers named on the group’s Washington, D.C. memorial.

So far, more than 5,000 people have signed the petition since it was posted online Jan. 19.

25 to Life pits Andre “Freeze” Francis, a drug dealer “trying hard to get out the game,” against Det. Lester Williams, according to the game’s Web site, http://www.25tolife.com. It goes on to say that Freeze wants to take care of his little brother and avoid trouble with the law, until someone double crosses him. Gamers can grab hostages and use them as shields against police, kill cops with submachine guns, assault riffles and sniper rifles.

But Bruce Mendelsohn, spokesman for the police officer memorial fund, finds the idea of a good guy drug dealer implausible.

“The notion of a good-hearted drug dealer is laughable,” Mendelsohn said. “We feel the decision to stock this game on American shelves is wrong. It certainly isn’t a game when our nation’s cops are gunned down.”

Preliminary figures from the group show 153 officers were killed in the United States last year.

McAllen Police Chief Victor Rodriguez had not seen the game yet, but had read about the controversy. He praised the ways that video games have been used to teach people positive skills, but not the ones that “25 to Life” teaches.

“Unfortunately, when you have a game like this you develop skills in a bad area,” Rodriguez said. “They develop skills in shooting a weapon and in shooting an officer. That’s a double whammy and that desensitizes violence all together.”

Hidalgo County Sheriff Guadalupe Trevino agreed.

“Children are easily influenced, especially when you have colorful graphics,” he said. “My suggestion is that the parents, like everything else, monitor the children’s activities.”

While McAllen police said they had received no complaints about the game or had heard of recent crimes in the area that had been attributed to violent video games, games like “25 to Life” are always worrisome, they said.

If the image of a family-oriented drug dealer is hard to swallow for some, then the idea of a free-wheeling cop who uses deadly force regularly is plain inaccurate, Mendelsohn said.

“It is erroneous to send the message to the game-playing public that whenever a law enforcement officer is faced with a life-threatening situation they use their weapons,” Mendelsohn said.

Chief Rodriguez praised his officers for the cool head they keep during life-threatening situations. It’s a product of continuous and intense training, he said.

“We go through a lot of training,” Rodriguez said. “There is a reason why police officers have such authority and why they have been able to keep it.”

The bottom line, said Zellers, is that this game sends a corrupt message that is dangerous to the safety of local police.

“Police officers represent authority and keeping the peace, and this game teaches them to not respect authority,” Zellers said.

Calls to Eidos, the distributor, were not returned.

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Andres R. Martinez covers law enforcement and general assignments for The Monitor. He can be reached at (956) 683-4434.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Monitor, McAllen, Texas

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