JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Just 24 hours after Jacksonville's latest fatal police-involved shooting, Sheriff John Rutherford spoke out attributing the city's violent crimes to an epidemic the nation faced two decades ago -- crack babies.

The sheriff on Wednesday was very candid with Channel 4 as he sat down and talked with reporter Jim Piggott about the recent crime wave and the surge in police-involved shootings in Jacksonville.

"It's not just the violence, but the gratuitous nature of the violence," Rutherford said.

He said there is a new mentality on the street with a complete disregard for life. Rutherford pointed to something that happened 20 years ago as one of the main causes of today's problem -- crack cocaine and the babies born addicted to the drug.

"Go back 20 years, crack cocaine was prevalent. The big discussion then was all the crack babies that were being born. Well, guess what. They've all grown up and that's who we're dealing with out on the street -- these people who have grown up in that culture," Rutherford said.

In 2005, there were five police-involved shooting. There were also five police shooting in 2006. However, that number more than tripled in 2007 when there were 18 police shootings.

There have already been eight police shootings in Jacksonville this year. Five of the suspects shot have died.

The sheriff said the number of police-involved shootings also shows that there is an attitude of no fear in Jacksonville.

"Years ago, when I was riding the streets, they used to want to get away. Now, they want to actually shoot a policeman," Rutherford said.

After Tuesday's scene in Arlington, where an officer shot and killed a mentally ill man who they said was armed with steak knives, many questioned the increasing use of police force. Some have even criticized the sheriff's office for acting too quickly in some cases.

Rutherford said he disagrees with that criticism.

"I would absolutely disagree with that. You show me the case where these officers have had guns pulled on them and they've been fired at -- in fact I would propose to you that my officers have shown incredible self-restraint in many situations where they could have shot someone and yet they didn't," Rutherford said.

He said in 2007 there were 74 incidents in which officers had guns or knives drawn on them and they did not fire back when they could have. In 2006 there were only 44 incidents.

"I think there's a culture out there that has been raised without value for life," Rutherford said.

Criminology professor Dr. Michael Hallett said while there's not a direct link between those who were born addicted to crack and violence, he agrees with what Rutherford said.

"He was talking about the culture, which I agree with. If you grew up in that environment, you're going to be a product of it," Hallett said.

He explained that the offenders of today are often those who only know life in Jacksonville's poor, drug-ridden communities.

"Men with no options engage in expressive violence. They'll be violent just for the sake of being violent, and I think we've got an increasing amount of that in Jacksonville," Hallett said. "Obviously the absolute last thing a person should do is be confrontational with a police officer. If a police officer tells you do something, you do it and ask questions later. I don't think that's the relationship that many communities have with law enforcement."

The professor also said that for too many people crime scenes have become an accepted, everyday part of life.

"We've got to try to reverse that somehow, and I don't think were going to be able to do that just through law enforcement," Hallett said.

Other cities in Florida have seen a significantly lower number of police-involved shootings than Jacksonville. In Tampa, there have been no police-involved shootings this year; and in Miami there have been three.