New police, fire chiefs tackle big problems

Cape Girardeau's fire and police chiefs are about six months into their respective new jobs, but the progress in each department has been considerably different.

Part of that certainly is police chief Steve Strong's 25 years of experience on the force, including more than one stint as interim chief. He already was doing the job when he formally was appointed in September.

Not that he didn't have an uphill battle. A quasi-union of police officers supported a candidate from Nebraska for the chief's position and made no secret of its disappointment with the city's manager's selection of Strong. A consultant's report released several weeks prior to that selection had lambasted department leadership and bemoaned a lack of up-to-date equipment.

Against all odds, turnover in the department has all but ended. Twenty-nine members of the department left in 2000, but only four left in 2001, when Strong was in charge for six months. The officers who complained about being ignored in the hiring process are supporting Strong now, complimenting him on an open-door policy and his responsiveness to their needs and concerns.

And all this comes when the department is still being strained by the events of Sept. 11. Local officers are expected to patrol the Cape Girardeau Regional Airport looking for signs of potential terrorism. They've also stepped up bridge patrols because the Mississippi River Bridge here is the only way across the river for 30 miles in either direction.

Strong is developing a plan to reduce car accidents in the city. In a tight budget year, he's looking for private donations for things like a new drug dog to replace one that recently was retired.

In the meantime, fire chief Michael Lackman still is talking about assessing his department's needs. He has plans to decrease response times and create special-operation teams for certain types of emergencies.

His firefighters are complaining about the age of the department's equipment and whether it can hold out much longer. They say they're 100 percent behind Lackman in getting it replaced. But so far, it has been the firefighters union that has come out publicly with proposals to pay for new equipment in this time of tight city budgets. The union is talking about a $1.75 million-a-year sales-tax increase, and Lackman agrees the department could use the money.

The community wants to be safe, but nobody, Lackman included, embraces new taxes. Residents eagerly await Lackman's ideas on how to fund equipment purchases.