Cape Girardeau stats show crime decline in many areas

The number of robberies in Cape Girardeau has dropped ninefold over the last decade, according to numbers released by the police department.

It's one of many crimes that are decreasing in the city, the city's numbers show, but it's perhaps the most impressive, police chief Wes Blair said.

"Some of them even caught me off guard," Blair said, of the 10-year data. "I saw some of those numbers, and I went to our crime analyst and asked him to make sure they were right."

In 2013, Cape Girardeau police reported 85 robberies. That number dropped to nine last year. Robberies are defined as thefts where the suspect harms or threatens harm against a victim.

"Those are the kind of crimes that scare and terrorize the community most," he said. "Someone comes up to you with a gun or knife and knocks you down to steal something. To drop that much is amazing."

Other crime categories showed steady decreases over the past 10 years. Police jurisdictions are required to report data to the FBI. The data is released publicly, but because some of the criteria changed over the years, not every crime statistic reported today goes back 10 years. Crimes categorized as sex offenses, drug offenses and weapons violations are newer figures and don't go back 10 years.

Blair said the police department can only do so much to prevent crime. Reducing crime takes a community effort, which includes education and partnerships.

Educational efforts, including helping property owners understand how to spot problems and deter crimes are important. Likewise, technology plays a major role in reducing crime. This includes video technology and working with private-property owners to use surveillance videos as a deterrent and investigative tool.

Cape Girardeau police also credited new gunshot detection software, which has helped the department collect evidence and improve arrest rates.

Blair said education and technology are more effective at preventing property crimes than crimes against people. But there are ways to lower those incidents, too, with increased patrols. But increased patrols can only do so much.

"If two people get upset at each other and get in a fight, no patrol or preventive stuff is going to stop that," Blair said. "We could have patrols at each end of the block, and someone would shoot someone in the middle."

Homicides have mostly dropped over the last decade. The city has not seen more than six murders in a year, and not fewer than two. In the last three years, the city has investigated three, three and four murders, respectively. With such small numbers, slight variation can skew rates. But four murders would put Cape Girardeau at 10 murders per 100,000 people, which is lower than Missouri's rate of 14 in 2020, the latest data available on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. Missouri had the fourth-highest homicide rate of all U.S. states.

One of the few categories that hasn't fallen in Cape Girardeau is aggravated assaults. The numbers have fluctuated over the last decade, ranging as low as 119 in 2018 up to 229 in 2020, the first year of the pandemic. In 2022, 164 aggravated assaults were reported, down from 172 in 2021.

The city has seen an uptick in motor vehicle thefts. Three of the four highest numbers of car thefts in the past 10 years have happened in the last three years. The high was in 2020 with 122. Cape Girardeau has seen 99 car thefts in each of the last two years.

But Cape Girardeau has seen significant improvements in other areas of theft. In addition to a reduction in the aforementioned robbery category, the city has seen steady declines in thefts and burglaries. Burglaries are thefts that include break-ins. They've dropped from 447 to 151 over the last 10 years. Thefts have been cut nearly in half, from 1,505 to 825, with consistent decreases year-to-year.

The city has shown a decrease in all crimes combined, with consistent annual decreases, down from 2,260 in 2013 to 1,252 this year.

The numbers indicate Cape Girardeau is becoming a safer city, which might come as a surprise to some who follow crime news online and on social media platforms.

Blair said the perception the city is getting more dangerous is frustrating, but he said he understands it.

"It's more about social media," Blair said. "You can post something immediately. Ten to 15 years ago, if a shot was fired in one part of town, you only found out about it in a one-on-one conversation at the local coffee shop. Now with the prevalence of social media, gunshots are immediately showing up on social media. Then it potentially could go globally. It creates the perception that it happens more than it ever did when in reality it's that more people are talking about it."

The data were released this week in conjunction with the police department's 2022 annual report.

The report noted that 41% of Cape Girardeau's officers have five or fewer years of experience, but the staff averages 10 years of experience, according to the report. Eighty-seven percent of the staff is at least 30 years old.

Blair said it's important to retain officers with experience, so younger officers have examples to look up to and learn from.

"That's why I always advocate paying officers to motivate them to want to stay here," Blair said. "You need the old dogs around who have seen it all and are full of wisdom."