Cape PD not expecting outbreak in crime during midday darkness

On the eve of the solar eclipse, Cape Girardeau police have a message for worried residents: It’s an eclipse, and not the end of the world.

“I think the unknown is making people’s brain go into overload,” public-information officer Rich McCall said Friday. “I think it’s the human factor that’s spun it into something it’s not.”

He said the department is prepared to deal with extra traffic but not anticipating any sort of spike in crime.

“Most of it’s going to be like — and this may sound silly — but like the move-in at SEMO, with people coming and going and a larger volume of traffic to have

extra officers on hand to help with the extra flow of traffic,” McCall said.

“But as in expecting higher crime rates and stuff like that, we’re not.”

He said despite the eclipse’s rarity, it poses fewer public-safety issues than other, more routine celebrations.

“Comparing it to the Fourth of July, people have fireworks, and they could hazardously use fireworks,” he said. “We’re talking about the sun being blocked by the moon for about three minutes, and then it’s gone. ... I’ll be honest with you: Me, I’d be more interested in seeing Michio Kaku talk at SEMO than the eclipse myself.”

He also pointed out the timing of the event is conducive to keeping public order.

“People gotta go to work on Tuesday,” McCall said. “For law enforcement and things not getting out of hand, it’s great because it’s on a Monday and it’s in the middle of the day. Most people don’t go party and hoot and holler and break into people’s houses in the middle of the day.”

Though local wineries and bars are hosting eclipse-themed celebrations, McCall said police don’t foresee problems.

“I don’t think, personally, there’s going to be anything crazy going on. If we had a ‘Moonstock’ going on in Cape to where there’s an after-event, then, yeah, your [operations] plan is going to reflect that,” he said, referring to the Ozzy Osbourne-headling, eclipse-themed music festival in Carterville, Illinois, “but we are really not having anything like that here. With it being a Monday during the day ... the timing’s kind of off for that kind of thing.”

Most traffic-control efforts, he said, will be focused around the SportsPlex, which will be used as a cooling center if needed.

An event map issued by the city of Cape Girardeau showed road closures planned for streets near Houck Field and Southeast Missouri State University’s River Campus, both of which will be hosting viewing events.

Perryville, Missouri, which is expected to be another popular viewing site, also is preparing for high traffic.

“We have extra officers on all weekend long. We have plans to have officers in each area of the town to respond, hopefully a little bit quicker to those areas, should we get a call,” Perryville Police Department public-information officer Jeri Cain said. “We’ve got officers that will be walking the events throughout the weekend and the day of the eclipse. We’ve coordinated with our medical staff at the hospital and our ambulance crew.”

Cain, like McCall, said an increase in crime is not anticipated, and measures have been taken to ensure public safety.

McCall said he hoped residents will keep “common sense” about them during the day.

“I think everyone should be able to participate as much as possible, but just don’t allow your mind to wander to the point where everybody’s scared of the unknown,” he said. “I don’t think the traffic issues are going to be as bad as a headliner at the Show Me Center, and I’ve worked those myself.”

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627