Cape police Direct Results Team will focus on solving crimes

On any given day, a police officer with the Cape Girardeau Police Department responds to numerous calls. Oftentimes they will receive a new call from dispatch that requires them to leave the scene of an incident, even when they are in the middle of an investigation.

A newly formed unit, called the Direct Results Team, was designed within the police department so crime reports can receive more focus and be resolved more quickly.

"In my opinion, we need to be more proactive," said interim chief Roger Fields. "To do that, we need to have more flexibility when it comes to investigating the kinds of calls we receive."

The team, which will be activated this weekend, will consist of five officers assigned to answer or follow up on calls when time constraints prevent fellow officers from doing so.

"The reality is that we handle over 50,000 calls each year," Fields said. "It's quite a workload for the patrol division."

Officers assigned to the team may work together or individually, depending on the assignment the team receives, Fields said.

"The team will receive daily instruction," he said. "They may be assigned to follow up on a rash of burglaries in a particular neighborhood, or it could be a matter of addressing complaints about park-curfew violations. But whatever the assignment, we expect results."

The officers who are part of the team will not receive a pay raise for their new duties, and they still will have to fulfill regular daily assignments.

"We've asked the members to be as flexible with their time as need be," Fields said. "But they know that whether they are called on individually or as a group, they drop what they are doing and take the call."

Cpl. Ike Hammonds, a 20-year department veteran, is one member of the new team.

"I can't wait for it to get started," he said.

Hammonds views the Direct Results Team as an extension of the patrol division with more freedom.

"The team will have the liberty and time to deal with a particular crime when patrolmen don't," he said. "Those guys are always chasing that radio and going to the next call."

Hammonds said it's not only patrolmen who have their hands full when it comes to investigating crimes.

"The detectives are tied up, too," he said. "The team will also be able to help relieve them by giving attention to a particular incident."

Another area where Hammonds wants the team to have a positive effect is community relations.

"I feel that the team can foster better relations between the police and the community," he said. "When you're able to spend more time with a victim of crime or with a witness, you're creating trust. People will begin to realize that the team, or a team member, can be approached to listen to what they have to say. What they say can lead to a crime being solved."

Hammonds remains mindful of the team's primary purpose.

"If there's a menace to a certain area, we're going to be dealing with it by any means necessary within the law."

klewis@semissourian.com

388-3635

Pertinent address:

40 S. Sprigg St., Cape Girardeau, MO