Cape police say barricades working

Ron Acord and his neighbors aren't used to the silent treatment, not after midnight when late-night bar patrons crowd the streets, frequently sparking fights, littering, vandalism, loud music and yelling.

But all was peaceful at 1:30 a.m. on June 27 when Acord looked out his front door. "I expected to see the after-bar crowd. I looked out there and there was nothing," said Acord, who lives at 402 S. Ellis at the intersection with Morgan Oak.

The quiet times have resulted from a stepped-up police presence, coupled with closing off a four-block area in south Cape Girardeau to traffic. Barricades are used to keep unwanted late-night traffic off Morgan Oak from Sprigg Street to west of Ellis Street and off Ellis from Good Hope to Jefferson.

The Fourth of July holiday marked the third weekend of police efforts to steer unruly crowds away from the residential area. Police ran the barricades on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Lt. Roger Fields of the Cape Girardeau Police Department said that there was no increase in activity in the area over the holiday weekend and that only one summons was issued in the barricaded area.

"People have been avoiding the area over the past two weekends," said Fields. "We've had to begin working outside the perimeter more."

Cape Girardeau police chief Steve Strong said the effort, which will continue indefinitely, is costing the city about $1,000 every weekend in overtime pay for police officers but that it is working.

Strong said the department typically brings in four to six extra officers every weekend to complement the regular shift of officers on duty at that time. For the holiday weekend, seven officers were called in for extra patrols on Friday and Saturday and five were called in on Thursday.

On June 28, about 200 people gathered at Don's Store 24, a convenience store at Morgan Oak and Sprigg. Police, however, kept the crowd away from the nearby residential area.

Another crowd of about 200 people gathered Saturday night at the 700 block of South Benton, away from the police barricade, Fields said.

Strong said the department dispatches police into the area before the bars empty and have patrols out in the city to catch drunk drivers.

"You go where the drunks are coming from," he said.

As part of the effort, officers videotape any troublemakers so tickets can be issued at a later date for municipal violations, Strong said.

"Basically what we are trying to do is break up the activities of large crowds gathering at late-night hours in residential streets," the chief said.

Acord, who has lived in his Ellis Street home for seven years, said his yard and others used to be littered with beer and whiskey bottles and sandwich wrappers discarded by the rowdy crowds. "I was out there picking it up twice a day," he said.

But the littering has decreased greatly since the barricades started going up, Acord said.

Acord said people have been "met with nothing but absolute cooperation" from the police. "They have been outstanding."

mbliss@semissourian.com

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msanders@semissourian.com

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