COMMUNITY POLICING: BUILDING RAPPORT BETWEEN POLICE AND CITIZENS

Police officer Kenny Rinehart toaked to Mary Davis, left, at her home in the 800 block of South Sprigg Street about a renter's dispute.

A young man, left, talked to Officers Kenny Rinehart and Kelly Kenser during a routine traffic stop on Good Hope Street.

The concept of community policing goes beyond just walking a beat in high-crime neighborhoods. It's about helping people.

"Anything we can do to help people with their quality of life, we do it," said Officer Charlie Herbst, one of four assigned to the Cape Girardeau Police Department's community policing unit.

The scope of community-oriented police work includes connecting people with existing programs and services from which they can benefit, identifying the problems and needs of a neighborhood and working in the public schools to raise crime awareness among students.

The community policing concept began in Cape Girardeau in May of 1994, with Herbst and Officer Ike Hammonds. Since then the manpower has doubled with the addition of officers Ken Rinehart and Ron Webb.

The local program has been held up by the Missouri Department of Public Safety as a role model for other departments.

"I'm really happy with the program," said Police Chief Howard "Butch" Boyd. "The department is moving toward more involvement with community policing as the department increases in size."

That will not, however, lead to the end of vehicle patrols.

"We will never police the city totally with that concept because we patrol a 25-square-mile area," Boyd said. "You can't get from point A to point B in a timely manner on a bicycle."

Either on foot or by bicycle, officers focus on the southern part of the city generally bordered on the north by Independence Street and on the west by West End Boulevard. Getting out among residents is an integral part of that aspect of community policing.

"When we see someone on a porch sitting, we can visit with them and ask what it is they want us to do as police officers," Herbst said.

Officers are afforded the opportunity to get to know the residents of a particular area on a first-name basis and foster a trust that would otherwise not be possible and also makes the police presence more visible.

"When you get out of that car and you walk a beat or ride a bike you are more accessible to the community," Hammonds said.

"Walking the beat breaks barriers and the car is a barrier."

When the barrier is broken and the bond formed, people become less reluctant to tell officers about what is going on in the area and tip them off to potential trouble. Not only is this an asset in solving crimes but it also helps in the recovery of stolen or missing property.

The officers also deal with things not normally associated with traditional police work.

Herbst told of a recent incident in which a drug addict came to him for help. Herbst assisted in straightening out a few things for the man and got him enrolled in a treatment program.

The officers also work with landlords in keeping their properties clean and working to develop civic pride in the community.

"There are a lot of good people in that area of town," Herbst said.

Officers particularly try to connect with children.

"When a parent sees how their kids approach you ... some parents who do not associate or relate with police officers drop their guard and relax," Hammonds said. "Parents come around when they see their kids are cool with us and we are cool with the kids."

Building rapport with children is furthered in the schools.

Among other things, officers teach Drug Abuse Resistance Education to sixth-graders and the newly instituted Gang Resistance Education And Training to seventh-graders. The courses are 17 and nine weeks long respectively.

"Principals and teachers say it's a world of difference us just being there on how the children conduct themselves," Hammonds said of being in the schools.

The school system and the police department hope to someday have a constant police presence in the secondary schools to perform a variety of educational functions.

"A long-range goal is to explore existing grant programs for funding so police officers can be in the schools full time," Boyd said.

Education-oriented efforts are not limited to school-age children. Starting in mid-September the Cape Girardeau Vocational School, with the assistance of Hammonds, started twice-a-week GED classes at the Salvation Army Building on South Sprigg. The satellite location, Hammonds said, creates convenient access to education for those who cannot get across town.

"When kids see their parents getting an education, they are more likely to do so," Herbst said.