EIGHT OF CITY'S 67 POLICE OFFICERS LEAVING FORCE

Concerns about pay, turnover and promotions have made officers restless at the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

With the city budget about to be hammered out for the next fiscal year, patrolmen who would like to end their careers at the department wonder how they will fare; others are thinking of pursuing opportunities at other law enforcement agencies or in other careers.

Eight of 67 people have left or are leaving the department within the span of a few weeks: Two went to the FBI, one joined the Missouri Highway Patrol, one took a job in his hometown with the Farmington Police Department, two resigned for other reasons, and two retired. Two others also might soon turn in their resignations.

Some officers born and raised near Cape Girardeau would like to stay. But low salaries and lack of turnover in the upper ranks prevent them from remaining with the department.

Cape Girardeau has one of the lower pay schedules in the state compared to cities of similar size.

Jefferson City, which has an almost identical police management structure and number of officers, starts patrolmen at $21,650 a year, almost $2,300 more than the starting salary for patrolmen in Cape Girardeau. Although other salary levels at some ranks might be lower than at Cape Girardeau, the Jefferson City Police Department's maximum pay consistently exceeds top-end pay in Cape Girardeau.

The pay gaps are even wider between dispatchers in Cape Girardeau and Jefferson City. Starting pay is more than $2,300 higher in Jefferson City for a starting dispatcher.

But Cape Girardeau still pays thousands of dollars more for positions than other law enforcement agencies throughout Southeast Missouri. Many law enforcement officers from the other agencies seek jobs in Cape Girardeau because of pay that is substantially higher than they are getting.

Chief Howard "Butch" Boyd Jr. said the pay scale is satisfactory for patrolmen in a city the size of Cape Girardeau. With overtime and compensation for educational experience and other duties, he said patrolmen make more than their base pay.

But the pay in Cape Girardeau is one issue in the minds of patrolmen who are thinking of going to other agencies or careers. Some officers were hired thinking they could work their way through the ranks. But low turnover in the upper ranks has discouraged them.

Many of the patrolmen view the department like Brian Ritter, a 26-year-old member of the department.

Ritter became a full-time officer with the police department in 1992. The day he walked through the door, he knew he wasn't going to be there long.

"My goal was to go into the FBI," he said. "I knew what I had to do before I could get in."

Ritter had the academic background when he joined the police department, but the other requirement the FBI demanded was three years of full-time experience in a field acceptable to FBI standards.

Ritter thought three years at the Cape Girardeau Police Department might land him his dream job. And it did: In March, Ritter and another Cape Girardeau officer report to the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va.

The chief and Ritter's co-workers were supportive when he got the job, he said.

Many others also have viewed their role as Cape Girardeau patrolmen as temporary. Even the chief calls the department a training ground for bigger departments and federal agencies.

"There's going to be turnover in a department this size," Boyd said, "and some of them are going to other agencies."

Boyd said the recent departure of eight people -- almost 12 percent of the department -- would leave a void. But that kind of turnover is expected in an agency serving a community the size of Cape Girardeau, he said.

In Jefferson City, Capt. Steve Welch said about 10 percent of the department took other higher-paying jobs last year. Less than 2 percent left the department in each of the previous years, he said.

Officers take jobs with state agencies based in Jefferson City, Welch said. Besides the highway patrol, officers have become investigators with the Board of Insurance and the securities division of the secretary of state's office.

While eight new officers were sworn in as replacements in Cape Girardeau, 11 patrolmen were promoted last week to the rank of corporal, raising their pay as much as $1,500. But that still isn't enough to keep officers interested in long-term employment.

One of the officers promoted, Barry Hovis, said this was the first time in several years that several patrolmen have been promoted. Remaining a patrolmen for so long discourages many officers from staying in Cape Girardeau, said Hovis, who spent nine years with the department before getting his first promotion.

And the high turnover at the lower ranks doesn't help the effort to improve community policing, Hovis said. "The community can't become familiar with the officers when they're consistently leaving and new officers are taking their place," he said.

Increasing the salary for patrolmen would be a way to keep officers like Ritter longer than three years.

"We don't have to be the highest-paid department in the state," he said, "but we should be in the ballpark with everyone else."