FBI WILL INVESTIGATE GOOD HOPE MELEE

The FBI will conduct an independent investigation into a clash between police and a crowd of about 150 that occurred last Friday, said Rick Hetzel, Cape Girardeau police chief.

No timetable has been set for when the FBI will begin its work, but Hetzel said it should start relatively soon.

The FBI will be looking into possible legal and civil rights violations from the near riot in the 400 block of Good Hope Street that resulted in nine arrests and injuries to six police officers.

Allegations of racial prejudice in the incident, in which white police arrested nine blacks after physical altercations and rock throwing, have been leveled against police in public meetings and private conversations.

"We are in the business of doing investigations," Hetzel said. "However, some people in the community will not believe that we can accomplish this one fairly and objectively."

The timing for an independent investigation is right, said the Rev. David Allen, president of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in the county.

"It is what a number of members of the community have asked for," Allen said. "I'm glad it is coming to pass."

From his own conversations with federal authorities on Thursday, Allen said he expects the federal Department of Justice will join the FBI investigations.

For some, the investigation has been a long time in coming, said Allen, who is also the police department's chaplain. A perception of racism existing among some police in Cape Girardeau has been a topic of discussion long before he moved to the city four and a half years ago, he said.

A full-blown internal investigation by Cape Girardeau police will be stopped in lieu of the incoming federal inquiry, Hetzel said. However, the police still plan to review the response of their own officers to see whether all procedures were followed, he said.

The outside investigation should help restore confidence in the work of Hetzel as police chief, said Tom Neumeyer, city councilman for Ward 2, which is made up of South Cape Girardeau.

"I feel confident that this will show that our officers are professional," Neumeyer said.

Longtime NAACP member Juanita Spicer is less confident in FBI objectivity.

"I have watched these agencies like the FBI, and I can tell you they're not going to do anything to the police department," she said.