Fox, Haskin, cite looming public safety crisis, pitch internet sales tax

Wes Blair has been chief of the Cape Girardeau Police Department since 2013 and said "attrition" among city patrol officers and jailers is becoming worrisome and might balloon into a crisis "pretty quickly" unless steps are made to hike departmental pay and provide a "mechanism" for step increases within a position.

"This is the most difficult time I've seen in my career, the most challenging I can recollect in my 25-years-plus in law enforcement," he said Friday.

Blair's department statistics show there are 10 vacancies in the patrol division, and 42 officers have left the city in the past five years.

The city jail is at 50% staff capacity, with six jailers working but six slots unfilled. Sixteen jailers, Blair said, have left since 2016.

Pay rate uncompetitive

The starting rate for a patrol officer is $18.45 per hour; it is $13.03 for a jailer.

"The pay rate is one thing; there are also no step increases, so the only way to get a raise is through a cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) or to promote to another position," said Blair.

In December, city council approved permitting police candidates for Cape from states adjoining Missouri -- in the hope of boosting the number of candidates.

One officer, who lives in southern Illinois, has joined the force since then.

New revenue needed

City manager Kenneth Haskin and Mayor Bob Fox both suggest the answer to the recruitment and retention problem is clear.

"We must start talking openly and transparently with the public about how important the internet sales tax is going to be," Haskin said. "We just have to capture those sales taxes; it's just imperative."

The measure will be before voters in November.

Fox, who this week announced his intention to seek a second mayoral term in 2022, said Cape police lost another officer Friday.

"[This officer] resigned to make a lot more money with [Cape Girardeau] county than he was earning with the city. This can turn into a crisis if we continue to lose officers this way. [The county] knows it has a better chance of keeping the officer than if someone is recruited from outside the area. If an officer's pay goes up substantially, you can't blame him," said Fox, who noted the county now has access to revenues from a new half-cent law enforcement sales tax, passed by county voters in June, expected to bring in $7 million annually.

"Not just police officers but everybody, all of our employees, can benefit if we can capture those internet sales taxes here in the city of Cape."

Optimism

"The community of Cape Girardeau helped pass the county's law enforcement tax, so it's obvious this city cares about its police," said Blair. "Even though this is the most difficult time in my law enforcement career, I can't imagine doing [policing] in a community more supportive that Cape. If we want to continue to have professional, highly qualified police officers in our city, though, we have to find some sort of mechanism to do more to retain them."