ISSUE OF PUBLIC SAFETY; RICE: RESIST REDUCTIONS IN MILITARY

JACKSON -- The current move to reduce U.S. military forces should be met with a counter strike of letters to congressmen, the director of the Missouri Department of Public Safety said Thursday night.

Richard C. Rice, the director and an Army veteran of more than 28 years, spoke to a Southeast Missouri Peace Officers Association gathering. The Department of Public Safety is responsible for coordinating all elements of law enforcement, criminal investigation, and public safety activities by the state government.

Association members met at the Jackson American Legion Hall for their May meeting. About 90 people attended, said association President and Deputy U.S. Marshal Clarence Comer.

Rice served tours of duty in Vietnam, Germany, and Turkey. At Thursday's meeting, Rice sat next to his son, Robert, an Army captain who served in Germany during the Persian Gulf War.

The latest move to reduce U.S. military forces began about a year ago after the Warsaw Pact began to crumble, Rice said. Then came Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, and the Persian Gulf War that ended in victory for the United States and the allied forces.

But said Rice: "If Saddam would have waited five years, I don't think we could have done what we did because we would have atrophied our forces to the point where we couldn't have pulled that off."

Even with the continuing U.S. military involvement in the Persian Gulf, he said, the move is on to reduce military levels to "way below" those before the war. Yet he warned that there were more people like Saddam Hussein in other parts of the world.

Rice said the nation needs to maintain its regular forces, as well as its reserve and National Guard forces.

"You folks can have a big influence on that," he said. "You need to write your congressmen and write your senators and not just the ones here in Missouri. Somebody pointed out to me tonight, everybody's got relatives in other states."

One effect of the reductions, he said, would be the removal or reduction of National Guard units throughout Southeast Missouri, including those at Cape Girardeau, Sikeston, Jackson and Portageville.

Meanwhile, he said, an earthquake will eventually strike the New Madrid Fault zone, which encompasses Southeast Missouri. If the Guard isn't in Missouri when that happens, he said, the state will be in a "world of hurt."

On a separate topic Thursday, Rice said approval has been granted for the construction of a memorial to slain Missouri lawmen. The memorial will be erected on the grounds of the state Capitol in Jefferson City. The Missouri Law Enforcement Memorial Foundation has already raised about $130,000 toward the project, he said.

Rice also applauded the efforts of the SEMO Drug Task Force, a cooperative venture among area, state and federal authorities.

"We always talk a lot in law enforcement about cooperation. We do damn little in coordination, and these drug task forces have started changing that.

"People now are actually coordinating their activities, not just cooperating. It's a very big difference," he said.