Parson visits Cape County, touts mental health efforts; partnerships between state, local agencies

Gov. Mike Parson made two stops Wednesday in Southeast Missouri.

The chief executive of the state stopped at Missouri's National Veterans Memorial in Perryville before traveling to Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Office in Jackson as part of his tour this week focusing on veterans and public safety.

Sheriff Ruth Ann Dickerson, as well as Cape Girardeau County Commissioner Charlie Herbst and Sandy Karsten, director of the state Department of Public Safety, gave brief remarks before turning the podium over to Parson, who touted new state allocations for public safety and discussed the value of local public safety entities.

Parson, a former longtime sheriff, said he understands what local law enforcement goes through and the struggles they face, specifically the stigma around mental health.

"We don't like talking about mental health too much, we don't like talking about counseling too much," Parson said of law enforcement.

Parson added that officers and the people they are dealing with need mental health assistance, which is why, he said, the state has record investments in mental health allocated in the 2023 budget.

The state Department of Mental Health was allocated more than $3.4 billion in the most recent budget signed by Parson, a 23% increase from the previous year. The governor said the goal of the funding is to get more people with mental health issues out of jails and into treatment facilities.

Parson went on in his remarks to discuss the various partnerships between state and local agencies to help with public safety.

"I'm never a big fan of just being a handout, so I'll tell you that right now," Parson said. "I'm a lot more about 'hand up', so if you want to partner with me, I'm all about partnership."

Parson added, "the days of just giving stuff away is probably over" but that exceptions would be made if he was giving local agencies the tools to succeed.

The partnerships include the $104.7 million for a new public safety crime lab that will work to help local agencies, $30 million in first-responders grants and $1 million in law enforcement academy scholarships.

Recruitment and retention in law enforcement has been a persistent issue across the nation since the beginning of the pandemic. The sheriff's office and Cape Girardeau Police Department have had struggles of their own hiring new and keeping existing officers.

Recent civil unrest across the country has made the positions less desirable, Parson said. The increased scrutiny, much of which he called "undeserved," made it difficult to fill law enforcement positions.

Parson said he wants to use new programs to "create a bench" of future officers coming out of high schools and using the Fast Track Workforce Incentive Grant — a program designed to expedite education for those older than 25 to allow them to work in industries with need — to build up a pool for law enforcement.

In order to qualify to serve as a police officer in Cape Girardeau, a person must be at least 21 years old.

In his remarks, Parson also spoke on violent crime in Missouri and the "three-legged stool" — made up of law enforcement, prosecutors and judges — necessary to prevent and reduce crime, specifically violent crime.

"These violent thugs that are out there have got to come off the streets," Parson said.

A recent report, "Safer Missouri, Stronger Missouri," from Missouri Chamber Foundation found Missouri ranked fourth in the nation in gun deaths with the rate of violent crimes per 100,000 people well above the national average in 2020.

Parson asserted later when asked about violent crime in Missouri, the state's major cities St. Louis and Kansas City — as well as Columbia and Springfield — were mostly to blame for the state's problems. However, Cape Girardeau County was classified in the same category as the counties those cities reside in — with the exception of Boone County for Columbia — with more than four violent crime incidents per 1,000 people, according to the chamber report. Missouri had 19 counties under that classification, according to the report.

Parson pointed to the mass shooting Monday in Highland Park, Illinois — a suburb of Chicago — that left seven dead and dozens injured as an example of an area with strict gun laws having issues with mass shootings. Parson said more focus needed to be placed on mental health to combat mass shootings and violent crime, a popular sentiment among Republicans.

The alleged Highland Park shooter was able to legally purchase the firearm used in the massacre despite several encounters with law enforcement in the past, one of which he was labeled "a clear and present danger" by local authorities, according to police reports.