POLICE NOT QUICK TO DRAW GUNS

On the night of Aug. 10, 1992, Sgt. Carl Eakins of the Cape Girardeau Police Department had legal justification to shoot the man standing before him in a crowded alleyway behind the 200 block of South Lorimier.

Eakins stood amid a riot-like situation, sparked by the shooting death of 15-year-old Shekelia Shree Johnson, before a man pointing a small-caliber, semi-automatic weapon at the officer and area residents flanking him.

At the trial of the man who was ultimately convicted of Johnson's murder, Eakins told the jury that angry residents -- believing the man pointing the gun at the officer had shot young Johnson -- were urging him to shoot the man with the gun.

But Eakins did not.

"I talked to him; reasoned with him," Eakins told the court. "I persuaded the man to put the gun down."

Time and again, officers of the Cape Girardeau Police Department have been in situations that are potentially life-threatening and have remedied the situation without serious injury to officer or suspect.

"The use of deadly force is a very serious matter within this department," said Capt. Stephen Strong. "In our written directive manual alone there are seven pages dealing with the use of a firearm by an officer. Then in the rules and regulations there are two separate sections that address that same topic."

The department's general orders on use of firearms is currently under review, Strong said. Court decisions, individual situations and changes in laws influence the revision process.

The departmental rules and regulations on firing a weapon in a situation require the officer to consider the reason for the use of deadly force, minimizing the risk of death, justification limited to the facts known to the officer, and self defense and the defense of others.

Another police directive reads: "While the use of reasonable physical force may be necessary in situations which cannot be otherwise controlled, force may not be resorted to unless other reasonable alternatives have been exhausted or would clearly be ineffective under the particular circumstances. Officers are permitted to use whatever force that is reasonable and necessary to protect others or themselves from bodily harm."

But Strong said officers must often read between the lines of written directives.

"We continually instruct our officers to use the least amount of force necessary to the situation," said Strong. "That is why we developed our own use-of-force-directive and stick to it."

The carrying and use of pepper mace by officers has abated several threatening situations before they could escalate to violence.

"We instruct officers to use the pepper mace before actual physical contact occurs," said Strong. "The mace actually reduces the amount of physical force that would be necessary to control a situation.

"I doubt that very many civilians, if confronted by a belligerent, irritated, person swinging a knife around would consistently choose to use pepper mace if both that and a firearm was available to them," said Strong. "That says something for the training and discipline of our officers."

Strong said that as a supervisor, he is "proud of the amount of restraint officers in this department have routinely displayed."

Just weeks ago, when an escaped prisoner from an Indiana jail was tracked and cornered in Cape Girardeau, Sgt. Roger Fields took custody of the suspect without injury to either.

"I can think of several occasions when Cape Girardeau police officers have had legal justification to use force in a situation, and have refrained from doing so," said Cape County Prosecutor Morley Swingle. "Although (Fields) speaks modestly of it, that guy was sizing him up in that alley, deciding whether or not to move against the officer.

"The Cape Girardeau police officers are so conscientious of themselves and the situations they are facing," said Swingle. "Some credit has to be given for that."

Strong hopes the same example set by his department can be followed in years to come.

"The way things are going, it is more routine for our officers to encounter weapons on the street than ever before," said Strong. "But our officers know that when they draw their weapons, they are taking a big step, and they must realize the seriousness and ramifications of their actions.

"They cannot think just of themselves in that kind of situation," he added. "Officers have to consider who that bullet they fire will hit, and where it will stop."