POLICE OFFICERS CAN PLAY IT SAFER BY LEARNING FROM PAST TRAGEDIES

A police officer doesn't have the most deadly job, but the occupation does come with the most violent deaths. And the Cape Girardeau Police Department hasn't been immune from officers being harmed while wearing a uniform.

Police Chief Howard "Butch" Boyd Jr. said farmers probably have the deadliest occupation. But those deaths are accidental, unlike the deaths of many police officers killed in the line of duty.

In fact, every Cape Girardeau officer killed in the line of duty was shot to death. And the last officers to be killed in the line of duty were shot 35 years ago today.

Don Crittendon, 24, and Herbert Goss, 67, an auxiliary officer, were both killed after a shootout March 10, 1961, with armed robbers. Goss was shot in the legs and bled to death at the scene of the shootout, near the intersection of Kingshighway and Cape Rock Drive. Crittendon lived for 11 days after being shot in the exchange but died of his wounds.

One of the two men convicted of the shooting, Sammie Lee Tucker, was convicted of killing Crittendon and executed in 1963. The other man, Douglas Wayne Thompson, served about 23 years of a life sentence for killing Goss and was released in 1987. He currently is in a federal prison for bank robbery.

Three other Cape Girardeau officers also have been killed in the line of duty:

-- Albert Demortiers, 39, was shot to death Oct. 27, 1917, by a drunken farmer at the corner of Broadway and Middle streets. His killer died in prison.

-- Willis A. Martin, 59, was shot in the back twice and killed Feb. 27, 1921, when he interrupted a burglary at a business in the 600 block of Good Hope. Three men linked to other burglaries were convicted of Martin's murder but some believed they might have been innocent.

-- Chief Nathaniel Jefferson "Jeff" Hutson, 49, was shot five times and killed Oct. 7, 1922, when he tried to serve an arrest warrant at a home at 409 William. His killer was shot to death in an exchange with other officers who were serving the warrant with Hutson.

Boyd said the department has been lucky that officers haven't been involved in more shootings. He said the last time an officer deliberately fired his weapon was almost nine years ago.

David Alan Smith was shot once in the chest May 12, 1987, on the department's parking lot when he tried to flee with the jailer as his hostage. Smith was a federal prisoner being temporarily housed at the city jail. He recovered from his wound and re-entered the federal prison system.

Boyd said a shootout or confrontation with someone wielding a gun concerns officers, but they are trained to handle the situation.

"Our officers practice shooting a lot more than the crooks do," he said.

Boyd said shootouts or standoffs don't kill many police officers because they're better trained to handle those situations. Many officers killed in the line of duty in the last few years were killed with their own guns during a struggle, he said.

Equipment and safety procedures and policies are developed to teach officers how to handle those situations, too.

Sgt. Carl Kinnison, who coordinates training for the department, said procedures from approaching a pedestrian to walking up to a parked car are taught to officers. Those procedures are modified based on information gained from officers on the street, Kinnison said.

"We used to have people take their hands out of their pockets when an officer walked up to them," Kinnison said. "Not anymore. Over a period of time, we learned from other departments that people can pull a gun out of their pockets and fire it. So if they already have their hands in their pockets, we say keep them there."

The unfortunate experiences of some officers are what other officers learn from, Kinnison said.

Boyd and Kinnison agreed that many of the situations that claimed Cape Girardeau officers' lives in years past can be avoided because of the equipment, policies and procedures in place today.

For example, officers are better trained to handle shootouts today, training that might have saved the loss of Crittendon and Goss.

And Chief Hutson was killed by an armed man because he didn't like to carry a gun. All officers carry guns today and many of them carry weapons while off duty.

In 1921, Martin entered a building alone when he thought it was being burglarized. Boyd said officers today would wait for back-up or consider other options before going into a building alone.

"We wouldn't do that today," he said. "In fact, we'd probably send the dog in first."

Kinnison said bullet-proof vests and security holsters keep officers safe. Many officers have been wearing the vests since the late 1970s when they were shown to stop bullets, he said.

And security holsters are being worn by officers because they have double snaps and require a special technique to remove the weapon.

"It takes a lot of practice to be able to draw your weapon," Kinnison said. "And it would be very difficult for someone else to get it out of your holster."

Boyd said no profession is completely safe from accidents or even violent deaths, but the best advice for officers is to be courteous and alert.