POLICE PATROLS ROUTINELY CHECK OUT AREA'S HOTSPOTS

I'd never even been inside a patrol car, but Thursday night for a portion of two shifts, I rode along with Cape Girardeau's police officers to get a glimpse of what their job is like.

I looked at the city from different eyes -- not just as a reporter looking for stories or as a police insider, but as a person from another section of town trying to figure out why Good Hope Street has such a draw within the south Cape community and why it has problems.

I was curious to see what the area was like late at night since people have been talking repeatedly about the problems facing the neighborhood, and especially since the city council will hold a hearing tonight regarding the Taste Lounge.

I arrived at the police station at 9 p.m. and left with Sgt. Roger Fields for a nearly two-hour stint patrolling the area. He drove the blocks immediately around the Taste at 402 Good Hope St.

But it was still early and the crowds hadn't picked up. A few cars were parked along Good Hope Street. Things will pick up later in the night, he said.

Fields, a shift supervisor, said the problems with the Taste got out of hand because the crowds can't be controlled all the time. People spill out onto the street, and police who patrol the area asked that something be done. Extra officers are on the streets as part of Operation Safe Streets; they patrol the area but can't be everywhere.

Around 10 p.m., Fields headed up to Capaha Park to see what's happening there. Occasionally, there will be complaints of teen-agers loitering in the park.

Fields found some teens hoping it wasn't too late to fish in the pond. As he circled the park, another group of teen-agers flagged him down. They had been teasing a 13-year-old in the group about getting in trouble for taking car keys away from a 16-year-old driver. Fields talked to them for a while and then headed back down Sprigg Street.

He circled through Shawnee Park, chatted with a team of softball players and headed back to the station to finish reports before his shift ended at 11 p.m.

At the station, the next shift of officers were checking e-mail (which alerted them to my presence) and talking about what had happened previously during the day. At 11 p.m., I headed out to the patrol car with patrolman P.R. Kesterson.

Kesterson has been driving the streets of south Cape Girardeau for nearly two years. During that time, he's learned the neighborhoods, met the people and knows what's happening -- both good and bad.

"You get to know who lives where and what kind of visitors they get," he said. When he works during the daytime hours, he'll often talk to the residents.

It's helpful that the area he patrols is small, "that makes it a lot easier," he said. But it's also an area of the city that generates the largest volume of police calls.

Working in south Cape has helped Kesterson gain the trust of residents there. "They'll give me a call when they've got information and might not talk to another officer," he said.

But that doesn't mean he cuts the residents any slack. "They can't get one over on me, either," he said. Kesterson tries to be part of the neighborhood by going to neighborhood watch meetings or other community meetings.

As he drives around he recites names of people on the street as he drives by. Some shouldn't be out late -- like the youth who had already been warned not to break curfew -- and others have just come back from jail. Some look completely out of place and he questions their presence.

He drives around for a few hours, passing time until the Taste closes for the night, stopping a few vehicles for traffic violations like busted headlights or missing lights.

"Sometimes you have to look for everything," he said. He repeatedly checks several blocks on Ellis Street known for drug activity.

By 12:30 a.m. Friday, the crowds along Good Hope Street are getting thick. One woman sits on a car hood talking on her cellular phone. Another man leans against a car door talking to an occupant inside. Some of the people hold up traffic as they stop cars and chat. A few men yelled at the police car.

Almost an hour later, nearly all the shift officers gather in an alley next to an empty lot between Middle and Lorimier Streets. They wait across the street from the Taste while the crowd comes out, slowly.

Each officer carries pepper spray. One has a video camera. Yupp, the department's drug dog, barks from inside a patrol car. One officer crosses the street to talk to a woman after yelling a greeting to her.

Once they've determined there won't be any problems, two of the officers head off to Morgan Oak and Sprigg streets to see what awaits at Don's Store 24.

"That's how we like things to go," Kesterson said of the quiet crowds.

But not everyone has left. Cars are still parked on the street; people still stand on the sidewalk or outside the doors of the Taste. An assault call drags several officers away from Morgan Oak and Sprigg streets.

Revoking the liquor license at the Taste Lounge isn't necessarily the answer, police say. Some speculate that the problem will only increase if the license is denied. Patrons won't gather at the Taste, but move the parties to several locations around the city.

No one seems to have the perfect solution to the problem. "Everyone deserves a safe neighborhood," Kesterson said.

Maybe Good Hope isn't really that different from any other neighborhood in Cape Girardeau, after all.