POLICE PROPOSAL UNVEILED

Cape Girardeau Police Chief Howard "Butch" Boyd Jr. unveiled a three-pronged plan Monday to battle street crime in the city, particularly a proliferation of illegal drug sales.

Boyd proposed the use of a crime unit composed of law enforcement officers from several area agencies to harass drug dealers; implementation of community service programs aimed at crime prevention; and the addition of 10 police officers over the next three years.

The police chief made his proposal before the Cape Girardeau City Council during its study session Monday.

"Our problem in Cape Girardeau is a proliferation of drugs throughout the market," Boyd said. "We have dealt the drug dealers a serious blow through increased efforts of the SEMO Drug Task Force and the cooperating agencies in the area.

"But it's kind of like a headless snake."

He said a drug dealer can invest $18,000 in illegal cocaine and turn a profit of up to $250,000 by reselling the drug on the street in the form of "crack."

Most of the city council's reaction to the proposal pertained to the proposed staffing increases.

The current city budget provides for hiring two additional officers, and Boyd proposed trying to hire two additional special "community service officers" this year.

The city can apply for a federal grant that would pay 75 percent of the officers' salaries, bringing the total number of officers to 63. Boyd proposes adding another six officers over the next three years.

Council members agreed that the additional officers are needed to meet the demands of increasing calls for police service in the city.

But Councilman Doug Richards, who is director of University Police and Transportation at Southeast Missouri State University, suggested the city might want to increase the police staff sooner.

He said it would be October 1994 before any officers hired with the adoption of the next budget in July 1994 would have sufficient training to take to the streets.

"Do we want to wait another year, potentially, to add patrolmen on the street?" Richards asked. "If we hire them April 1, `94, they hit the street in July, and they're on the street doing patrol for nine months.

"I would personally like to see that."

But when pressed by Councilman Mary Wulfers, Boyd said his initial proposal was sufficient. "I stand my the recommendation," he said.

Richards asked the city staff to prepare a report on the impact adding two additional officers this fiscal year would have on the budget. The report will be discussed at the council's next meeting Oct. 18.

One of the key ingredients in Boyd's three-fold plan is participation in a recently formed special crime unit dubbed SLASH, for Southeast Law enforcement Against Street Hoodlums.

The unit was formed by area law enforcement agencies to attack street crimes in Cape Girardeau, Sikeston and Charleston focusing on the "open air market for crack" cocaine.

In the SLASH mission statement, its organizers said, "The citizenry is becoming more alarmed and demands a response from local law enforcement.

"Due to budgetary constraints placed on local law enforcement agencies and the mobile nature of the dealers, it is virtually impossible to address the problem unless resources are pooled and an organized response is utilized."

SLASH will draw from the resources of the Cape Girardeau Police Department, Sikeston Department of Public Safety, Missouri Highway Patrol, federal Drug Enforcement Administration, and the SEMO Drug Task Force.

The SLASH team objectives are to conduct "high profile" investigations that would include:

Pressure on the operations of open-air drug markets and dealers.

Serving search warrants for illegal drugs and weapons.

Drug interdiction on roadways leading to and from drug source locations.

Reverse sting operations, where undercover law enforcement personnel would stage drug "buys" to capture dealers.

Intelligence and surveillance operations.

"The SLASH team will work in a highly visible, high profile manner utilizing the media and any other available resources to broadcast a message that violent crimes and drug distribution will not be tolerated in Southeast Missouri," the mission statement read.

In other business at the city council meeting, a split council approved a request for a zoning change along Route K.

The 4-3 vote mirrored the narrow margin that voted in favor of the request at the city's Planning and Zoning Commission meeting last month.

Councilmen Melvin Gateley, Richards and Wulfers and Mayor Gene Rhodes voted to rezone the tract in the 2800 block of Route K from single-family to multi-family and general commercial district. Councilmen David Limbaugh, Al Spradling III and Melvin Kasten voted against the measure.