POLICE QUANDARY: TOO MANY WRECKS TO WORK TRAFFIC

It is described as a vicious cycle: Less traffic enforcement means more accidents, which mean police officers have less time for traffic enforcement.

That cycle has been developing in Cape Girardeau since 1992, when 4,506 hazardous traffic citations were issued. That year there were 1,831 street accidents, 224 with injuries.

Officers in 1995 wrote 1,000 fewer tickets and there were more than 200 more accidents.

Cape Girardeau Police Sgt. J.R. Davis, head of the traffic division, said officers are handling more calls and working more accidents, which "gives them less time to do hands-on traffic enforcement."

Davis said the problem is not simply traffic enforcement but an overall growth in traffic volume.

Officers worked 1,254 accidents between Jan. 1 and Aug. 13, two with fatalities and 204 with injuries.

Davis hopes to alleviate the problem through community education. He and other officers handed out pamphlets recently in an area that has a high rate of accidents.

The pamphlets may have had some effect as that corridor, which is on Independence Street between Kingshighway and Leming Lane, dropped from the second highest accident location in 1996 to fifth so far this year.

"Traffic enforcement has a definite impact on the number of accidents that occur, and public information is another way," Davis said. "We'd rather get a reduction in accidents by public information as opposed to traffic summonses, but we're working both angles."

Cape Girardeau's high accident locations in 1996 were Interstate 55 between Nash Road and Route 74, Independence between Kingshighway and Leming, Mount Auburn between Gordonville and William and Kingshighway between Kurre Lane and Lexington.

Davis said 21 accidents have been worked this year on both I-55 between Bloomfield and William and Broadway between Kingshighway and Walker. He said the high number of accidents on I-55 can be explained through traffic volume. The accidents on Broadway are probably related to the two factors that cause most of Cape Girardeau's accidents: following too closely and failure to yield.

Jackson police Lt. Robert Bonney said those are also Jackson's highest contributing factors to accidents. Jackson identifies high-accident locations and puts traffic officers there as deterrents and to warn residents.

Bonney said officers will stop motorists and issue summonses, or simply warn them about driving fast in these areas.

"We usually get our officers to enforce that area to see if we can bring the number of accidents down," he said. "Usually when we do it, it brings them down."

The number of tickets Jackson officers have written has grown from 682 in 1993 to 1,650 in 1996. That number includes both moving and parking violations.

Jackson officers also worked 456 accidents in 1993 and 518 in 1996.

Cape Girardeau Police Chief Rick Hetzel said one of his primary concerns since becoming chief in January has been finding ways to improve traffic enforcement.

The department has approved the purchase of a dictation system that will allow officers to dictate reports instead of taking the time to write them out. That will get them back on the streets quicker, Hetzel said.

Another system the department is looking into is establishing a way that civilian volunteers would respond to certain calls that would not need police presence. "If someone wants a report done for insurance purposes, a civilian could take that report over the phone instead of having an officer go out," Hetzel said.

Hetzel is also looking at technological advances that could improve the efficiency of traffic enforcement without using more manpower. One way is through photo-radar, a stationary radar gun that is equipped with a camera.

The system would monitor traffic and photograph motorists exceeding the speed limit. A citation would be sent to the motorist through the mail. Hetzel said the system, which may be tested in Cape Girardeau in a few months, would do the work of 19 traffic officers.

"Cities that have good enforcement programs have shown a reduction in accidents," Hetzel said. "It's a long-term goal of ours to reduce accidents. It's not something that's going to happen overnight."