POLICE TO AIR SHOW ON TV

Police Sgt. Carl Kinnison isn't quite in Barbara Walter's league yet, but he seemed calm and easy Tuesday as host of "Behind the Badge."

The first taping of the new monthly, 30-minute informational television show was Tuesday at Southeast Missouri State University.

"This will give us an opportunity to show what goes on behind the scenes," Kinnison said. "This is our way of explaining what we do."

Kinnison admitted to being a bit nervous on this side of the camera. As the police department's public information officer, he's used to being the one who is asked questions.

"This is real new to me," Kinnison said. "It's taken a lot of practice."

The program focuses on police and crime topics that the Cape Girardeau Police Department feels are of interest to the community. Topics of the first program included new policing strategies and the growing problem of methamphetamine.

"It's another aspect of the police department building a partnership with the community," said Police Chief Rick Hetzel. "We want to get feedback from the community. There's a lot of good ideas out there. We also want to dispel some myths that people see on TV."

The show will be broadcast on local public access Channel 5. The first episode will air April 8 at 7 p.m. That episode will also air April 22 at 7 p.m. and April 11 and April 25 at noon. New episodes are to be produced every month.

Kinnison's first guests were Hetzel and Dr. Robert Briner, director of the SEMO Regional Crime Lab.

The show focuses on several segments using public service announcements as commercials. A community forum segment answers mail sent from viewers.

A future segment will spotlight employees and their jobs. Another segment will focus on developments the police may be working on. A final segment will be a Crime Stoppers update, spotlighting what crimes are warranting rewards. Plans also include riding along with police to get a better feel of police work.

"We want people to see what we do on a day-to-day basis," Hetzel said. "The focus of the show is on the officers. We plan to do all of these things to hopefully get away from the talking heads but we will have some in-studio guests."

Southeast Missouri State University professors and students filmed the program.

Dr. Jim Dufek, mass communications professor, said that the show is also providing good experience for students.

"The students are really excited about this," Dufek said. "They're not only going to be in the studio but out in the field with the officers."