Policing during a pandemic: How social distancing has affected Cape police life, crime rates

Nearly two weeks have passed since Missouri’s statewide social distancing order went into effect March 23 advising everyone to avoid gatherings of more than 10 people and maintain 6 feet of distance from non-family members.

As the month of March progressed, workplaces across the country began instituting changes to daily procedure to mitigate the spread of the coronavirus, and the same was true at the Cape Girardeau Police Department.

The department issued a news release March 16 regarding its modified protocols, including officers now handling all non-emergency calls and routine business calls via telephone and asking members of the public to refrain from traveling to the station if possible.

“These modified protocols are in place to protect our officers so that they may continue to serve this community without interruption and they are also in place to protect the public and effectively diminish the spread of COVID-19 throughout the community,” Cape Girardeau Police Sgt. Joey Hann stated in the March 16 release.

The modified protocols also noted the Cape Girardeau Municipal Jail would be suspending all inmate visitations with the exception of attorney-client meetings until further notice.

In other parts of the country with significantly larger inmate populations, COVID-19 outbreaks have become a growing problem over the last week. At the Cook County Department of Corrections in Illinois, 167 detainees and 34 sheriff’s office employees have tested positive for the virus as of Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Hann noted law enforcement officers are at a higher risk for contracting the coronavirus, and he elaborated on the measures being taken to keep the virus out of the police station.

“The dangerous nature of our job demands that we constantly cross the threshold of people’s homes, we must physically apprehend criminals and physically place people into custody,” Hann stated Tuesday via text message. “Our administration has been extremely proactive in mitigating the health risk to officers by creating a decontamination station on site at our department, supplying officers with personal protection equipment and altering certain protocols and processes to limit officer exposure.”

In addition to the decontamination station and protective gear, Hann stated the department is taking measures to mitigate the spread of the virus in the jail population in particular.

“We are still making custodial arrests on serious crimes but we are making sure that everyone who is taken into our jail undergoes professional, medical screening protocols,” Hann stated.

When asked whether the spreading virus could limit a police force’s ability to place new inmates into police custody, Hann also noted the jail staff have been “extremely diligent” in sanitizing the facility and in dealing with medical concerns immediately and appropriately.

Despite all the changes to procedure and calls to remain indoors, one activity has not seen much change — crime.

On Tuesday, Hann stated the department has had 17 violent crime cases since Missouri’s statewide order for social distancing took effect. In the three previous years, Cape Girardeau averaged 21 violent crime cases over the course of that same time frame.

While the city had seen a slight decrease in overall call volume than usual for that time frame, the Cape Girardeau Police Department has been busy in other ways over the recent weeks. Uniformed officers are now stationed on-site at the mobile COVID-19 testing site in Arena Park to maintain the integrity of the facility.

In the event any member of the Cape Girardeau Police Department becomes infected with the coronavirus and must be pulled from duty, Hann stated the department already has employees self-isolating and operating off-site so they can backfill positions if needed.

“Cape Police administration has been extremely proactive and fluid in adapting to this pandemic,” Hann stated.