Small-town police chiefs walk fine line of enforcement

David Townsend remembers a time in Chaffee when the police chief would simply chauffeur an impaired driver home rather than issue a ticket.

Townsend was Chaffee's police chief from 1975 to 1977.

Times are different, but not that different for Chaffee's 3,200 residents, he said, sitting at a table just inside the No Name Cafe. All morning and for part of Thursday afternoon, diners were abuzz about a rumored showdown between the city's latest police chief, Jesse Chisum, and Mayor Loretta Mohorc during Wednesday night's closed city council meeting.

Mohorc said people are complaining about overenforcement. Chisum said many residents are unaccustomed to proactive patrols, during which officers can use their discretion in choosing whether to write a ticket or issue a warning for an infraction.

Chisum is the city's fourth chief since 2001, replacing Martin Keys, who resigned after less than a year at the helm. Keys was hired after Jeff Womack died while at the post; Womack replaced Don Cobb, who on Tuesday resigned as Scott City's police chief.

Dennis Willis, Marble Hill's chief, said officers can be challenged to uphold the law in small towns, especially if they grew up there.

"People either respect you or they don't," he said.

Small communities may be "clannish" and less accepting of changes that law enforcement sometimes represents, he said.

Chisum, who has lived in Chaffee for seven years, has also worked in Jackson. Rapid turnover is common in small towns, sometimes for political reasons and sometimes for money.

"Some of them almost qualify for food stamps and they give them a badge and gun," he said, though that is not the case in Chaffee.

Several years ago, Willis was forced to lay off three officers and was able to hire only one back, he said.

Small departments like Chaffee's require officers to patrol as well as perform detective duties when necessary. Chisum reorganized the office space to create a more secure booking room and told the five officers they would not be loitering there waiting for calls. Instead, the three officers on duty patrol streets in the one-square-mile city.

"You can respond much quicker to a call when you're already in the car," he said.

Sgt. Myriam Lockett, who joined the force just a few months before Chisum, said she can cover the city in a few minutes. That's one reason, Chisum believes, that residents see police cars more often. But they are also seeing more tickets. When the new chief placed an order to replenish the city's stock of ticket books, he was shocked to learn none had been ordered since 2005. While he does not expect officers to meet a quota, he said statistics are reviewed.

"If I see one writing 15 tickets a week and another one writing two, yeah, I'll ask what's going on," he said.

Former Chaffee chief Ivan McLain said he got along well with everyone during his 11 years with that department in the 1980s and '90s, keeping things "low-key" when it came to issuing tickets.

"You enforce the law in a small town, but you don't get too gung-ho," he said.

Chisum said he has only heard eight complaints since accepting his job in August. If people are unhappy and don't tell him, he can't fix problems, he said.

"We always get feedback," Willis said about writing citations.

Recently, Marble Hill's board suggested police were not writing enough citations. They began issuing more, Willis said. Angry recipients are directed to his office.

Lately, he said, there have been a lot of complaints.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127