Southeast Missouri county to use stimulus money to target burglars

CHARLESTON, Mo. -- Recovery Act funding will help Mississippi County target burglars.

The Sikeston Standard Democrat reported Mississippi County Sheriff Keith Moore advised county commissioners during their regular meeting Thursday that the county was approved as a sub-recipient of a grant which reimburses local law enforcement agencies for overtime salary expenditures related to the investigation of agriculture-related crime.

The Missouri State Highway Patrol received funding for a Rural Crimes Investigative Unit from the U.S. Department of Justice through the Fiscal Year 2009 Recovery Act, according to a letter from Col. Ronald K. Replogle, MSHP superintendent.

A minimum of $300,000 was allocated for paying local overtime but each officer is limited to $3,000.

The cost reimbursement agreement lists a dozen eligible crime classifications but Moore already has a specific need in mind.

"We've had an outbreak of burglaries," he said. "We've solved about eight."

Moore said in solving these burglary cases investigators also found methamphetamine labs.