Stop signs, new license plate reader to be installed in Cape Girardeau

Drivers in Cape Girardeau will see new installations of stop signs throughout the city in the near future, and the police department will have upgraded technology to investigate violent crimes.

City Council members heard from multiple officials at Monday night's meeting on the refurbished ornamental stop signs, anti-encryption software and a new stationary license plate reader on the Bill Emerson Memorial Bridge.

The intersection of Themis and Frederick streets will become a four-way stop intersection after a citizen requested an intersection study to be performed by Public Works. A traffic study helps determine operations and safety performance, movements of motor vehicle traffic, safety conflicts and signing, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation. Cape Girardeau assistant Public Works director Casey Brunke said the study concluded there is a need for the intersection to be a four-way stop.

Two additional stop signs will be installed by Public Works at the Deer Run subdivision.

"The next two stop signs are in conjunction with the Deer Run Phase One development," Brunke said. "When we have a new subdivision, those stop signs are established because a new intersection is created. We don't perform a study, there is just a new intersection created."

The stop signs at Deer Run subdivision will be installed at Rifle Drive at Hopper Road facing north and Silverton Circle at Rifle Drive facing west.

Multiple other square steel tube post stop signs will be replaced with refurbished ornamental stop signs in downtown Cape Girardeau. The signs will be installed on streetlights where it is possible, according to special project manager Tim Richmond.

Technology upgrades

The Cape Girardeau Police Department received funding through the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant from the federal government in 2021 totaling $16,690.

Police Chief Wes Blair said the funding will be used to purchase software to help break into encrypted cellphones for violent crime investigations. He said the Cape Girardeau Police Department is working with Cape Girardeau County and the Jackson Police Department on the project.

"Every year, cellphone companies update their software, so our technology has to keep up with that," Blair said.

The money will also be used to install a stationary license plate reader with new software to assist in monitoring drug trafficking between Missouri and Illinois. Cape Girardeau Police Department is working with Illinois State Police and the drug task force on the project.

Fire department

Fire chief Randy Morris said the fire department received a public safety grant to replace thermal-imaging cameras and for training and additional supplies.