Slow progress being made on violent crime in Cape

Each year the Cape Girardeau Police Department releases an annual report to outline the amount and types of crimes happening in the city, as well as how things are going at the department.

This year's report reflected mixed news for the city.

First, the bad news: The number of thefts and vehicle thefts, rapes, detective cases and total calls for service increased from 2014 to 2015. The number of rapes rose from 11 in 2014 to 19 in 2015; that is the most in 10 years. There were 102 vehicle thefts last year, up from to 68 in 2014.

Cape Girardeau police chief Wes Blair and public information officer Richard McCall say the increase in the number of rapes may be because victims may be more willing to come forward because of increased awareness. On one hand, if that is the case, it's good that victims feel more comfortable reporting the crimes -- as a society, we need to finally do away with the stigma of shame rape victims often experience. On the other hand, others are likely still going unreported. We need to try to find ways to prevent these crimes and educate people on means of protection should they find themselves in a violent situation.

Now, the good news: There were half as many homicides -- two -- in the city in 2015 as in 2014, when there were four. There was a small decrease in burglaries, robberies and assaults in 2015, as well. Arrests were down by nearly 1,000, from 3,082 in 2014 to 2,119 in 2015.

Southeast Missourian crime reporter Ben Kleine wrote that Blair and McCall attributed the decrease in violent crime to increasing community involvement.

Blair said thanks to events such as Coffee with Cops, the department has been able to build familiarity with people. Blair told Kleine more people came forward with information during the recent Airious Darling homicide investigation than had for a murder in a long time.

Cape Girardeau is a dynamic community. That is a great thing, bringing more opportunity, events and jobs to the area but it also presents more opportunity for crime. It is not realistic to expect zero crime in a town of Cape's size. However, the strides being made by local law enforcement and residents to make their community safer seem to be starting to have an effect.

We thank everyone who has been making the effort to make Cape a safe place to live. But there is still a lot of work to do.