Officers allowed to pursue crime more forcefully

SIKESTON, Mo. -- Sgt. Andy Cooper took off at 70 mph down Malone Avenue more than once on a weekday night last summer. Whether it was a report of an assault with a shotgun or an accident with injuries, Cooper was in a hurry.

"Tonight isn't nothing," he said, cruising in and out of business and residential areas. "Wait until Friday night, when everyone gets a paycheck. Then we'll be busy."

The 65-officer Department of Public Safety has been busy for a long time. Since 1979, fire and police departments have been combined and every officer is trained for both jobs.

Cooper, who came to Sikeston from Dexter's police department about five years ago, enjoys pulling his firefighter's gear out of the trunk of his patrol car. It provides a change of pace, he said.

Since veteran Sikeston officer Drew Juden became chief of the Department of Public Safety in April, the pace has quickened, Cooper said. Officers are being given more opportunities to pursue crime more aggressively.

Cooper is at the forefront of one of these efforts to clean up Sikeston. He supervises a "power squad," which involves a small group of patrol officers, a K-9 unit and detectives who are given special assignments.

Although the squad's duties can vary, Juden said they're mostly about drugs, because they are the source of other crimes.

"About 75 percent of all our crimes are drug-related now," he said. "They're chasing the dollar."

The power squads had existed at the department before, but were reinstated by Juden. They exemplify the police evolving to meet criminals' changing tactics.

Normally, four to seven officers work on a power shift, which is from 10 to 6 during the day and from 6 to 2 at night.

With the power squad schedule overlapping other shifts, it has allowed more flexibility in scheduling, Juden said. Shift commanders use the squads to relieve officers who would otherwise spend extra hours of overtime investigating an incident near the end of their scheduled workday. This cuts down on officer fatigue and poor decisions that can result, Juden said.

Welcome changes

Cooper appreciates the changes made at his department and by city officials in the past year. He thought it was a good idea for the city council to write an open letter to the community -- it took up more than a full newspaper page -- warning criminals that they wouldn't tolerate their activities any longer. The letter ran in the Standard Democrat, Sikeston's daily newspaper, in September 2000.

"I think it lets the community know that as a city we're not perfect, but we know our problems and were trying to address them," he said.

He said he has seen results over the past two years, with more West End residents calling to report people who they perceive are dealing drugs.

Cooper goes about his job aggressively, not letting minor traffic violators get away.

After a 27-year-old man makes a turn without using his signal, Cooper followed him and noticed that he switched places with the passenger as the truck kept moving.

"He's just tired of getting hits on his parole," Cooper explained.

After stopping, the driver-turned-passenger allowed Cooper to search the vehicle. Nothing was found.

"I told him he's lucky," Cooper said. "He's not going to jail tonight."

'Not really different'

After Cooper returned to the department for midnight roll call and a briefing by a lieutenant, a woman called to report her ex-husband was outside her home and said he had a shotgun. Cooper, the lieutenant and a few other officers sped down Malone to a quiet, east Sikeston neighborhood in the 200 block of Ashley. The drunken man was found standing at a gate to the backyard of the woman's home. No gun was found.

"We're not really different from any other town," Cooper said after another officer arrested the ex-husband for trespassing. "This sort of thing happens everywhere."

Although he has been on patrol only five years in Sikeston, Cooper said he has been in town long enough to see problem youth come, and go, and return.

"I haven't been here five years, and I've saw a lot of these young faces grow up," he said.

For some, the back seat of his patrol car has become a familiar spot.

As he recently drove past an arcade that became the site of a seven-hour police standoff in June, Cooper said most of those standing on the street were familiar to him.

"The 800 block of Ruth is a trouble area," he said. "There's just not a lot for kids to do here."

thall@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 122