Vacancies in Cape Police Department decrease as Glueck takes over chief role

Vacancies in the Cape Girardeau Police Department officer positions have decreased significantly since Chief of Police Adam Glueck moved into his new role.

Glueck told the Southeast Missourian that the department had 20 vacancies in 2020 and that once he was appointed interim chief after former chief of police Wes Blair retired from the department in August, there were 13 vacant police officer positions. Since Glueck has taken the position of chief their vacant officer positions have decreased to five as of Thursday, Dec. 19. He said they are expecting to be down to four by the end of the month.

Glueck said he had read a recent report by the International Association of Chiefs of Police which states the Midwest was "hit the hardest" with police staffing shortages.

A Police Executive Research Forum survey that studied "staffing, hiring, retirement and resignation trends among officers from 2019 through 2021" showed a decrease of 6.63% below the overall average in officer staffing in the Midwest from Jan. 1, 2020, to Jan. 1, 2022. In the survey, there were 179 U.S. respondents, with 35 of the responding agencies being from the Midwest.

The research forum updated the survey in 2023 and stated that, while hiring had picked up from the years past, the overall surveyed agencies were "losing officers faster than they could hire new ones".

Glueck said one of the hurdles the department faces for hiring new officers is there is a lot of training involved unless they recruits are coming from another agency. He said it takes around nine months for an officer to complete training for the department.

Ward 4 councilman David Cantrell complimented Glueck at a Dec. 16 council meeting. He said Glueck works as a police academy instructor and gets good reviews from the cadets. Cantrell said, in his opinion, there has been a "cultural shift" in the police department.

Glueck told the Southeast Missourian that he can't take credit for filling those positions.

"I think word is starting to get out that this is a good, good police department to work at, and we do have really good men and women that work here as police officers, and I think people want to be part of that," he said.

He noted that some of their most recent applicants are from other agencies, but Glueck clarified that the department does not actively recruit from other agencies. He said he doesn't want to potentially hurt another agency by taking officers away.

Glueck said another reason for the staffing shortage easing is a good working relationship with city management and the City Council. He said the council deserves a lot of credit for when they publicly support the police department.

"I've talked to other officers at other agencies, other cities, other jurisdictions where they don't have that support. And I think we have that here. It's public, and people see that. I think that absolutely impacts our hiring processes and the numbers that we're getting now," Glueck explained.

Glueck also said once the final decision was made to have him become chief, the continuity showed stability in the police department. He said he thinks that helps the culture of the police department.

Glueck said when people see that someone has worked for the department for as long as he has, people can rely on that.

Glueck contended the department's biggest recruiters are their police officers. He said there was a "strong showing" from the police department when they just had two new officers graduate from the SEMO Law Enforcement Academy.

"I think when those two new people see the number of police officers at Cape PD that are there to support them, when they see that and their family sees that, I think that that shows how supportive we are of them working in our department. I think that sends a message to the rest of the law enforcement community that our department is a good place to work," Glueck said.

Two new patrolmen, Jason Blanchard and Jeremy Crowder, took their oath of office after they had graduated from SEMO Law Enforcement Academy on Dec. 13.