Investigative stops up in Cape and Chaffee, down in Cape and Bollinger counties

Area police departments vary widely when it comes to the number of investigative stops they make.

In Chaffee, complaints of such stops led to threats of resignations by the mayor and police chief and a failed attempt to impeach Mayor Loretta Mohorc.

Police and sheriff departments must report all traffic stops to the Missouri attorney general's office annually. The deadline for 2007 reports was Saturday. The Southeast Missourian obtained reports late Friday.

According to the report filed by Chaffee police chief Jesse Chisum, officers made four fewer traffic stops than in 2006, issuing one more warning and nine fewer tickets. But the department made 35 investigative stops. No investigative stops were made from 2004 through 2006.

An investigative stop is one without such apparent causes as speeding or a missing taillight. A 1968 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the Terry v. Ohio case allows police officers to made traffic stops if they have "reasonable suspicion." Investigative stops are sometimes called Terry stops.

Don Cobb, Scott City's police chief, said a simple example would be "if someone says there's gunshots and someone says it's a blue car, I've got probable cause" to stop a person driving a blue car in that area.

None of the 5,676 stops made by Scott City police since 2004 was investigative. Advance police did not make any in that period, either.

But in 2007, city of Cape Girardeau traffic officers made 592 investigative stops, nearly double 2006's figure. Jackson police pulled over 12 drivers for investigative stops in 2007, but none in the previous three years.

Sheriff's department figures ranged from no investigative stops in Bollinger and Cape Girardeau counties to 138 stops in Scott County.

Since 2001, Missouri has required police departments to file reports outlining traffic stops, primarily to track instances of racial profiling. A 2003 law added a separate line for investigative stops, starting in mid-2004.

With the exception of small departments that use other agencies for traffic enforcement, all police agencies must make the annual traffic stops report, according to John Fougere, a spokesman for the Missouri attorney general's office. Those that don't, he said, risk losing state funding.

Fougere said state law requires departments to develop their own policies for investigative stops but also makes annual training for traffic officers mandatory.

pmcnichol@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127

Since 2004, Missouri police departments have been required to report the number of investigative stops they make. Some departments are so small that other agencies, such as a county sheriff's department, handle such traffic duties. Population counts reflect only those 16 and older.

Advance

pop. 945

2007: 445 total; 0 investigative

2006: 418 total; 0 investigative

2005: 594 total; 0 investigative

2004: 492 total; 0 investigative

Cape Girardeau

pop. 29,841

2007: 7,711 total; 592 investigative

2006: 7,970 total; 289 investigative

2005: 8,129 total; 188 investigative

2004: 7,257 total; 18 investigative

Chaffee

pop. 2,368

2007 381 total; 35 investigative

2006: 385 total; 0 investigative

2005: 481 total; 0 investigative

2004: 253 total; 0 investigative

Jackson

pop. 9,746

2007: 2,295 total; 12 investigative

2006: 2,228 total; 0 investigative

2005: 1,938 total; 0 investigative

2004: 934 total; 0 investigative

Oran

pop. 950

2007: No record yet (filing deadline was March 1 so it may not have been received.)

2006: 213 total; 16 investigative

2005: 123 total; 4 investigative

2004: Not filed

Scott City

pop. 3,560

2007: 1,644 total; 0 investigative

2006: 1,141 total; 0 investigative

2005: 1,310 total; 0 investigative

2004: 1,581 total; 0 investigative

County sheriff's departments:

Bollinger

pop: 9,854

2007: 149 total; 0 investigative

2006: 242 total; 4 investigative

2005: 322 total; 0 investigative

2004: 173 total; 0 investigative

Cape Girardeau

pop. 57.417

2007: 960 total; 0 investigative

2006: 1,296 total; 2 investigative

2005: 1,240 total; 4 investigative

2004: 2,053 total; 15 investigative

Perry

pop. 14,643

2007: 1,568 total; 33 investigative

2006: 1,352 total; 33 investigative

2005: 1,139 total; 34 investigative

2004: 1,063 total; 5 investigative

Scott

pop. 31,880

2007: 654 total; 138 investigative

2006: 469 total; 37 investigative

2005: 570 total; 41 investigative

2004: 214 total; 4 investigative

Stoddard

pop. 23,878

2007: 687 total; 23 investigative

2006: 754 total; 36 investigative

2005: 212 total; 0 investigative

2004: 65 total; 0 investigative

Southeast Missouri State University

2007: Unavailable

2006: 44 total; 5 investigative

2005: 77 total; 2 investigative

2004: 55 total; 7 investigative