Few changes are planned for the Southeast Missouri Major Case Squad, said David James, who was chosen as its new commander this week.

"There's no need to change something that works," said James, who is in charge of detectives for the Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department.

James becomes the fourth squad commander in the 17-year history of the Major Case Squad. He was asked to take over for Carson Kelley, head of Southeast Missouri State University's police. Kelley, who had served since 1994, told the squad's Board of Directors that he wanted to work with them in a different role.

The squad was formed in 1983 to assist local law enforcement agencies with investigating serious crimes. It allows police, sheriff's departments and others to pool their resources to provide "saturation investigation," devoting several experienced investigators to one crime, said Cape Girardeau County Prosecutor Morley Swingle, a board member.

More than 20 cases have been investigated by the squad. Only one homicide, involving Lee Moore of Whitewater in 1991, remains unsolved.

As squad commander, James said his role will be to lead the investigation into crimes.

"It doesn't have to be a homicide for the Major Case Squad to get involved," he said. "It could be a serial rapist."

Since the last homicide investigated by the squad was in 1996, James will be looking into creating more training opportunities for squad members, who are criminal investigators, crime scene investigators and some patrol officers.

"There have been a lot of new officers named to the Major Case Squad," James said. "And then when you go several years without a homicide, you could get lax in methods."

Facilitating mock death investigations for squad members is a possibility, James said.

Prior squad commanders have been John Brown, chief of detectives for Cape Girardeau police, and John Jordan, Cape Girardeau County sheriff.

James, 41, brings a variety of training and experience to the position. In 14 years with the sheriff's department, he has worked in all divisions, including investigations, patrol and jail.

He has been an investigator with the Major Case Squad since 1988.

James is one of several hundred law enforcement officers in the nation trained as a medico-legal death investigator. This involves advanced homicide investigation education through Washington University in St. Louis, which annually hosts the leading death investigations conference in the country.

He has also been certified by the FBI as crisis negotiator and police instructor. The state has certified him as a fire investigator.

Those participating on the squad include members of Cape Girardeau and Jackson police departments, Bollinger and Cape Girardeau county sheriff's departments, the state Highway Patrol, Southeast Missouri State University police, and the Cape Girardeau County prosecutor's office.