COUNCIL TOURS POLICE STATION; WILL CONSIDER ADDITION

From the outside, Cape Girardeau's police station still looks polished and up to date.

But on the inside the station on Sprigg Street is crowded -- crammed full of officers, dispatchers, desks, jail cells, communications consoles, crime lab equipment, police records and stored evidence.

"People don't realize that on the inside we're packed," said Police Chief Rick Hetzel.

The Cape Girardeau City Council is looking at an $80.5 million capital improvements program for the next five years covering everything from sewers to buildings. The proposed improvements include construction of a police annex at an estimated cost of $4.8 million. The price tag includes the cost of buying land for parking.

The project would be contingent upon voters approving a bond issue.

Mayor Al Spradling III said the city probably won't seriously begin planning for an expansion for two years. "I think the need is there," said Spradling. "It is a question of funding and priority."

The City Council toured the police station Monday afternoon.

The station was one of several stops the council made during a bus tour designed to give councilmen a first-hand look at current and future construction projects.

The station, built at a cost of $825,000, opened on Aug. 15, 1976. Today, it is a crowded place with some offices housed in former closet space.

The department has 91 employees.

Hetzel said the department needs expanded quarters.

Near the front of the police station is the station commander's area. Officers fill out their reports at nearby desks as other officers walk through the area to get to other parts of the building. Hetzel said that area of the station is like "grand central station."

"This area gets very congested and very loud," he said.

Police dispatchers and three communications consoles are crammed into a small room on the first floor.

"This is a high stress area," said Hetzel. Dispatchers sometimes must deal with six to eight calls at once.

The crime lab has cramped quarters too. Seven people share the small, community relations office. Detectives share desks on the second floor. The city jail takes up a fourth of the space on the second floor.

In the basement, the former firing range has been turned into an evidence room. Boxes and paper bags stuffed with evidence fill row after row of shelves.

Some of the evidence dates back decades. Most of it deals with crimes that occurred in this decade and in the 1980s.

The city is considering building a two-story police annex east of the station in what is now the department's parking lot. Hetzel said the project could be in the planning stages for the next couple of years.

The annex could house Municipal Court and some of the police department operations. City court currently is held at City Hall.

Hetzel said the department needs an expanded locker area for officers. The police chief said an expanded locker area could include showers and even an exercise room.

The annex also could provide needed office space for the department.

Hetzel said he and Sheriff John Jordan have discussed the possibility of housing city prisoners in the soon-to-be-expanded county jail. Hetzel said it makes sense to consolidate jail operations. He said the sheriff's department is set up better to operate a jail.

Jails, he said, are high-liability operations.

The city jail can hold about 30 prisoners at most. Typically, the jail houses 15 to 17 prisoners a day.

Even if the jail was removed, the department would continue to have holding cells, the police chief said.

If the city moved its prisoners to the county jail, the city jail could be renovated into new quarters for the dispatchers, Hetzel said.

Jordan said he isn't opposed to housing city prisoners in the county jail under a contractual arrangement.

"I think it is a good concept," the sheriff said. "The only thing we really have to watch is our population is growing so fast."

He said it is too early to tell if an expanded county jail would have room for city prisoners.

The expanded jail, which could be under construction this year, would have about 200 beds. The jail in Jackson houses some 80 prisoners. The county typically has about 100 prisoners. On Monday, the county had 115 prisoners. Eighty-two were being held in the county jail and 33 in other jails.

The expanded jail is intended to hold the county's prisoners plus handle up to 42 federal prisoners, Jordan said.