FIGHTING CRIME: CRIME COMMISSION TOLD AUTHORITIES NEED MONEY

Local law enforcement officials told a state crime commission Thursday that more funding is needed to help local law enforcement agencies fight crime.

The Governor's Commission on Crime, headed by Missouri Attorney General William Webster, was in Cape Girardeau to hear law enforcement officials' concerns. The commission this week is holding similar hearings throughout the state.

"If you look over everything, it all centers around funding," Capt. Steve Strong of the Cape Girardeau Police Department told the commission.

Strong said that over the past several years the department has had a 40 percent increase in requests for police services.

"We haven't had a 40 percent increase in funds; we haven't received a 40 percent increase in officers," he said.

Strong and others told the commission an overwhelming number of crimes result from illegal drug use and sales. A marked increase in the city of thefts under $200 is attributed to drug use, he said.

"People have to finance a drug habit," he said. "The simplest way of doing that is stealing."

Strong also asked the commission to fund police programs that work to deter children from experimenting with illegal drugs.

Cape Girardeau Mayor Gene Rhodes also urged the commission to fund drug-awareness programs in schools.

"We do have a problem in our schools," Rhodes said. "Drugs seem to be starting up in the third grade."

Webster praised local efforts to fight drug use. He said programs that originated in Cape Girardeau that fight drugs and drunk driving, and a program to encourage the use of seat belts, are "models throughout the nation."

Cape Girardeau Chief of Police Howard Boyd Jr. told the commission that the SEMO Drug Task Force also needs more state funding. He said the task force is the largest in the state by area, yet receives the same amount of funding as similar agencies that cover, for example, 20 square miles.

The SEMO Drug Task Force is a multijurisdictional force comprised of members of several area law enforcement agencies, including the Missouri Highway Patrol.

Others addressed the commission on the problem of overcrowded jails and costs incurred by local counties for prisoners' medical and transportation costs.

Cape Girardeau County Sheriff Norman Copeland told the commission that medical costs for prisoners, some of whom are from other jurisdictions, are eating up funds of local counties.

Copeland said the 64-bed Cape Girardeau County Jail has a budget of $55,000 for prisoners' medical costs. Just this year, Copeland said, the medical bills of one prisoner who suffered a self-inflicted knife wound reached $30,000.

"Needless to say, it wrecks your budget," the sheriff said.

Webster said smaller counties across Missouri are experiencing similar problems. "Regional jails may be what we have to look to in the future," he said.

Scott County Sheriff Bill Ferrell told the commission that a lack of money to fund drug investigations is also a problem for area departments.

"Often these cases are not solved as they could have been if the officer had been able to stay with the case," Ferrell said.