JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- The House of Representatives this week will take another shot at a bill that would ban law enforcement agencies in first-class counties, such as Cape Girardeau County, from imposing residency requirements on peace officers.

Last week, the proposal fell 12 votes short of the 82 needed to send it to the Senate.

However, the House committed itself to reconsidering that vote on Wednesday.

State Rep. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, voted against the bill but said he would switch his vote after the sponsor assured him the measure would be changed in the Senate to apply only to the St. Louis and Kansas City areas. "All of my concerns have been alleviated," Crowell said.

Crowell said he received more than 100 e-mails over the weekend from St. Louis and Kansas City police officers asking him to change his vote.

Police in those cities have long sought the elimination of their departments' restrictive residency requirements.

Of the three major law enforcement agencies in Cape Girardeau County, only the sheriff's department has a residency rule.

Not set in stone

However, Lt. Vincent Diebold said enforcement of the requirement is up to the sheriff's discretion.

"There is a rule, but it's not set in stone," Diebold said.

For example, he said, deputies who live in another county but near the Cape Girardeau County line are often given exemptions.

New hires are usually given six months to move to the county.

Neither Cape Girardeau nor Jackson police departments force officers to live within those city limits, though officers are required to live in Missouri.

Cape Girardeau police Capt. Carl Kinnison said more than half of the department's 71 officers live in the city.

However, only those who do so are allowed to take their squad cars home with them.

The bill, as originally written, would have forced departments to extend that perk to all officers assigned vehicles, regardless of where they live. That was changed on the House floor.

Crowell said officers should be allowed to live where they wish, but police vehicles should stay in town to provide a continuing police presence.

The bill is HB 1896.

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