Mayor's Article on Gun Violence Task Force
Posted on 03/03/2025

Published in the Southeast Missourian March 8, 2025
By Mayor Stacy Kinder

 

Since becoming mayor in 2022, I’ve worked to ensure that crime and related public safety issues have been a top priority on the agenda of the city government. The city’s administration, police department, and city council have spent a tremendous amount of time and resources focusing on the realities on the ground here, and what can best address the needs of the entire community.

 

With that priority in mind, and after the community experienced several very public instances of gun violence here, I assembled the City of Cape Girardeau Gun Violence Task Force (GVTF) last summer. The GVTF was an ad hoc citizen advisory committee of agency partners and community members tasked with examining the city government’s role in gun violence prevention. After six months of in-depth research and discussion, the GVTF presented its final report of recommendations to the City Council at our regular meeting on January 21, 2025.

 

If anyone is interested in a deep dive of the committee work and discussions, you can go to the city website at “cityofcape.org/gvtf” and see all of the GVTF agendas, minutes, and video presentations, along with the full final report. The report created suggestions that fall into various buckets of 1) City Government Programs and Policies, 2) Advocacy and External Agencies, and 3) Public Awareness. Here, I present just some of the highlights of the final report:

 

City Government Programs and Policies

One prominent priority is to continue and further maximize resources available to the Cape Girardeau Police Department (CGPD). Numerous methods were highlighted:

  • Strengthen recruitment/retention in the CGPD.
  • Promote CGPD programs and initiatives, such as the updated anonymous tip app at “cityofcape.org/crimetips” and the camera registration program at “cityofcape.org/PDSecureCam”.
  • Explore the concept of a real time crime center.

 

I am very pleased to say that there has been recent headway in these issues. Recruitment efforts from CGPD Chief Adam Glueck have produced huge improvements in officer staffing very recently. By the end of 2024, CGPD had the lowest number of open officer positions since 2018. The continued emphasis on retention and recruitment will have a positive effect on the department’s ability to ensure a high level of public safety.

 

Additionally, Chief Glueck has recently put forward a plan to develop a real time crime center, and is applying for a Bureau of Justice Assistance Grant for initial funding. The City also lists as a legislative priority investment into a Drone First Responder (DFR) program to work in conjunction with the proposed real time crime center here in Cape. And, the City is currently engaged in developing additional safety protocols and measures at all facilities.

 

Another suggestion in the report is to bolster efforts to maintain safe neighborhoods and rental properties. The City has a direct responsibility in dealing with chronic (criminal) nuisance and other property related issues that are tangential to gun violence seen here. Several suggestions in the report are here:

  • Find ways to increase participation in the CGPD Crime Free Multi-Family Housing Program. This program, started in 2018, is a solution-oriented crime prevention initiative designed specifically to help apartment owners, managers, residents, police and other agencies work together to keep illegal and nuisance activity off rental property.
  • Strengthen building code enforcement, nuisance abatement, and rental licensing.
  • Focus on criminal hot spots around the city, with enforcement, community resources, and clean ups.

 

Staff is already working to bolster those programs, including a more effective process to move derelict buildings through the condemnation and demolition process, or return to viable use. Derelict buildings have often served as hotspots for criminal activity, so moving them out of that condition is needed for better public safety.

 

Advocacy and External Agencies

The task force had a lot of discussion on issues impacting gun violence here in Cape, but which are not under the City’s jurisdiction. Numerous responsibilities fall under the jurisdiction of the county, or even the state governments. In their report, the advisory committee encourages the City to initiate or support advocacy, together with our county and state representatives, to bring about improvements:

  • Encourage the City to collaborate with community organizations that engage in violence prevention. There are numerous non-profit and community organizations here that work directly with juveniles, families, and those at risk of becoming involved in gun violence. Large partners in this work also include the public school district, the juvenile division and justice system, and law enforcement agencies.
  • Support Juvenile Justice reform. Criminal actions should be met with age-appropriate consequences, in addition to restorative practices, statewide. The local 32nd District has been particularly weak in this point, and our community has seen greater problems in delinquency as a result.
  • Re-evaluate the need for a Cape County Juvenile Detention Center to serve the 32nd District. The local detention center was closed in 2011, and was not rebuilt for our district when the County rebuilt the Juvenile office building here in Cape. As a result, local juveniles are transported all over the state when detention is needed, which comes at a cost.
  • Amend Missouri law to empower cities to prevent unsupervised children from carrying loaded firearms in public. Kids are showing and using their guns on our city streets, and felons are exploiting children by making sure they have juveniles around who can serve as the official “owner” of the gun if and when they have interactions with the Cape PD. The City of Cape is advocating for the conservative approach of local governance—this issue may not be a problem in small rural towns nearby, but a one-size-fits-all approach across Missouri is not always appropriate. If children are not ready to drive or vote, they’re not ready for the responsibility of carrying firearms, openly and unsupervised, in the city.

 

There is currently a bill being proposed in the Missouri Senate that would not allow this local approach to happen. From the Missouri Senate website, the bill summary states, “SB 74 - Under current law, no political subdivision can regulate the possession of firearms, except to prohibit the use of the open carrying of firearms. This act repeals such exception. Additionally, this act provides that any political subdivision that violates the provisions of this act shall be subject to a penalty of $50,000 per occurrence.” As always, the City and CGPD will continue to pay close attention and adhere to state and federal laws that can strengthen, but can also limit, the City’s ability to deal with the gun related issues here.

 

Public Awareness

One topic of conversation throughout the task force’s work was the need for better public awareness of all these things described, and how to better engage the community in reducing gun violence. As stated above, there are a great many things going on both within the City and in other organizations, so the question was frequently how to best enhance the awareness:

  • Educate citizens on how to better protect themselves and property. The CGPD and other organizations have a good number of recommendations that can be extremely beneficial, which you can find in the report, on the CGPD website at “cityofcape.org/police”, or from other organizations.
  • The City of Cape can help amplify other community or public education campaigns that are related to both crime and tangential issues that affect the community here.

 

This Gun Violence Task Force was created after hearing many of our local law enforcement professionals express the fact that law enforcement is not the only organization that needs to play a role in reducing gun violence. There are community factors impacting the gun violence we see here, and how the City, law enforcement, community organizations, and citizens all collaborate will determine what kind of impact we will see here. Police Chief Glueck sums it up best when he states in the report, “We cannot arrest our way out of violence, nor can we social program our way out. Evidence points to both.” The Gun Violence Task Force report echoes that sentiment, and is advocating for an “all hands in” approach from the community to address gun violence.