Cape Girardeau city officials and community leaders came together this week at a city council meeting to discuss the findings and progress of the city’s Gun Violence Task Force, which was assembled in July. Their findings focused on a variety of strategies, from innovative policing programs to community engagement initiatives aimed at addressing the city's growing gun violence concerns.
One of the key initiatives introduced is the police department’s camera registration program, which allows residents to voluntarily register their security cameras with law enforcement. Police Chief Adam Glueck emphasized the program's benefits, explaining that it helps speed up investigations by giving officers the ability to request footage from registered cameras when crimes occur nearby. This system saves time and resources by eliminating the need for officers to go door-to-door in search of evidence.
“It doesn't give us unfettered access to your camera. What this does is it notifies us that we have a camera at that location, so if we had a crime happen in that general area, we can then contact you and say we just had a shooting, we just had an incident happen, we would request that you share your video footage with us", said Glueck. "So that's what the camera registration does. And again, it doesn't automatically allow us to access your camera, that's not the intention of this program.”
As Cape Girardeau continues to face challenges related to gun violence, the conversation also turned to the role of technology in law enforcement. One such tool is ShotSpotter, a gunfire detection system expanded in 2023 to cover a larger area of the city.
Interestingly, despite the expanded coverage, the number of recorded gunfire incidents actually decreased, from 356 in 2023 to 273 in 2024. While officials are cautious about drawing conclusions too soon, the drop in gunfire incidents suggests that the expansion of the system might be having a positive impact.
Chief Glueck noted, "We expected the number of shots, because it's picking up a larger coverage area— to increase, actually the opposite, so the gunfire has actually been going down, just based off the shots fired stats".
ShotSpotter provides real-time alerts to law enforcement when gunfire is detected, helping officers respond more quickly and accurately.
The meeting also covered the issue of juveniles and firearms. While Missouri law prohibits the reckless sale of firearms to minors, legal loopholes still allow juveniles to carry guns as long as they don't purchase them directly.
Chief Glueck emphasized the importance of addressing this issue, noting that adults who provide firearms to minors, whether intentionally or recklessly, could be held responsible for violations.
“Being able to prove that is another issue too. For instance, if we're if we're stopping a car, and we have somebody that's prohibited from possessing a firearm, like a felon driving the car, and they hand that gun to a juvenile if we stop the car, unless we can prove that felon was in possession of the firearm that gave it to that juvenile— we don't have a case. And that is something we've run into before”, said Chief Glueck.
One significant source of firearms used in crimes is theft, especially from vehicles. Chief Glueck highlighted the increasing trend of stolen guns coming from unlocked vehicles, both locally and nationally.
“There are some that are from burglaries, from houses and in stores, but most of them are coming from vehicles. The rate is triple what it was a decade ago, and then often the vehicle was left unlocked,” Glueck pointed out. This points out the bigger issue of firearm theft and its contribution to the availability of illegal weapons on the streets.
At the same time, law enforcement officials have emphasized that arresting offenders alone is not enough to solve the problem of gun violence. “We can’t arrest our way out of violence,” Chief Glueck stated. “I don't think we can arrest our way out of violence. And I don't think just focusing on social programs is the answer either. I think we have to do both”
The discussion also touched on potential solutions from larger cities, such as Boston and Baltimore, and how Cape Girardeau could adapt these models to fit its needs. Jessica Hill, Executive Director of the Cape Girardeau Safehouse, and co-chair of the Gun Violence Task Force, expressed optimism about Cape Girardeau's potential to be a leader in crime prevention.
“For a city our size, we have an opportunity to actually be a leader in that and be a model for other communities our size who need something that is scalable like that,” Hill said.
One of the significant initiatives discussed was the concept of a real-time crime center—a centralized hub where law enforcement can monitor and coordinate responses using data from multiple sources, such as ShotSpotter and drone surveillance. Chief Glueck expressed the need for this.
“The issue is that we have dispatch taking phone calls— dispatching units not just police, but fire personnel too. So it's a little too much to put on our current dispatchers. If we got somebody solely focused on our cameras, our clock system, our Shot Spotter system, the drone program, meter technologies that we add to it, it allows us to make better use of our current resources”, said Glueck.
City leaders continue to explore effective strategies to combat gun violence, recognizing that the issue requires a combination of enforcement, prevention, and community engagement.
You can find the complete results of the Cape Girardeau Gun Violence Task Force on the City of Cape Girardeau City Council website.
