Cape Girardeau task force urges combined prevention, enforcement and state advocacy to reduce gun violence

The Gun Violence Task Force on Tuesday delivered a final report to the Cape Girardeau City Council recommending a three-pronged approach — city programs and policies, state advocacy and public awareness — to reduce firearm violence locally.

"We weren't here to solve gun violence," co-chair Adam Kidd said, describing the six-month, eight-session listening process that included police, courts, schools and nonprofits. "We were here to talk about how our city is approaching it currently, and ... think for a minute about something in the future."

The report endorses what co-chair Jessica Hill described as a public-health model that pairs enforcement with prevention and community supports. "Enforcement is key. Social programs and community building are key," Hill said, and the report groups recommendations under city programs and policy, agencies and advocacy, and public awareness.

On enforcement, Chief Glick told the council the department implemented ShotSpotter in 2022 and expanded coverage in 2023. Since inception the system has produced 869 alerts, captured more than 3,000 rounds, recovered over 1,000 casings, led to 40 guns recovered and 43 arrests. Glick said ShotSpotter improves officer safety and often identifies incidents for which no 911 call was made.

The task force recommended expanding ShotSpotter coverage where feasible, creating a real-time crime center to consolidate ShotSpotter, license-plate readers and 911 data, and increasing registration of private cameras so detectives can locate footage faster. "We would like to see an increase in the participation in the city's Crime Free Multi-Family Housing program," Hill said, and the group urged support for police recruitment and retention.

The report also prioritized prevention and youth intervention. Task force materials presented juvenile-related counts from local records — 2020: 12 juvenile cases, 2021: 9, 2022: 7 and 2024: 8 — and urged closer coordination among schools, the juvenile office and prosecutors. Kidd and Hill said the city should advocate at the state level for reforms to address unsupervised minors carrying firearms and other gaps in statutes that affect local prosecution.

Housing and nuisance enforcement were a separate focus: task force members urged the council to commit staff and resources to enforcing housing standards, citing that roughly 52 percent of homes in the city are owner-occupied, below the state average. "We need more quality rentals," Kidd said, and recommended using nuisance policy and landlord outreach to reduce conditions linked to crime.

The task force recommended exploring a mental-health court similar to the community's drug court and continuing the task force's work in an ongoing advisory role. The group delivered a written report containing detailed recommendations and supporting materials and encouraged council and staff to review the document for next steps.

Mayor Kinder and several council members thanked the volunteers. "These are wonderful, actionable items that we can all personally in this room take action on," one council member said. The council did not take formal action on the report Tuesday; staff signaled follow-up conversations to determine what the city will implement and what advocacy it will pursue at the state level.