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Home > Departments > Public Safety > Police Department > Criminal Investigation > Criminal Investigations Division Currently, there are 12 employees assigned to the Detective Division of the Cape Girardeau Police Department. The detectives are trained in various specialties such as death investigation, child abuse, sex crimes, arson, computer and internet crimes, interrogation/interview techniques, and narcotics investigations. The Cape Girardeau Police Department supports the SEMO Regional Drug Task Force by assigning two detectives to the task force. The Cape Girardeau Police Department Scientific Investigation Unit is comprised of a supervisor, who holds the rank of Detective Corporal, and one Clerk. The unit is assigned to process major crime scenes, maintain all physical evidence collected by the Cape Girardeau Police Department (approximately 1,900 cases a year); develop and maintain The division investigates approximately 1,600 cases per year. A clearance rate of 40% is consistently maintained. CAPE GIRARDEAU/BOLLINGER COUNTY MAJOR CASE SQUAD Several employees of the Cape Girardeau Police Department serve on the Cape Girardeau/Bollinger County Major Case Squad in addition to their positions within the department. The Major Case Squad was initiated in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s when Cape Girardeau County was plagued with a series of murders, including the murders of Margie Call, Mildred Wallace, Debbie Martin, and the double-murder of Brenda Parsh and her mother, Mary Parsh. The homicides of Margie Call, Mildren Wallace, Sheila Cole, Brenda Parsh and Mary Parsh remained unsolved until December, 10, 2007 when formal charges were filed against Timothy W. Krajcir.
The homicide of Debbie Martin remains unsolved. In response to the problem, law enforcement officials joined together in 1983 to form the Cape Girardeau County Major Case Squad. The Squad combines the best criminal investigators from all local law enforcement agencies into one organized unit. Understanding that most homicides must be solved within the first few hours or they may not be solved at all, the Major Case Squad allows local law enforcement agencies to pool investigative resources and manpower in an efficient and effective manner to provide the type of saturation investigation often essential in solving major crimes. Since its inception, the Major Case Squad has solved a phenomenal 96.4% (27 of 28) of its cases. The original agencies participating in the Major Case Squad were: · Cape Girardeau Police Department · Jackson Police Department · Cape Girardeau County Sheriff’s Office · In 1986 the Bollinger County Sheriff’s Department was added to the Squad and its jurisdiction was extended into In 1988 the Department of Public Safety from The Major Case Squad is governed by written bylaws. One of the most important requires that a request to activate the Squad must be made by an investigative agency within 8 hours of the discovery of the crime. This requirement reflects the policy that the Squad is intended and formed to help solve crime and get results, not to be a political scapegoat for a department that has chosen to try to solve the crime alone. The purpose of the Major Case Squad is to provide a large number of officers to investigate all leads immediately. If a department decides it wants all the glory for solving the case all by itself, but then fails to do so within 8 hours, the Major Case Squad will not become involved in the investigation. In most serious cases, if the leads are not adequately followed up within the first 8 hours, the crime is unlikely to be solved, anyway. All law enforcement officials in |
all photographs taken by the department, and process and submit evidence to the crime lab. In addition to personnel immediately assigned to the unit, each Patrol Platoon is assigned two Evidence Technicians who are trained to process crime scenes and collect physical evidence. The unit also works closely with the Southeast Missouri Regional Crime Laboratory and other agencies in the area. 
