Cape Girardeau police investigating downtown burglaries

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KBSI) – Cape Girardeau police are investigating burglaries in downtown Cape Girardeau this past week.

“On July 29, around 9:45 a.m., an officer responded to the 300 block South Spanish for report of the burglary,” said Officer Bobby Newton.

That’s one of the two burglaries in Cape Girardeau in the past week. Newton says there was cash stolen from the scene of the first location.

They responded to the business and observed forced entry into the business,” said Newton. “The reporting party advised that there was approximately $80 in cash that was stolen from there.”

Newton says the second burglary in downtown Cape Girardeau happened Tuesday, July 30.

“Ao July 30 at about 7:15 a.m. officers responded to the 1700 block of Independence for a report of burglary. They arrived made contact with the reporting party. They advised that there was forced entry in that business in the front doors as well and approximately $139 were stolen from the cash register.”

Some residents and business owners in the area say they don’t feel the need to report suspicious activity to the police. Their thinking is it may just fall by the wayside. Officer Newton says otherwise.

“So anytime there’s a crime in the city, we want them to report it,” said Newton. “Even if they do not want to an official report made we would still like to be made aware of it so we can determine where our high crime areas are and make sure we put emphasis on those for extra patrols.”

As for business owners wondering if there’s a way to avoid these situation, Newton says yes.

“Security cameras play a big part of that…alarm systems. Several businesses have an alarm. So we highly encourage you to utilize that. Make sure the alarm is set and then also take any cash that’s in the area out of the businesses at night.”