MARCH 27-APRIL 2, 2023 SPRINGFIELD BUSINESS JOURNAL · 3 NEWS CONTENTS Pickleball investments are growing in the Ozarks. page 9 Sports & Business Open for Business A candle-making shop relocates downtown from the Rountree neighborhood. page 4 City Beat Timing mistake means Doling development is nixed. page 7 Opinion Page Digital Editor Geoff Pickle wonders if new FCC rules will stop scam texts from occurring. page 21 Beat Page Work as family? Reporter Karen Craigo makes the case for ending this commonly used language. page 25 SPD utilizes targeted enforcement to curb crime by Karen Craigo · kcraigo@sbj.net Located at the southeast intersection of Glenstone Avenue and Sunshine Street, Plaza Shopping Center is home to a rich mix of businesses, like traditional barbershop Cooper’s Clippers, chiropractic care provider Meek Integrative Health Center and upscale eatery Avanzare Italian Dining. Marco Denis, president of Springfield Property LLC and owner of several properties within the shopping center, often walks the parking lot of the center, and following a targeted enforcement effort by the Springfield Police Department, he said he has seen a marked reduction in criminal activity. SPD spent just over a year – June 2021 through July 2022 – providing stepped-up law enforcement presence at the Plaza Shopping Center. Over and above the regular patrol, a directed patrol was added, and off-duty officers were brought in to provide intensive enforcement for overtime pay, according to Chief Paul Williams. “I feel like the presence there was a lot, and because of that, all of the people who used to come over there to do drugs and that sort of thing were forced to find another place,” said Denis, who also owns the Plaza Towers office building across the street. “I used to pick up needles in the parking lot. I haven’t seen that anymore.” Williams said the enforcement effort was a success by every measure – including the fact that the shopping center has had a reduction in criminal and suspicious activity in the last eight months. These days, the area is patrolled only by the force’s regular officers, and the police area representative officer monitors it. “They’re making sure things don’t pop back up,” Williams said. Over the course of the year, officers involved with the targeted enforcement effort at the Plaza wrote 165 tickets and made 166 arrests, Williams said. Officers made contact with some 1,100 people who were acting suspiciously. Williams said much of the activity officers responded to was related to drug sales, stolen cars and foot traffic by people with no apparent business motive for being at the shopping center. “There were about 2,300 hours worked to solve that problem and really create a much more positive and safe environment for folks that were visiting,” Williams said. Additionally, business owners say they don’t have the same issues any longer, Williams said. Denis also acknowledges the success, but cautiously. “Based on the result that they got, I think it’s good to take a break a little bit, but I feel like every now and then, maybe every three to six months, they should come back and do that again and see how it goes,” he said. With more than 40 full-time officer vacancies in the department, unused salary lines provide money in the budget for the overtime effort, Williams said. The target area Williams said his department works with business owners who are experiencing crime or other problems. The Plaza Shopping Center was a special situation, however: It was an entire shopping center with multiple business and property owners. “There were repeated complaints, and an extraordinary amount of criminal activity and complaints,” he said. “We had to look at different means of addressing that.” Officers were asked to sign up on a voluntary basis to spend overtime hours patrolling the center. “It’s a really intense focus on a particular area to try to eliminate the problem, arrest the bad guys and make people feel safe,” Williams said. Normally, a targeted enforcement effort is 30, 60 or 90 days in duration, he said, but the Plaza Shopping Center required something more. BYRON KING TARGETED ENFORCEMENT Springfield Police Chief Paul Williams regards targeted enforcement effort at Plaza Shopping Center as a success. See CRIME on page 30 165 Tickets issued in a year of enforcement at Plaza Shopping Center Overtime pay for officers comes from unused salary dollars A Conversation With... SBJ interviews Evangel University Athletic Director Dennis McDonald. page 10
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