McCombs Funeral Home

Cape Girardeau police no longer are providing escorts for funeral processions. The department sent letters to Crain, McCombs and Ford and Sons funeral homes detailing reasons for the decision, which took effect Sept. 1.Police Lt. Brad Smith gave three reasons for the department's decision.The first is a full escort -- including a police car out front to control intersections, a car leading the procession and a car at the tail of the procession -- does not ensure vehicles in the middle of the procession will be safe from traffic, particularly in a procession of 15 or more cars.McCombs funeral director Christi Guilliams said an escort does not ensure outside vehicles will not mix with the procession.Second, in the event of a collision with a vehicle in procession, the city could be liable for damages.Smith could not recall an instance where a vehicle in a funeral procession was involved in a collision."Most of the time, there are not enough officers to cover all intersections properly," stated the letter sent to each funeral home. "There are so many unpredictable and moving parts in an escort that require more than just one officer to cover the entire procession, this decision was made to protect the public and those in the funeral procession."Third, Cape Girardeau police are concerned about tying up the time of two or more officers on a procession.The department had 56,387 calls for service in 2015, up by nearly 6,000 from the year before. The department has 49 patrolmen according to the 2015-2016 budget, although officers of higher rank often respond to calls."I understand," Guilliams said of the police department's decision. "Sometimes there's down time, because we can't predict how long a funeral is going to last. They're sitting there waiting, and they could be doing something else."Funeral processions now will be required to follow all traffic laws, Smith said.Guilliams said McCombs funeral homes has about 35 to 40 processions a year. Crain has about 15 processions a y...