Mitchell Kaminski
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Columbia Police Department is ramping up enforcement of misdemeanor offenses downtown in an effort to reduce violent incidents.
The department is using crime data to identify specific locations, days and times for targeted enforcement.
The new targeted approach is designed to interrupt patterns of behavior that often escalate into more serious incidents, including open container violations, littering, trespassing, minors in possession of alcohol, peace disturbances, parking violations and pedestrian traffic violations.
“What you permit is what you promote, and so we need to start getting on the front end of curtailing things before they get out of hand,” Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude told ABC 17 News.
The strategy drew attention during Monday’s City Council meeting, when Ward 1 Councilwoman Valerie Carroll said several constituents raised concerns about receiving jaywalking tickets and arrests made during the Black White Ball reunion on Saturday night, an event that drew hundreds of alumni from Columbia’s high schools.
“I want to say that the event is very dear to the identity and culture of the First Ward and many residents who live there,” Carroll said during the meeting. “I also want to say that I understand the reports that I’ve heard from police and the need for proactive policing.”
Schlude told ABC 17 News the arrests and police presence did not have anything to do with the Black and White Ball, adding the citations occurred after officers told people multiple times to get off the street before a supervisor showed up and determined the warnings were being ignored. A total of eight citations were issued for pedestrian traffic violations.
“Frankly, a lot of our folks don’t even know that the Black and White Ball is occurring because the only event we really participate in is the parade. We do event security and traffic control for the parade and so there’s no events associated with that — that I’m aware of — that are scheduled to be downtown. Certainly not at 1:30 or 2:00 in the morning,” Schlude said. “There was nothing about this, proactive enforcement or presence that had anything to do with the Black and White Ball.”
On June 8, shots rang out downtown near Walnut Street, resulting in an innocent bystander sufferning nonlife-threatening injuries. That same weekend, John Rogers, one of the owners of the Athens Building located on the 800 block of East Walnut Street, where his law office is located, found a rock through his glass door.
“It was just the crowds, and when a certain amount of people got there. It got to be a problem that we had two incidents that were a little bit more serious,” Rogers said. “One night, there was a shooting, or at least shots fired. And another night, we had a rock thrown through one of our front windows.”
Rogers said the incident highlighted an increase in criminal activity in the area, which has made some residents feel unsafe. In response, he wrote a letter to Schlude and several other city leaders, asking for increased patrols, enforcing existing ordinances and making arrests when appropriate.
“What I hear more about and notice more, is people either complaining or just saying they don’t go downtown in downtown Columbia in general,” Rogers said. “If we want people to work down here, live down here, and visit down here, it needs to be safe.”
In the letter, Rogers claimed the June 8 weekend was not an isolated incident.
In the past 18 months, CPD says it has seen a sustained and escalating gun violence downtown, which has included three uninvolved bystanders being shot and numerous others put at risk.
These incidents include:
Schulde said the department’s shift to a more-active enforcement approach was accelerated by the June 8 shooting, but it wasn’t possible until staffing levels improved. Since June 8, the department has increased its downtown police presence between 10 p.m.-4 a.m., particularly on weekends.
“Six months ago, we maybe had 10-to-12 officers on a shift at night. This past weekend, we had 15 officers plus supervisors on, and we’ve also been able to expand our street crimes unit so now they work in two shifts.” Schulde said. “Staffing has really been a blessing to help us be able to do more of these activities.”
The department now has eight officers assigned to a “swing shift” from 3 p.m.-3 a.m., which overlaps with another group of officers working from 6 p.m.-6 a.m.
According to Schlude, the hotspot for gun violence has shifted from the 900 block of East Broadway in 2024 to the 800 block of Walnut Street in 2025.
Eight of 11 shots fired and shooting reports in the past 18 months have occurred after bars closed at 1:30 a.m. Several of those incident were allegedly followed by large fights in the street. CPD also claims that officer presence alone has not been enough to deter the violence. In three of those incidents, officers were present and in one instance, an officer was shot at by one of the suspects when he tried to intervene.
“Looking at the data, we’re finding that a lot of these more violent incidents are No. 1 happening after bars closed and they’re happening late at night. So early in the morning technically, but after that 1:30 hour,” Schlude said.
“We’ve received a lot of feedback and concern from downtown business owners, parents whose students are going here to school, and so there’s definitely been reasonable questions about what we’re doing to make sure people are safe downtown. This is just part of that effort. And if you look back historically, when the downtown unit was in existence, this was a large part of what kind of their purpose and charge was, so we’re really just trying to get back to that more data-driven, place-based policing approach.”
Schulde hopes the increased police presence downtown will strengthen relationships with local bars and help reduce the number of incidents. With college students returning to Columbia soon, the department also plans to offer training for bars that see a high volume of incidents.
“School is starting back up in just a couple of weeks. This is just kind of a precursor to that because we’re going to have an exponential amount more people downtown, we’re going to be encountering additional issues,” Schulde said. “There’s alcohol involved, so that’s not too surprising. But people should just expect to see more officers downtown.”
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