Mun Choi pleased with increased police presence downtown after Saturday night walk
Marie Moyer
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Joined by local business owners, City of Columbia residents, and Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson, University of Missouri System President Mun Choi got a glimpse of the downtown Columbia nightlife scene in a walkthrough of the city late Saturday night.
Choi initially proposed the idea to Columbia and Boone County leaders on Tuesday, with the goal of providing leaders with an eyewitness account of potential public safety issues in the area.
The walkthrough came a week after a deadly homecoming weekend shooting in September that led to the death of Stephen’s College student Aiyanna Williams.
Since Williams’ death, the City of Columbia and the University of Missouri released a joint list of actions they plan to take to tackle public safety downtown. The list included discussing federal programs for public safety, conducting reviews of downtown operations and crowd control, and increasing staffing downtown during weekend hours. Columbia and University of Missouri police departments, as well as extra Missouri State Highway Patrol and Boone County Sheriff’s deputies, were seen patrolling the streets on Saturday night.
“They’ve all sent people in to help us, but they’re really just trying to make a statement that we’re going to be down here making sure people are safe and enforcing laws,” Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude said.
During the walkthrough, Choi met with local business owners and stopped to talk with students and Columbia residents about what they see during the weekends, as well as issues people may have with homeless people during the day.
“Living downtown these past two years has been iffy,” University of Missouri student Payton Duncan said. “I really don’t want to walk on Broadway past midnight, but it’s felt a lot safer the past two nights, especially since that call to action.”
Several passersby told ABC 17 News that a common issue downtown is large groups gathering in front of businesses after bars close. One Columbia resident said he’s seen “street parties” that sometimes block access to apartments and even ambulances and first responders trying to reach people in need of help.
“There’s definitely a problem, and I really appreciate that our president is making efforts to make it better,” University of Missouri student Grace Gedhart said.
No city leaders were present at Saturday’s walkthrough; however, the city tells ABC 17 News leaders are working on setting up an evening downtown walkthrough on their own.
Ward 3 Council Member Jacque Sample, who was not in attendance Saturday, said in a statement Wednesday that community violence is a complex issue and can’t be solved just through law enforcement departments.
Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson walked with Choi Saturday night.
“He’s [Choi’s] focused, I think, in addition to violent crime downtown, on crime related to mental health issues, that’s something that we’ve been working on and struggling with for several years,” Johnson said. “I’m just very hopeful that with the university and more people paying attention to the issue, we can make some progress on something that’s been just a tremendous challenge.”
Choi acknowledged the complexity of improving public safety at the walk, but said that he was pleased with the law enforcement presence he saw during the walkthrough.
“At the same time, while we are addressing those issues, we have to address the law enforcement aspect and keeping our community safe,” Choi said. “It’s not an ‘either-or,’ it’s an ‘and.'”
Choi plans to walk through downtown Columbia again.