Columbia City Council members respond to UM system president’s crime concerns
Nia Hinson
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Some Columbia City Council members are responding to University of Missouri System President Mun Choi’s push for the city to better address crime.
Councilwomen from wards 1, 2 and 3 sent a joint letter to Choi on Tuesday, outlining the current action plans the city has taken to address the issue of crime, as well as what the city hopes to achieve.
The letter follows a recent continued push from Choi for the city to utilize a joint crime-reduction strategy after Stephens College student Aiyanna Williams was shot and killed downtown last month. Since then, Choi has held a press conference, a downtown walk and sent a letter to several city leaders, including Mayor Barbara Buffaloe about the issue.
“President Choi has sent council members multiple emails over the last several days and the three of us who wrote that message back wanted to take some time and make sure we were responding to his most recent email and have a well-developed thought out response to that,” Ward 3 Councilwoman Jacque Sample said.
Valerie Carroll (Ward 1) and Vera Elwood (Ward 2) were the other two councilwomen listed on the letter.
The letter outlines efforts the city has taken toward addressing crime, including allocating 50% of the city’s general fund to public safety, chipping away at vacancies within the police department and utilizing Flock cameras.
The goal in sending the letter was also to ensure context of the data was being relayed to the public, according to Sample. The letter states that crimes against society– which includes crimes such as drug use, trespassing, weapons offenses without a victim and liquor law violations are up about 36%, making up the main driver for the city’s total crime rate.
However, the letter states that increase reflects the increased police presence in the downtown area that the Columbia Police Department has utilized.
“The data makes clear that while we’re reporting a crime increase, it is largely the product of officers being more active and total staffing improvements that have allowed for more enforcement,” the letter says.
The letter also places an emphasis on separating the issue of homelessness in the city and downtown area from crime, saying the two aren’t always related. In a September press conference, Choi urged city leaders to consider a loitering ordinance, and called on leaders to also address the issue of homelessness and clean up encampments.
“The crimes that are being talked about right now are issues of gun violence downtown,” Elwood said. “None of the main stories that are making the news right now have been perpetrated by our unhoused neighbors. We absolutely do have a housing crisis. We have a homeless crisis in Columbia that is separate from the gun violence issue.”
Carroll represents the downtown area. She said she’s heard varied responses from both business owners and people who live downtown. Some say they want to ensure the city isn’t criminalizing the homeless population, as well as from those who are not comfortable interacting with homeless people.
Carroll said she believes the city needs to engage in public health, social services and law enforcement to reduce both gun violence and homelessness, but believes those are different teams.
Carroll also wants to remind people that solutions to complex problems take time.
“We have put solutions in process for the past several years. Some of them are already having positive effects,” Carroll said. “We’ve decreased gun violence, reported shootings downtown by 50% over the last year, that’s a positive trend but those trends take time to build.”
Ward 5 Councilman Don Waterman also sent a separate letter to Choi on Tuesday.
According to Sample and Elwood, the three chose to send a letter separately due to conversations they had about the issue, and did not include a fourth person because four is considered a quorum.
Waterman said the purpose of his letter was to show his support for the police department, but continuing to increase the police presence is going to come at a cost. Waterman ended his letter asking Choi if he would support a tax increase in the city to help fund the police department.
“Chief Schlude has said, and it’s been out there before that she thinks we need 50 additional officers and there’s going to be a cost for that and we’e trying to recruit businesses and expand our sales tax base that way,” Waterman said.
Waterman said the council has had discussions about a possible increase but it has not come up for a formal discussion.
ABC 17 News reached out to Ward 4 Councilman Nick Foster and Ward 6 Councilwoman Betsy Peters. A spokesman from the University of Missouri declined to comment.
You can read the full letters below.
Mun Choi response 10_12_25 (1)Download