Seven businesses have signed Columbia Police ‘letters of enforcement’ since deadly downtown shooting
Alison Patton
EDITOR’S NOTE: AI was used to research the background for this story.
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Seven businesses have signed up for Columbia Police to enforce trespassing and parking rules while they’re closed — four of them since Friday.
University of Missouri and Columbia City leaders are asking downtown businesses to sign a form that would allow the Columbia Police Department to issue trespassing warnings to unwanted people on private property.
Without a letter of enforcement, the business owner would have to be present for trespassers to be cited, Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson has told ABC 17 News.
The push to sign comes after a Stephens College student, Aiyanna Williams, was shot dead last month. Two other people were injured in the shooting.
The City of Columbia and MU leaders sent out an action plan to reduce crime the following week, which included the enforcement letter as one of 11 ways to reduce crime.
MU Chancellor Mun Choi walked through downtown last week to highlight the issue. Meanwhile, police have stepped up downtown patrols, with Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude saying officers found 20 guns during traffic stops last weekend.
Check back for updates to this developing story.