Three City Council members respond to Choi's requests for public safety action

Three Columbia City Council members issued a letter Tuesday in response to UM System President Mun Choi’s recent statements on homelessness and public safety in the city.

In the letter, Valerie Carroll, Vera Elwood and Jacque Sample – who represent the First, Second and Third wards respectively – said the city must address these issues in different ways while “maintaining the inherent dignity of all people living in our community.”

They also echoed the Columbia Police Department’s claim that the reported crime rate is up due to increased police staffing and enforcement.

First Ward councilperson Carroll said she and her fellow council members felt that following Choi’s recent news releases and statements, it was their duty to provide leadership.

“My real concern is that while we are focusing on the student experience, we are also not shifting our attention and are losing track of the experience of the long-term residents who also live in the surrounding communities to downtown and those who are also directly affected by gun violence,” Carroll said.

In the letter, the Carroll said the city has made recent attempts to increase public safety.

According to the letter, Police Department vacancies have decreased from around 50 in fiscal year 2024 to less than 10 currently. Additionally, the city is working to get all Flock cameras operational, with 96 out of 118 live as of Oct. 3, the letter added.

Third Ward councilperson Sample said this is an opportunity for the University of Missouri and the city to collaborate better.

“It’s always been kind of this informal, bumping up against each other type of a relationship,” she said. “And so I think it’s going to be more of setting what those formal steps are and including formal boundaries, because there are things that Mizzou will want to do that the city’s not able to do. There are things the city may want Mizzou to do that they’re not able to do.”

Vera Elwood, who represents the Second Ward, agreed with Sample.

“In President Choi’s messages, both via email and via public statements, he requested a response from us,” she said in an emailed statement. “He stated a desire to work together, which requires open, clear and respectful dialogue from all parties. This letter was intended to further that dialogue.”

Carroll stressed that the letter is not representative of the full council’s views. Mayor Barbara Buffaloe declined to comment on the letter during a “Let’s Talk Local” public discussion meeting on Wednesday night. The next “Let’s Talk Local” meeting will feature speakers Elwood and D’Markus Thomas-Brown, the city’s administrator for the Office of Violence Prevention, according to a city spokesperson. A date has not yet been set for the meeting.

Choi’s response

Choi responded to the letter, asking the City Council to show its support for law enforcement.

“I ask that all council members and City Manager Seewood demonstrate their commitment to support the best practices (new ordinances for CPD officers to do their jobs effectively, demonstrable support from city leaders for CPD, enabling CPD to hold criminals accountable without fear of unfair criticism and backlash, reduction of resource-rich incentives for out-of-town homeless population to come to Columbia, etc.) and investments (staffing, overtime funds, technologies, etc.) that are identified by the Columbia Police Department. This is the time to act,” he said in a statement.

At a public meeting Monday, Choi said in the last six years, there have been 156 arrests and 150 trespasses on campus involving people who are homeless. He said he wants to protect the university’s enrollment, drawing a comparison to lower enrollment after campus protests in 2015.

“I’m also concerned about the reputational risk that’s going to create an enrollment decline for the university,” Choi said. “You all remember back after 2015 what happened, the failure of leadership that led to declining enrollment and so forth.”

Community advocates have pushed back against claims that homelessness and violent crime have a connection.

During Wednesday’s “Let’s Talk Local” meeting, Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude discussed the limitations law enforcement has in managing the public’s complaints about people who are homeless.

“Someone calls and says that there’s a man standing in the middle of the street, talking to himself, yelling, talking to people that aren’t there. That’s concerning to people, right? At the end of the day, if there’s no law violation, our options are very limited,” she said during the meeting.

Schlude also noted the difficulty law enforcement faces when connecting individuals to mental health resources. She added that officers cannot force individuals into treatment unless they are a danger to themselves or others.

Recent initiatives to combat crime

The debate around safety follows a Sept. 27 shooting downtown that killed one person and wounded two others. As a result, city, county, university and business leaders have scrambled to address violent crime in Columbia’s downtown area.

Local entities are each taking different approaches to public safety. Mizzou issued safety warnings to students, while Choi has walked through downtown to assess the late night atmosphere. Local, state and university law enforcement have offered support on busy weekend nights.

Schlude previously added eight officers to the overnight policing efforts in July. She said the Police Department also hopes to establish a downtown unit, but that is unlikely to happen before next May, she said at the Oct. 6 City Council meeting.

The council recently approved new legislative priorities to lobby for in Jefferson City. Elwood said the city will push to change state law to match federal laws restricting possession of handguns by minors and require stolen firearms to be reported within 30 days.

Buffaloe turned down Choi’s request to convene a task force of local leaders. Instead, she hopes to establish a collegiate advisory council, which would highlight the concerns of Columbia students.

The District, which represents the downtown area, proposed a safety patrol that would be a second set of eyes for the Police Department. The unarmed safety ambassadors would patrol the area from around 7 p.m. to 3 a.m.

Carroll said it is important that community leadership supports programs that benefit all city residents.

“In this time, when we’re being loud about the needs of MU’s campus, I want to make sure that we’re also loud about the needs of the surrounding citizens,” she said. “Because in a lot of ways, our experience and our livelihoods and destinies are linked, and we need to make sure we don’t create any invisible populations.”

Caroline Sweet and Maverick Dillon contributed to this report.