© 2024 University of Missouri - KBIA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

City Council Adopts Resolution Calling for Community Policing

Trevor Hook / KBIA

The Columbia City Council unanimously passed a resolution Monday night declaring the need for community policing in the city.

City council member Ian Thomas proposed a resolution to conduct a “Community Engagement Process about Policing” in Columbia. Residents would work with police to address police staffing levels, officer safety and morale, and community-oriented policing, something several police officers currently practice.

Several residents spoke to council in favor of the resolution, including C.W. Dawson Jr.

“Community policing has been very important to me personally, and also theoretically,” Dawson said. “There is a distrust between community and the police department.”

City council members debated the timeline of the resolution and whether the resolution should be reviewed further before it is approved, to the dismay of many in attendance. After deliberation, the council approved the resolution 9-0.

Thomas is already planning ahead.

“My guess is we’ll form some kind of a committee within a month or so that will develop some goals for the community engagement process,” Thomas said. “I really want to hear from all of the people that are so engaged in this idea to see what they think.”

Dawson believes community policing can restore trust between residents and the police.

“When I was a kid, I used to hear the kindergarten, first grade, second grade teachers say, ‘Remember class: the policeman is your friend’. I’d like to live in a city where policemen and policewomen are my friends,” Dawson said.

A team of Columbia police officers currently serves as the city's Community Outreach Unit

Trevor Hook is a reporter, producer and morning anchor for KBIA 91.3 born and raised in New Franklin, Missouri. He graduated from the University of Missouri with both a Master's degree in Audio Journalism in 2020 and a Bachelor's degree in Convergence Journalism in 2018.