Columbia City Council disappointed by recent survey results, hope changes will be reflected in next survey

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Columbia City Council members say they're already in the process of addressing recent concerns among some residents.

A community survey completed by a random group of 855 people in the city in August and September unveiled those who completed the survey are concerned about public safety. According to the survey, 40% of people said they feel safe in Columbia.

The Columbia City Council met Monday to discuss the results of the survey. Ward 6 Councilwoman Betsy Peters told ABC 17 News after the meeting that while the results are disappointing, the feedback is necessary.

"It was interesting to see what people thought," Peters said. "Certainly, we hoped for better numbers than we had but I think it's pretty clear that the things that people are concerned about are safety and homeless, things that we're all working on."

Respondents of the survey identified three major areas of concern within the city: Lack of crime prevention, quality of the Columbia Police Department and the visibility of CPD.

Only 17% of people who took the survey said they were satisfied with the city's efforts to prevent crime.

Peters said the issue of crime within the city isn't something that goes unnoticed.

"We were well aware and and we're working on it. Some of it is you know, increasing our police presence, which involves paying our officers better and getting them trained," Peters said.

Peters said the city is making progress on making a dent into CPD's staffing shortage. According to Peters, there are also discussions regarding adding more lights in certain areas, as well as about possibly adding neighborhood watches.

Ward 4 Councilman Nick Foster said the city is also discussing adding more police officers in certain parts of the town. He also brought up the city's approval of Flock cameras as a tool that can help CPD solve crimes faster.

Foster also said the city is step closer to implementing an Office of Violence Prevention, something that's been in the works for more than a year.

"I think we're going to see a hire on that pretty soon and pretty soon that person will be able to coordinate and work with the various groups in the community who are addressing this issue and getting at root causes," Foster said.

The city has not completed a community survey since 2019.

The city scored lower in all seven "public safety" categories in 2024 compared to 2019. Foster said the city discussed potentially completing the survey on a yearly basis, adding that it seemed most council members would be in support.

"In my own mind it's sort of like 'Well, is annually better or is bi-annually better' because you have the opportunity over a longer period of time to address the issues that were raised in the previous one and then measure the difference between the two," Foster said.

The Fire Department was one-of-just-three categories that had an overall satisfaction rating of more than 70% (83) along with daytime safety and perception of city parks.