CPD data shows juveniles make up 22% of violent crime arrests; ages 10-17 make up largest age group of sex crime victims
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Despite the Columbia Police Department’s 2025 annual report showing violent crime trending downward for a fourth year in a row, Police Chief Jill Schlude said she isn’t taking a victory lap.
CPD recently rolled out a new data dashboard, which forced the department to go back and clean up some of its 2024 data. According to Schlude, after cleaning up the 2024 data, CPD found that some categories of crime reported in previous years were not classified properly.
“In my mind, anything prior to 2024, I don't have a high degree of certainty about that data. So while it's great and I'd love to celebrate that violent crime is down, I'm not saying that it's not, but I think based on the cleanup we did to 2024, there is the possibility that there are crimes that are overreported, ” Schlude said. “We had to go back and fix all that data. I think it's great to look at. I think once we have 26 under our belt, we'll have a good, solid three years of data, and that will give us a better idea about trends.”
CPD reported 470 violent crimes in 2025, six fewer than in 2024.
CPD defined violent crime as a criminal act that involves a force or threat of force against a person. It may consist of murder or manslaughter, robbery, aggravated assault or rape. The department counts one crime for each victim.
Of the 853 people arrested for violent crimes, 197 were younger than 17. Juveniles between the ages of 10-17 accounted for 22% of all violent crime arrests, the second-highest total of any age group behind those ages 25 to 34, who accounted for 156 arrests.
Schlude says the numbers represent a growing nationwide trend.
“Every police chief group that I'm in is talking about this exact problem. Where that stems from, I think if someone knew or could solve that problem, they'd probably be very profitable. But I think trying to focus on what the causes are of that and then, frankly, how do we hold younger offenders accountable,” Schulde said. “There have been some changes in the state law this year that the governor signed off on in the public safety omnibus bill that will change how some juvenile cases are handled, how they can get adjudicated as adults."
Cole County Prosecutor Locke Thompson told ABC 17 News in a statement that while his office hasn’t noticed more juvenile referrals, his office has seen “a lot of violent crime being committed in the younger than-25 years old age demographic.
Thompson added the public safety bill Schlude referenced would allow county prosecutors to become involved in juvenile crime cases earlier in the process, giving them more opportunity to provide input.
In 2024, there were 52 reported victims of sexual assault. In 2025, that number dropped to 48, the lowest of the last four years.
However, CPD’s 2025 annual report also showed that children ages 10-17 were the most commonly reported victims of sexual assault. Of the 44 reported sexual assault victims, 12 were between the ages of 10-17.
“It's always important to frame when you look at these numbers that this is reported crime. So that's why I'm always cautious about over celebrating what looks like success or under celebrating because that's a really hard thing,” Schlude said. “In my mind, with sexual assault crimes and domestic violence crimes, if we're doing our job, more people, more victims are going to come forward. There's no doubt in both of those categories those crimes are underreported. So when we get increases in them, I do attribute some of that to a great partnership with True North, Rainbow House Places like that who support those investigations.”
Reports of domestic violence in Columbia were higher than average in 2025. True North of Columbia Executive Director Michele Snodderley said the organization has already seen a rapid increase in services provided this year. However, like Schlude, Snodderley believes part of that increase may be tied to victims feeling less afraid to come forward and seek help.
“I don't know if we're seeing an increase in domestic violence or if we're seeing an increase in our services because we're removing that stigma,” Snodderly said. “We've been increasing our prevention and education, we've been increasing community outreach and awareness, so I'm hoping some of that is just because we are seeing people reaching out and they're not scared to do so anymore.”
One area that Schlude praised was CPD’s homicide clearance rate. In 2025, the Criminal Investigations division held a 100% clearance rate for homicides. As of 2024, the national average for homicide clearance rates is 61%. In 2025, there were four murders involving guns.
