Special Report: Crime Crossroads
ABC 17 News has recently reported to you that violent crime in Columbia rose by almost 50-percent last year, compared to the year before. Aggravated assaults showed a large spike.
And, while the number of violent crimes in Jefferson City fell below record levels, reports of rapes and robberies more than doubled last year.
Some of those crimes are being blamed on our cities’ proximity to two major U.S. cities. Although it’s difficult to put exact numbers behind the criminal impact of Saint Louis and Kansas City, law enforcement agencies from around the Mid-Missouri are agree; sometimes we attract very unwelcome visitors.
Detective Tom O’Sullivan with Boone County Sheriff’s Department says the county jail is seeing an increase in the number of out of towners. He says the reasons range from crimes of “convenience” to the need to get away from an area where authorities are closing in on the suspect. O’Sullivan says, “Some guys get out of town when it’s too hot. When the cops are on their trail, they get out of town.” He also says there is a large number of people who come to Columbia to operate a criminal enterprise.
Those criminal enterprises are sometimes individual violent crimes, but O’Sullivan says there are gangs (of sorts) in Mid-Missouri. He compares the gangs to baseball. O’Sullivan says, “In St. Louis and Kansas City, you have major league gangs. Here in Columbia, you have A-ball gangs…independent league gangs.” But he says it would be a mistake to not take the local gangs very seriously.
Aside from the gang-related crimes, sometimes Mid-Missouri is simply a convenient stop between the two cities.
The outline of the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s Troop F jurisdiction encompasses 13 counties between St. Louis and Kansas City.
Because Interstate 70 spans one end of Troop F to the other, MSHP Sergeant Scott White says the idea of crime spilling over from other areas is really nothing new. Sgt. White looks at the area’s history. In 1933, Sgt. Benjamin Booth became the first Missouri State Highway Patrol trooper killed in action. He and Boone County Sheriff Roger Wilson were shot to death on US Highway 40 and 63. Sgt. White says the initial investigation linked the deadly shooting to crime activity in Kansas City. He says it turned out not to be the case, but points out that speculation was more than 82-years ago.
Major interstates get well-deserved nicknames because of the literal drug trafficking that takes place along so-called “Cocaine Lane” or “Heroin Highways.” Sgt. White says, “I-70 has certainly seen its fair share of drugs. And we’re talking larger quantities, too.”
As far as what’s being done to address the problems, Sgt. White says, “it just comes down to enforcement. Somebody’s not following a traffic law and they get stopped.” He says that sometimes leads to troopers finding 75 to 100 pounds of drugs in a car.
But when it comes to actually solving the problems here along the “Crime Crossroads,” that can be a problem. Sgt. White says, “I don’t know if that’s a problem solely for law enforcement. We try to go out and educate the public about not being the victim. We investigate crimes and we put people in jail. That’s when that accountability starts. But when you look over time, a lawful society is a matter of individual responsibility. And, a lot of that begins in the community. You have to have citizens that are invested in the community, that won’t tolerate criminal activity and won’t tolerate victimization.”
While our neighboring cities are not solely responsible for all of Mid-Missouri’s violent crime, Saint Louis and Kansas City consistently rank in the top five and top ten cities in the nation, respectively, for the highest violent crime rates.
