Columbia scheduling conversations on racial profiling, traffic stops
The City of Columbia is taking steps to address a report that suggests police racially profile drivers during traffic stops.
The City Manager’s Office released a statement today saying City Manager Mike Matthes and Police Chief Ken Burton plan to reach out to local organizations to talk about the 2015 Vehicle Stops reportthat shows a disparity in the number of black residents stopped by police. Those groups include Race Matters, Friends, the NAACP, the Legion of Black Collegians, and more.
“Everybody’s invited,” said Steve Sapp with the city manager’s office. “We don’t want to exclude anybody. So whether it’s a group or an individual, we need to hear their story. We need to talk.”
During initial meetings, the city hopes a plan will come together with specific community goals to address the report’s findings.
Meeting dates and times will be announced once they’re scheduled, and they will be open to the public.
Matthes characterized the push as a “research project” into sentiments of the city’s residents. This comes after he and Burton were criticized by the group Race Matters, Friends for lack of action after the release of the report in June. ABC 17 News pressed Matthes Thursday afternoon on why the conversation started two months after the attorney general’s findings.
“We’ve been working on it,” Matthes said of the city’s efforts to address racial profiling. “We got a grant for racial profiling training, we’ve got people certified to teach [its prevention] now.”
The city staff is months into its strategic plan to tackle bias and racial profiling. With enough time, and hearing stories of perceived racial profiling, Matthes said his staff can assemble an action plan.
Matthes said he’s also met with the Columbia Police Officers Association to discuss a report citing low morale at the department. The report, released in mid-July, detailed feelings of a “toxic” environment, fueled by an unfavorable patrol schedule. It marks another study done on morale at CPD that resulted in poor feelings, going back to 2005. Matthes said dealing with morale has been an issue since he started in 2010, and leaned on budget increases to the police department as proof his office took the issue seriously. The increases have created 16 new positions and increased officer pay, Matthes said. However, the city manager said he wanted to find “consensus” among the officers at CPD as to what needed to be fixed before he took any direct action.
“Whatever rank they are, civilian, sworn, I want to hear about their feelings about working in that industry today, and about working in this department,” Matthes said.
Combined with the comments from citizens during the traffic stop meetings, Matthes said ideas can “percolate to the top,” and the commonalities can become a direction.
The City Manager’s Office says if you or your organization want to be involved in these conversations, contact the office by calling 573-874-7214 or emailing CMO@CoMo.gov.
