Auburn Hills shootings persist before council meeting on new police station

Monday evening Columbia city council members gathered to vote on a plan for a new police station for the Auburn Hills area. This comes after a shooting happened during the middle of the night in the North Columbia neighborhood.

Residents, such as Demetre Alston, say that the violence just continues to persist, “The frequency has increased so you’ll see like more reports of shootings and incidents within a smaller amount of time.”

Crime is exactly what the council members want to decrease. 2nd Ward City Councilman, Michael Trapp, proposes that a new police station will greatly diminish the threat of crime. “If I could place a police station anywhere in the universe, that is exactly where I would place it. It’s right next to what really has become a flash point for shots fired incidents.”

Until then, residents say they think more contact with police will help cut down on the violence. The Columbia police department hopes to do exactly that with a newly formed community outreach unit that began at the end of last year.