Columbia beat officers hold first meeting with residents

Home and car break-ins make up most of the crime officers deal with in northwest Columbia.

The officers that work the area, known as Beats 10 and 20, met with residents Tuesday night at Parkade Elementary School. It’s the first of several meeting the Columbia Police Department plans to hold between the beat officers and the residents living there.

Lieutenant Paul Dickinson, the commander for that area, joined Assistant Chief of Patrol John Gordon and three other officers at the meeting with more than a dozen residents. The area stretches from the Columbia Mall to College Avenue, and stops south at Worley Street. It includes the area north of Interstate 70, stopping around Rangeline Street.

Dickinson told the group “misdemeanor thefts” made up most of the crimes in the area, from home burglaries to car break-ins. He encouraged people there to make sure doors remained locked and valuables were taken out of cars, crediting much of the latter to petty thieves preying on open doors. Violent crime, he claimed, was “dramatically” lower this year when compared to last.

May residents agreed they felt safe in the northern neighborhoods, particularly near Parkade Elementary. One woman said her neighbor’s window was once found busted, and when she called police to report it, she was dismayed that an officer never came out to assess it in person. Instead, a report was taken over the phone.

“We know our mail carrier, we know our paper boy, we want to know our police officers,” she said. “You mean so much to us.”

Dickinson agreed that it would be nice for officers to spend more time in their beat. The Community Outreach Unit, CPD’s dedicated foot patrol for “community policing,” does have one active team in the southern end of the beat near Worley St. However, officers simply don’t have time to meet people in other neighborhoods, Gordon said, due to an understaffed patrol unit. Dickinson told the crowd he saw 10 to 15 calls waiting when he entered the meeting at 6:30.

When asked whether or not residents should buy security systems, Gordon warned that any system should be top quality. A vast majority of burglary alarms CPD responds to are “false alarms,” burning an officer’s time to respond and investigate the alarm.

John Pipes, who lived near the school for 30 years, said he feels officers could use more time working in a beat. Pipes, who is black, said on one occasion, an officer made a U-turn on his street when he saw him in his yard and asked what he was doing there. While Pipes was reluctant to say the officer racially profiled him, Gordon told him that he wanted to know about any incident where he felt that was the case. The department is beginning a deeper analysis, into the possibility, after an state Attorney General’s report detailing the frequency at which people of certain races were involved in traffic stops. Gordon gave Pipes his direct phone number during the discussion.

Pipes told ABC 17 News after the meeting he found the entire experience to be helpful. Several others said they appreciated the small, open discussion with the officers.

Many of Columbia’s low-budget motels are located in the area, which dictates what crime numbers look like for the area, Dickinson said. Lately, though, police have begun to work closer with the motel owners to reduce calls and police responses, which Dickinson said has paid off the last few months. Gordon said it was a special assignment for Dickinson through “problem-oriented policing.” Dickinson said by removing either the situation the opportunity for a crime, the person who commits the crime or the potential victim, you can eliminate crime there.

Three other beats will hold meetings this month, all lasting from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Beat 30 and 40, serving northeast Columbia, will meet Wednesday at Derby Ridge Elementary. Officers for the eastern half of the city below I-70, including downtown, meet Thursday at Shepard Boulevard Elementary. The south and southwest parts meet Oct. 25 at Gentry Middle School.