Reported assaults in Columbia have increased by one since 2015

ABC 17 News took a closer look at Columbia’s assault numbers after a 14 year old was assaulted at Flat Branch Park last Thursday.

Back in August, a different female was assaulted on the MKT trail after police say she was walking the trail alone.

ABC 17 News dug into statistics of how many rapes and aggravated assaults have happened in Columbia. From January 2015 to September 2015, 64 rapes were reported. From January to September 2016, 65 rapes were reported.

Aggravated assaults in 2015 were higher than in 2016, with 271 reported rapes in 2015 and 240 in 2016.

Columbia Police Department says, “they have downtown officers patrol Flat Branch Park as well as city park patrol officers that patrol all city limit parks.”

ABC 17 News e-mailed the Columbia Parks and Recreation Director to see if any additional safety precautions will be taken, we have not heard back.