Columbia Police talk shootings, drug concerns with northwest, northeast residents
Residents in northeast and northwest Columbia had the opportunity to meet with police Thursday to discuss neighborhood improvements.
Columbia Police beats 30 and 40 are in charge of the northeast side of town. Nearly a dozen residents showed up to discuss the recent shooting on Greensboro Drive, drug activity, and ways to reduce recent motor-vehicle thefts in the street.
Police said that there are no updates on the Greensboro Drive shooting that injured one man in the hand. One resident brought up why there are so many shots fired calls in the area. Lt. Geoffrey Jones, Commander for beats 30 and 40 said that is an area the community outreach unit is continuing to tackle to prevent crime.
According to statistics that police gave residents Thursday night. From 2016 to 2017, north Columbia saw 17 reports of shots fired/shots heard calls compared to 2015 to 2016 which say 37.
East Columbia saw 19 shots fired/shots heard calls from 2016 to 2017, and 48 shots fired/shots heard calls from 2015 to 2016.
Jones contributes a lot of those efforts to the Community Outreach Unit and their daily interactions with the public.
Fenimore Drive resident Paula Carter told ABC 17 News that she has been seeing a lot of drug transaction type activity in her neighborhood and wanted to ask police what she could do to try and deter the crime.
Jones said to continue making neighborhood presence known that way people will be discouraged to do crime. Jones continued to encourage locking car doors to decrease vehicle thefts, which have seen a increase.
Columbia Police beats 10 and 20 are in charge of the northwest side of town. Only one resident showed up to the northwest meeting with CPD. Police wouldn’t comment on the turnout but said they were hopeful that more people would show up in the future.
The single resident, Jeff Hempstead, said he was a little disappointed in the community.
“How is police going to know what’s a problem in the neighborhood if no one shows up,” Hempstead said.
Data showed calls for service citywide went down by 2,571 since 2015 to 2016.
