Columbia city manager to discuss crime reduction strategy report mayor asked for

After the last homicide in 2017, Columbia Mayor Brian Treece asked City Manager Mike Matthes and staff to come up with a “comprehensive” strategy to reduce crime, starting with homicides.

Matthes and city staff prepared a report on a crime reduction strategy for the city council meeting Monday night.

The report quoted the mayor’s request, detailed the violent crime numbers from 2017 and compared them to the average violent crime rate over a 20-year span. The numbers come from Uniform Crime Reporting data.

The report briefly reviewed the nine homicides that occurred in 2017 and said where the investigations are.

Out of the nine homicides, four of them have the suspects arrested and charged. In one of the homicide investigations–the murder of Damien Davis–an arrest was made for evidence tampering. Because of a lack of witness cooperation, no other arrests have been made.

The report’s conclusion said the city’s approach to policing is “that we ask too much from too few.” According to the report, most of the city’s budget goes toward public safety, but because the community doesn’t pay very much in city taxes, the budget just isn’t big enough.

The city council meeting will be held at City Hall at 7 p.m.