Columbia police sustain complaint against school resource officer
The Columbia Police Department’s Internal Affairs Unit sustained a complaint over a school resource officer’s handling of a fight at Smithton Middle School.
Chief Geoff Jones said the unnamed officer will next go through the disciplinary process. The officer took two juveniles into custody following the fight but later released one when police received “conflicting information.” Jones said the officer’s investigation “was not thorough and other witnesses were not interviewed at the time of the initial investigation.”
The Missouri Human Rights Commission filed the complaint on behalf of the released student’s mother.
“We are in the process of ensuring future investigations are complete and the involved employee’s performance improves,” Jones said.
Columbia Public Schools deferred comments about the police investigation to CPD.
Social justice group Race Matters, Friends has advocated for the student’s family since the incident. President Traci Wilson-Kleekamp said she was glad the internal affairs investigation sustained the complaint, and hoped the incident served as a learning experience for schools and police.
“I don’t think that’s an anomaly,” Wilson-Kleekamp said of the incident. “I think that kind of practice happens because no one’s really looking or overseeing.”
The decision comes as the school district and city continue negotiations over a new school resource officer contract. The Columbia City Council proposed extending the current agreement for four police officers to work in the schools until Nov. 1. It is slated to end Oct. 1.
The school resource officer dedicated to middle schools must work between all six of them. Wilson-Kleekamp said that officer’s lack of attention to a specific school may have contributed to the outcome of the Smithon incident.
“It’s not an excuse for shoddy police work and not asking questions, but he didn’t do it by himself, he did it in tandem with the schools,” Wilson-Kleekamp said.
