52 calls to police made at Cosmo Park since August, more than 200 calls made since Jan. 1
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Cosmo Park has seen a large number of calls to police since the beginning of the year.
According to online records from the Columbia Police Department 6-hour Dispatch Log, there have been 211 calls to the park since Jan. 1. Nearly a quarter of those calls have come within the past two months.
According to records, 21 calls at the park in September, with another 31 coming in August. Calls have included shots fired, larceny, suspicious vehicles, suspicious activity, vandalism, and disturbing the peace.
On Monday, the Boone County Prosecutors office charged Terron D. Shelton Jr. with assault and armed criminal action after authorities claimed he shot a man Saturday night at Cosmo Park during a large gathering.
Incidents at Cosmo Park are nothing new in recent years. In 2020 Jermaine Spain, was killed from a gunshot wound at the park. Several people have been charged in relation to the shooting.
Calls to the park are broken down this year by month:
- January -- 12
- February -- 19
- March -- 9
- April -- 37
- May -- 25
- June -- 30
- July -- 27
- August -- 31
- September -- 21
The City of Columbia has been looking for ways to curb violence in the community. At Monday night's City Council meeting, Mayor Barbara Buffaloe proposed a new office for violence prevention. She acknowledged that while she had been having conversations about the proposed office for more than a year, some of the recent violence over the summer, which included the shooting at Cosmo Park, propelled her to act on it.
“What spurred it on more was some of the of the activity we had over the summer. “Realizing who's in charge of doing the violence prevention,” Buffalo told ABC 17 News on Monday. “We know it’s a vast subject. It’s not just about crime so it’s not just a police response. Some of it’s related from issues of poverty or youth violence and dealing with all those different issues.”
The City Council on Monday also approved to allocate $25,284,624.00 in American Rescue Plan Funds. According to a previous release, about $2.17 million was recommended to be used to address community violence.
