Columbia Vehicle Stops Committee to meet with police chief, discuss goals of committee

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Vehicle Stops Committee met Tuesday night for the first time since Police Chief Jill Schlude was sworn in Dec. 4.

The committee's previous meeting in January was canceled, due to inclement weather. During Tuesday night's meeting, the group did not discuss any new business, passing a motion to wait for Schlude to attend a meeting before moving forward with anything more.

The committee was formed under the city's previous chief, Geoff Jones who retired on Aug. 1.

Committee Chair Toni Dukes Larkins said the committee believes it needs to discuss Schlude's vision for the group before meetings continue. Larkins said the committee's work under Jones included looking into racial disparities within the city, and figuring out reasons for those disparities.

Larkins said the committee wants to know if this is something Schulde wishes to continue focusing on.

"If she had a different mandate, or a different focus ,you know we'd have to look at it, you know, for what it was. And then we could go forward from there," Larkins said. "It would depend on, you know, what the actual mandate was."

Data from the state's annual Vehicle Stops Report released in June showed an increase in the disparity index for Black drivers in Columbia in 2022, which tied for the highest total since 2000 at 3.51. It also showed an increase in disparity for Hispanic and Asian drivers, while it decreased for white drivers.

Larkins said she met with Schlude in January, where the two discussed the committee's work. Larkins added that Schulde didn't seem opposed to the idea of continuing the committee when they met. However, the committee feels the two meeting together to discuss Schlude's goals is in their best interest.

Larkins said she plans to reach out to Schlude on Wednesday and invite her to the committee's next meeting, which is set for March 12.