Columbia to use National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform as resource for violence prevention

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

As the City of Columbia looks toward creating an Office of Violence Prevention, a city spokesperson said the City Manager's Office has met with the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform to help determine how to move forward.

The NICJF works to reduce incarceration and violence in communities through research, consulting, advocacy, organizational development and technical assistance, according to its website. There are trainings, presentations, site visits and support for communities.

As a takeaway from the city's meeting with the organization, city spokesperson Sydney Olsen said in an email that Columbia is looking to create a three-to-five-year strategic plan to provide sustainability and continuity. Staffing models and additional steps were also discussed.

"Immediate actions to address violence while the strategic plan is developed were noted as important alongside long-term planning to satisfy community needs," Olsen wrote.

The national organization has assisted with around 50 offices of violence prevention around the country. One of similar makeup to Columbia said it has noticed a difference.

South Bend, Indiana, is another Midwestern college town and has a population of about 103,000 people. The city started its Group Violence Intervention program eight years ago, according to project manager Malcolm Coates.

"We had some ups and downs, but for sure I can say 2022 to 2023, we had about a 30-40% drop in gun violence," Coates said.

According to data posted to the City of South Bend's website that tracks “criminally assaulted shootings,” fatal shootings have remained consistent from 2020-23. In 2020, there were 23 fatal shootings in South Bend, while there were 19 in 2021, 25 in 2022 and 19 again in 2023.

Data indicates that there was a significant drop in criminally assaulted shooting victims from 2022 to 2023:

• 2020: 133 victims
• 2021: 121 victims
• 2022: 124 victims
• 2023: 80 victims

Much data for 2024 has not been listed in the data set, although it indicates that there have been two fatal shootings and nine shooting victims in the “year to date” sections.

Here is a screenshot of the table on South Bend's website:

A 2023 report shows the program has an annual budget of $550,000 and requires four full-time staff. It's housed in the city's mayor's office, while Columbia's program will be housed in the city manager's office.

Coates said South Bend's office has three main tiers:

• Moral voice: Elders in the community and neighborhoods speak out against violence
• Social services: Make contact with at-risk individuals and provide services
• Law enforcement: Work to engage with residents.

He said the three tiers work together to get in contact with the demographic already involved in or at risk of becoming involved in gun violence. He said social services will receive referrals from law enforcement and are also in other public places like schools.

Coates said a lot of the time there are people who want to stop the violence or get out of a gang, but they have needs that are keeping them from getting out.

"You can't get a job, sometimes it's housing, we've had people say they're behind on child support. They're like, 'If I could just get caught up.' Things like that," Coates said. "So, we're able through the social service part of it, meet those needs to help them make better decisions moving forward."

He said the city still has a relationship with the NICJR and he meets with them almost weekly. He said the foundation of the program, however, starts with law enforcement.

"I think that's the biggest piece that makes this productive is law enforcement's willingness to say 'Hey, we'd rather engage you than enforce the law, than lock you up," Coates said.

In 2013, the City of Columbia created a Mayor's Task Force on Community Violence. Former Councilman Mike Trapp was co-chair of that task force, and said there are still recommendations that weren't followed through.

These include a recommendation to have close coordination between police, probation and courts, and also develop mentors and pathways for area youth other than violence.

"As far as pure prevention, we really haven't made any steps," Trapp said. "The biggest thing that we identified in the Mayor's Task Force on Community Violence was a lack of mentoring programs, and I don't think that that's been addressed."

When looking at crime prevention, he said that includes interventions that have long-term payoffs in 10-15 years. He said there needs to be an analysis of who is at-risk to become involved in future crime, and thinks the City needs a consistent, data-driven approach to yield long-term results.

"Maybe an Office of Violence Prevention will give that consistency and develop evidence-based models based on data," Trapp said.

Former City Manager Ray Beck said a lot of the names he sees involved in Columbia's current crime are names he remembers seeing involved in crime years ago. He said Columbia leaders should be looking at similar communities to see what has worked to bring down crime.

"My hope is that they find an effective way because it's certainly a bad reputation for a city to have a high crime rate," Beck said.

Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe told ABC 17 News on Thursday that the city is actively working to get the Office of Violence Prevention up and running in the city, a proposal made by Buffaloe in October.

She said other city governments she's talked with noted it took months before their programs started.

"It will take time, right? This is not the sort of thing you create overnight," Buffaloe said. "But, it's a way for us to invest in those community groups that are already in that space and partner with them."

Buffaloe said while there is value in looking into similar programs other cities use, she understands that Columbia presents its own unique set of challenges. She said focusing on preventing crime cannot only be discussed during times when crime occurs in the city consecutively.

"Every call is just as important as the next one," and the city cannot rely solely on the police department to help reduce crime," Buffaloe said.

Buffaloe said her vision for the office includes a fluid approach. Allowing community members to join together and discuss specific areas or groups that need to be focused on is something she views as beneficial.

"I see it as a routine kind of convening of getting together, seeing when we need to pivot more towards...maybe it's youth focused, right? Maybe we're seeing a call to action in youth community," Buffaloe said.

There is no specific date for when the city will officially implement the office, according to Buffaloe.

She said the city currently has the funding for it, and believes the next steps will focus on figuring out the staffing. Buffaloe said funding for staff will likely be discussed in the next fiscal year budget.

Buffaloe said her message to community members who believe the city is no longer safe would be that in talking with the police department, she's found that most of the crime that occurs are targeted incidents.

"So, I think for most of our law abiding citizens in Columbia you know, they're safe in their community while they're going about their day to day lives," Buffaloe said.