Columbia officials meet with Kehoe; discuss crime, state support following violent weekend in city

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Gov. Mike Kehoe met with Columbia officials on Monday to discuss public safety in the city. 

Columbia Mayor Barbara Buffaloe, City Manager De’Carlon Seewood, and Police Chief Jill Schlude were among those in attendance for the meeting at the governor’s office in the Capitol. 

According to Kehoe’s office, the meeting had been scheduled since early December and was requested by Buffaloe. It follows a Dec. 3 meeting between University of Missouri System President Mun Choi and Kehoe, which focused on crime in Columbia but included only university representatives, not city officials.

The meeting comes after a violent start to the year in Columbia. On Saturday night, a 17-year-old was arrested after police claim he fired shots inside Dick’s Sporting Goods in the Shoppes at Stadium area, then stole a car and fled on Interstate 70. The following night, a shooting at an apartment complex on Clark Lane left 21-year-old Brianna Hawkins, of Fulton, dead and two others injured.

“Any time you have those type of incidents that occur, it makes you take a pause and want to make sure that we're doing the things that are right for our community," Seewood said. "It can be a scary time. Whether it's a domestic assault or if someone fires a weapon inside of a store; it's one of those things where you kind of want to make sure that you have the right resources in place to deal with those types of activities."

Buffaloe told ABC 17 News that while the meeting was pre-planned before those incidents took place, both of them came up in their conversation with Kehoe. 

“The weekend incidents that we had actually helped us in making our case for our discussions around 'common-sense' gun legislation,” Buffaloe said on Monday. “Historically, the state of Missouri is not necessarily looking to enforce any additional gun laws, but having that grey area when it comes to youth with guns,  we can't do anything until they pull the trigger. So, what can we do as a city to help us advocate for this common-sense gun legislation that will help our officers do their job?” 

Buffaloe added the city did take notice of Choi’s meeting with Kehoe. 

“The initial intent for having this meeting was that when people are having conversations about crime in Columbia, I would like for my police chief to be there so that they can provide the real data that we have and so they can answer those questions rather than going off other people's interpretations of our data,” Buffaloe said. “They [Choi and UM representatives] might have a meeting about something else and that was a subject that came up. But when I did see it and I saw that that was the subject of information, I did reach out to the chief of staff for the governor and said, ‘Hey, if you're open to this opportunity to conversation, I would love to come down there with city leadership and talk about where we're seeing current trends in Columbia and where we could use state investment in support.’”

“I don't want to say they were excluded,” Seewood added. “President Choi has some things he wants to talk to the governor about. One of the things was public safety, but that wasn't a primary conversation for them to have.  And for us, it was to talk about our city and what's going on and what are the things we're working on.” 

Seewood described the meeting as “short,” but he and Buffaloe both considered the conversation productive.

“We have great working relationships with a lot of the different departments within within the state of Missouri,” Buffaloe said. “I think it's always just a good idea to have this two way conversation  and making sure those relationships are built.” 

Kehoe has made public safety a key priority during his administration. His office helped establish the Blue Shield program, which is designed to give communities access to state grants for police training. Seewood said the program is working, noting that Columbia was able to secure one of the grants. However, he added, there are still more opportunities for collaboration.

“We have issues down here and the Missouri State Highway Patrol they respond. They're a great partner. The county, they're a great partner,” Seewood said. “It's just making sure that all our partners are working hand-in-hand.” 

While Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude meets regularly with members of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, city officials said they hope their meeting with Kehoe signals their openness to broader conversations. 

Seewood said no other meetings with Kehoe have been scheduled yet.