Seven businesses have signed Columbia Police ‘letters of enforcement’ since deadly downtown shooting

EDITOR'S NOTE: AI was used to research the background for this story.

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Seven businesses have signed up for Columbia Police to enforce trespassing and parking rules while they're closed -- four of them since Friday.

University of Missouri and Columbia city leaders are asking downtown businesses to sign a form that would allow the Columbia Police Department to issue trespassing warnings to unwanted people on private property.

The letter of enforcement is included in the new business packet the Columbia Downtown Community Improvement District gives out to business owners new to downtown, Executive Director Nickie Davis said. 

Without a letter of enforcement, the business owner would have to be present for trespassers to be cited, Boone County Prosecutor Roger Johnson has told ABC 17 News.

Davis said business owners have been coming to The District to ask for a letter of enforcement since a deadly shooting happened downtown nearly two weeks ago. 

The push to sign comes after a Stephens College student, Aiyanna Williams, was shot dead last month. Two other people were injured in the shooting.

"I don't think our businesses are changing their hours or doing anything like that," Davis said. "We are all getting together and kind of putting our heads together to make sure that we're doing everything we can." 

The District is considering a "block-to-block safety ambassador," Davis said. This person would have many responsibilities, but one would be to check on food trucks once the city officially closes for the day. 

"You can go out within the last couple of years, and clearly they're just kind of everywhere," Davis said. "At the same time, they create large crowds. Someone gets their shoes stepped on, they get their feelings hurt, they start fights."

Columbia Police Chief Jill Schlude previously said the Columbia/Boone County Health Department is working with food vendors to control crowd-related issues late at night. 

The District is also considering getting businesses "No Trespassing" and "No Concealed Weapons" signs, Davis said. 

At its next meeting Tuesday, the board will discuss other ways to address safety downtown. 

The City of Columbia and MU leaders sent out an action plan to reduce crime the following week, which included the enforcement letter as one of 11 ways to reduce crime.

MU Chancellor Mun Choi walked through downtown last week to highlight the issue. Meanwhile, police have stepped up downtown patrols, with Schlude saying officers found 20 guns during traffic stops last weekend.