Columbia Office of Violence Prevention targets two-year collaboration to curb crime
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Columbia Office of Violence Prevention believes that in two years, collaboration among community-based groups will be strong enough to deter some crimes across the city.
The OVP began operating in March 2025 following a 2023 proposal by Mayor Barbara Buffaloe. The goal of the office is to coordinate the development, implementation and evaluation of prevention and intervention tactics in the city. It works to provide community enrichment programs and ensure discussions about violent trends are being addressed, according to city officials.
Halloween weekend saw some violent crimes in Columbia. Downtown, a 36-year-old woman was shot in the back early Saturday. Outside a southside Walmart, a 46-year-old man was shot Sunday night.
"I don't think any of these business owners want that, right? Nor do the people who frequent that business," Columbia Violence Prevention Administration D'Markus Thomas-Brown said. "The lady who got shot, she didn't want to get shot."
For the past 19 months, Thomas-Brown said the city has worked on greater collaboration in the wake of crime. But more needs to be done.
"We got to collaborate," Thomas-Brown said. "I believe the appetite is there. But where I think leaders can step up is to help us with the variance to collaborate. Make sure it's a mandate and this expectation to collaborate. Even with MU [the University of Missouri]."
University of Missouri System President Mun Choi has called Walnut Street between Eighth and Tenth streets -- where Saturday's shooting occurred -- the "danger zone." At the beginning of the fall semester, Choi told students to avoid that area of town late at night.
In early August, there was a shots-fired call. No one was hurt, but one person was arrested. In late July, there was a large street brawl in that area, resulting in several people being arrested.
Choi has urged law enforcement and city leadership to do better.
"Pointing fingers does nobody good," Thomas-Brown said. "But when we collaborate, and we all bring our resources to the table to make sure those who have adequate solutions and have the data to back it up are actually in the forefront and are able to do what they can do best, and we're supporting that effort. That is when we're going to see safety."
A crime report presented to the Columbia City Council in October showed a slight decline in overall crime in the city during the past year, but reported crime downtown increased sharply.
"We know that crime does not germinate downtown," Thomas-Brown said. "And especially if you're talking about violent, if we're talking about gun violence, it does not germinate downtown. We have a lot going on. For us, our view is more than just downtown. We have a community issue that we're dealing with."
Columbia's Spirit Halloween store was forced to close Saturday afternoon after police said someone was pepper sprayed in line. Thomas-Brown said that incident also affected his family.
"We had bear mace shut down the Halloween Spirit store, and we had people go to the E.R. One of the people in the ambulance that went to the E.R. was my sister. My two nieces were in the store. So I'm getting that phone call," Thomas-Brown said.
Coming into the office Monday, with a council meeting set for the evening, city leaders are looking at what happened between two weekend shootings and a pepper spraying.
On the council agenda is an ask for more funding for more staffing in the Office of Violence Prevention and another violence study.
"We've been building the impetus to make sure this office is able to stand," Thomas-Brown said. "And so tonight, we'll be asking for a Office of Violence Prevention community coordinator. And so what that community coordinator will be doing is coordinating and collaborating with all of our CBOs [community-based organizations] and making sure that this community violence intervention ecosystem is able be stood up and that is sustained."
Ward 3 Councilwoman Jacque Sample asked for a report about hospital-based violence prevention program Power4STL, according to Thomas-Brown. The nonprofit works to help survivors of violent injuries break the cycle of retaliation and re-injury through combined medical treatment and community-based social support.
In another effort to curb violent crime in the community, a violence reduction landscape analysis was done earlier this year. Thomas-Brown previously told ABC 17 News that the office will have a full strategic plan drawn from that study in March 2027.
It's vital that safety leaders from all realms join in the conversation, Thomas-Brown said.
"The OVP is not the police. We're not dispatched to every call," Thomas-Brown said. "We are maintaining and bringing sustainability to our community organizations who are out here, and we're developing the ecosystem."
Thomas-Brown remains sure of the OVP's plans and mission.
He reiterated that work is being done, conversations are being had, and progress is being made to curb violence. But the payoff can be slow in coming, he said.
"We didn't get here in a year," Thomas-Brown said. "This didn't just start happening yesterday. So that's going to take time, especially when you talk about preventative nature. It's going to take time to see the payoff of what's going on. I believe we'll see it in two years."
In the meantime, he said community members should stay vigilant, but not feel unsafe.
"We want to make sure that we're not demonizing certain areas and things of that nature, because it's not just downtown," Thomas-Brown said.
He said it's also not just about looking at violent crimes.
