Columbia mayoral candidates hope to crack down on crime

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Crime has been a pressing issue in the City of Columbia in recent years, and potential leaders say they plan to tackle the issue in office.

Incumbent Mayor Barbara Buffaloe is looking to serve another three years in office in the April 8 election, while Blair Murphy, Tanya Heath and write-in candidate Lucio Bitoy are hoping to take the seat. According to data from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, violent crime was down about 8% in Columbia in 2024, compared to 2023.

However, overall murders in the city were up, with 13 occurring in the city in 2024, compared to 7 the year prior. Data also shows the most-common weapon used in violent crime last year was guns.

Candidate and business owner Blair Murphy runs a campaign focused heavily on safety, according to his website. Murphy served on the Crimestoppers board and told ABC 17 News his first priority in office if elected, would be improving public safety in Columbia.

Murphy said he plans to focus on ensuring the police department is fully staffed in order to help, but said he believes the city needs to take a closer look at car break-ins to help reduce gun violence.

"The No. 1 thing they say that people are looking for is weapons and being on the Crimestoppers board, I've been involved in a lot of those conversations... I think we got to do a better job of securing things and you know, making that almost impossible to happen," Murphy said.

Buffaloe said she believes the city's creation of the Office of Violence Prevention will help the city have a more preventative approach with crime.

The city recently named D'Markus Thomas-Brown as its first administrator of the office. Buffaloe said she believes he'll be able to help the city government identify areas they can work on to prevent crimes.

Buffaloe also signed a letter to Gov. Mike Kehoe aimed at preventing children from possessing handguns.

She told ABC 17 News she hoped the letter would help emphasize the importance of local police being involved in conversations with state government and work to keep guns out of felons' hands.

"From a city side, what we can do is really about the advocacy and education," Buffaloe said. "We're partnering with Columbia Public Schools to talk about safe storage to make sure that responsible gun owners are storing them responsibly."

Previous 2022 mayoral candidate Tanya Heath told ABC 17 News she would support having police officers' retirement in Columbia have better funding and ensure they have the equipment needed to do their jobs. She also said she believes the city needs to focus on supporting the mental health of each police officer.

Heath works in public relations and advertising and also said she believes understanding the community as a whole and telling the community what jobs are available in the city could help prevent crime. Heath said she'd also be in support of a campaign that reminds people to make sure their guns are stored away.

"I understand that a lot of guns unfortunately, are stolen from cars and that is that is a fixable problem," Heath said. "If your gun is in the house and locked away, that is a great place for it and certainly the car. If you are somewhere and you leave it in the car, the car needs to be locked up as well."

To Lucio Bitoy, who earned a political science degree at Lincoln University, the issue of gun violence in the city is a cultural problem. Bitoy said he believes there needs to be a conversation about how many guns there are in the country.

He said he believes nothing can be done about the issue of gun violence in Columbia until the city addresses the proliferation of guns and gun culture.

"We need to start having candid conversations about the dangers of gun culture, the proliferation of guns, how guns are getting into the city? Because if we're waiting until guns are already here and then saying, 'OK well, people are using them' you kind of wait. It's grounded too late," Bitoy said.

View the full interview with Buffaloe here.

View the full interview with Murphy here.

View the full interview with Heath here.

View the full interview with Bitoy here.