Task force to address crime increase

By Juana Summers

Published Dec. 4, 2007

A multi-agency task force spearheaded by the Columbia Police Department will address the increase in violent crime in Columbia, city officials announced at a news conference Friday morning.

A sergeant from the Columbia Police Department will head the 10-member task force, which will include members from the MU Police Department, Columbia Police Department, Boone County Sheriff's Department and the FBI, Columbia Police Chief Randy Boehm said.

The formation of the task force is largely a response to the 17 percent increase in violent crime in the city. Boehm said the increase, which is a larger increase than has been seen in the last five years, is not unique to Columbia.

"A lot of it is an indication that violent crime is increasing across the country," Boehm said.

Robbery and shots fired have been the most common crimes that have increased in Columbia, Boehm said. He also said the increase in shots fired within the city is difficult to track but is an area of particular attention.

Boehm said the Columbia Police Department monitors the levels of crime on a regular basis and looks at increases and decreases on a monthly basis.

"The question becomes more whether there is anything that we think we can or should do to help the issue," Boehm said.

Creating the task force with the aid of other local and national agencies is one response to the recent spike in crime, he said.

Boehm said the task force's primary goals include meeting on a daily basis and discussing crimes committed in multiple 24-hour periods. The task force would identify those responsible for committing violent crimes and emphasize specifically on instances of shots fired, he said.

Boehm said the primary reason for working with multiple law enforcement agencies was "to share in the resources."

"We felt like we needed to put as many people on this task force as we could, but we were limited by how many people we could pull from our agency," Boehm said.

MU Police Department Capt. Brian Weimer said the university department has contributed one officer to the task force and the department has not yet determined what other resources it will contribute.

He also said the rise in violent crime in the city has not been paralleled by a rise in violent crime on the MU campus.

"There has fortunately not been a large increase in violent crime," Weimer said. "There have been incidents on campus, but it is important for us to be on the task force and to work with these other agencies before that crime does extend to campus."

Special Agent Jeff Lanza, a spokesman for the FBI, could not be reached for comment regarding the agency's role in the task force.

Boehm said that through cooperation with other agencies, multi-jurisdictional issues could potentially be handled more effectively.