Columbia officials outline expanded downtown patrols and violence-prevention plan after homecoming shooting

Police and city officials on Monday described stepped-up enforcement downtown and initial violence-prevention work after a shooting during Mizzou homecoming weekend that killed a young woman.

Police Chief Schlutte told the Columbia City Council the department began increasing downtown staffing in June, focusing enforcement Friday and Saturday nights and low-level enforcement to "set the tone." He said "total crime is up about 14.7%" citywide over the most recent 365-day period and that proactive policing has driven a large increase in crimes-against-society reports. Schlutte said the department has returned firearms to people stopped downtown, "on Friday night alone, we located and returned firearms to approximately 20 individuals." He gave a weekend enforcement tally of 202 traffic stops, 83 subject checks, 57 citations, 27 custodial arrests and searches of 19 vehicles.

City officials said stepped-up patrols reflect both a short-term response and continuing staffing constraints: Schlutte reported 12 current officer vacancies plus one sergeant vacancy, 7 officers in field training and 16 in the academy, and said the department hopes to reconstitute a dedicated downtown unit by May 2026…