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 when newly trained officers are expected to be available.

At the same meeting the city's Office of Violence Prevention (OVP) presented an initial strategic plan and stakeholder outreach summary. OVP Administrator DeMarcus Thomas Brown described a three-phase approach that begins with assessment and alignment and moves to strategy development and implementation with outside technical assistance; he said the office is pursuing a contract with the National Institute for Criminal Justice Reform and that the office has convened dozens of community groups and nonprofits. Brown said the office is seeking to add two staff positions by fiscal year 2027 to provide continuity and wraparound case coordination.

Council took an immediate legislative action at the end of the OVP discussion: Mayor Buffalo moved and council approved adding to the city's 2026 legislative priorities a proposal that the city support state legislation "requiring lost or stolen guns to be reported to local law enforcement within 72 hours after discovery of the loss." Council members voted to adopt the priorities as amended.

Why this matters: the shooting put a renewed spotlight on downtown safety and created pressure for both short-term enforcement and longer-term prevention. City leaders told council they are balancing immediate patrol increases with investments in prevention, mental-health response and code and street design changes intended to reduce conflict and improve safety.

Council members asked staff to prioritize filling OVP positions as part of the FY2027 budget process. City Manager Carlin Seawood and councilmembers said they want the OVP to return with job descriptions and a timeline so the council can consider funding during the budget cycle.

What officials said and next steps

- Police Chief Schlutte: He emphasized downtown activity after bar close as a focus, tracing enforcement changes to June and noting a roughly 20% increase in overnight staffing from the prior year during peak times. He described efforts with Boone County and the Missouri Highway Patrol and said the city added 27 outside officers for the homecoming weekend.

- OVP Administrator DeMarcus Thomas Brown: Brown highlighted community engagement, said the office is entering the implementation phase and described plans to bring outside technical assistance for a violence-reduction strategic analysis. He asked the council to consider two OVP staff positions for FY2027.

- Council action: Council amended the city's legislative priorities to endorse state reporting of lost or stolen firearms within 72 hours. Councilmembers asked staff to accelerate work on job descriptions and to return with a timeline for hiring OVP positions for FY2027 consideration.

Context and limits

The police presentation included department statistics and examples of recent enforcement; council members and staff repeatedly stressed that some data categories (for example, the increase in "crimes against society") reflect more proactive policing and therefore more detections, not necessarily a pure uptick in all underlying behavior. The OVP report focused on planning, partnerships and early activities; Brown and staff said many items remain in development and would be brought back to council with budgets and timelines before hiring decisions.

Ending: The council and staff said they would continue a mix of short-term enforcement and longer-term prevention work, returning to the council with specific budget requests and timelines for OVP staffing and continuing to coordinate with county and state partners on downtown enforcement and public-safety policy changes.