Has crime gone up in Columbia in 2021? A look at the numbers

Overall crime has gone down in Columbia in 2021, though violent crime has been on the rise.

That was one takeaway from a discussion Columbia Police Chief Skip Holbrook had with the Columbia City Council on Tuesday.

Police statistics show that overall crime is down 4% this year, as compared to the same time a year ago. City police have investigated 4,647 crimes this year, while they had investigated 4,860 incidents by this time in 2020.

Property crimes in the city are down 6% so far in 2021, going from 4,168 at this point in 2020 to 3,900 so far this year.

But violent crime is ticking upward in the Capital City, according to statistics offered by Holbrook. It’s up by about 8% in 2021, with 747 violent crimes so far this year compared to 692 at this point in 2020.

“Gun crimes remain an issue we must address with urgency,” Holbrook said.

Per city records, incidents in which a person was hit by gunfire are up by 29% in 2021, with 66 incidents this year compared to 51 at this time in 2020. However, gun-related murders are down slightly, with 11 this year compared to 12 at this point last year.

Columbia police have been steadily making more firearms possession arrests in recent years. In 2016, city police made 197 charges related to firearm possession. That number has climbed every year since, peaking at 432 charges in 2020. Holbrook said 2021 could eclipse last year’s number. As of Sept. 13, police had made 334 charges related to gun possession.

And the city police have increasingly seized guns in the last five years. In 2016, the department seized 493 guns. That climbed to 888 guns seized in 2019, with 852 seized in 2020. This year Columbia police have seized 613 guns, and Holbrook said he expects the number will likely match 2020’s total by year’s end.

In 2019, the city department used a federal grant to create a gun crime intelligence unit. Members of that unit help identify gun crime offenders as well as firearms sellers and buyers in order to make arrests. The team also has a member dedicated to working with a national database of ballistic evidence that helps match firearms, bullet casings and slugs to guns and shooters.

The city police department also is contending with officer vacancies on its staff. The CPD is budgeted for 436 sworn officers, and it currently has 343 on staff. Holbrook confirmed to The State that, of the 93 sworn officer vacancies, 52 are for “front line” patrol officers, i.e. the type of officers who respond directly to calls for service.

The number of budgeted officer positions at the Columbia department has increased in recent years. The department had 408 budgeted officer posts in 2015, compared to 436 now, per city records.