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Columbia launches crime-prevention plan
October 31, 2008
Columbia has launched “Operation: Taking Back Our City,” giving city departments enhanced roles in preventing crime, which is up 8 percent so far this year, compared with last year.The level of crime is not acceptable, Mayor Bob Coble said.
“We are declaring war on crime.”
Total violent crimes and total property crimes are each up 8 percent so far this year.
While the lagging economy has contributed to a rise in property crime in the Midlands, city manager Charles Austin said the city must continue to be proactive.
“We can’t allow the status of the economy to cause us to surrender our community,” he said.
City Council members announced the operation Thursday at City Hall, more than a month after a female USC student was forced into an alley at knife-point on Blanding Street and raped.
There also was a series of car break-ins in September and a rash of daylight home burglaries during the summer in the Rosewood area.
Under the initiative, the Public Works Department will conduct a citywide survey of lighting, beginning with high-crime neighborhoods, making improvements where necessary.
The Department of Homeland Security will assign all available community safety officers to neighborhood security patrols, according to the plan.
Those officers, who carry radios, will also have cellular phones and will be expected to visit residents and business owners, documenting contacts and reporting concerns.
Improperly boarded up houses, abandoned cars and over-grown lots, which can be crime dens or places for people to hide, will be documented by Development Services and reported to police.
Austin will provide weekly reports to City Council on the operation’s progress.
The program is not expected to cost additional money, Austin said.
Under the plan, police also have enhanced responsibility.
They will be expected to enhance visibility through more patrols, using special operations to target street-level drug activity, prostitution, random gunfire, auto break-ins, burglaries, robberies and gang activity.
The city is hiring 20 experienced officers. The positions were already included in the budget.
Police Chief Tandy Carter is encouraged.
“This is probably the best example I’ve seen in a very long time of government-oriented policing,” Carter said.
A core element of the plan is communication between city departments and the public, Austin said.
Commanding officers will be expected to spend more time in neighborhoods making contacts with citizens.
The Public Relations Department will be expected to post crime-prevention information more frequently on Channel 2.
Information on nuisance properties and their owners also will be posted on the channel.
Tiffany Hevel, vice president of the College Place Community Council, has been working with police to cut down on crime in her neighborhood.
She recently called police after a man broke into her neighbor’s house, and he was arrested.
The plan provides a system of checks and balances for city government, she said.
“I think it’s wonderful,” Hevel said. “It expresses how they truly desire to work together.”
The State
By LEE HIGGINS
lhiggins@thestate.com
Reach Higgins at (803) 771-8570.