Columbia Mayor, council members talk scope of proposed gun violence prevention office

By Chris Joseph

Published: Aug. 31, 2022 at 7:33 AM EDT in the |Updated: Aug. 31, 2022 at 9:57 AM EDT

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - On Tuesday, the Columbia Police Department reported an 18 percent jump in total shootings since this point last year.

Columbia Mayor Daniel Rickenmann gave his pitch to the city council for a “Mayor’s Office of Gun Violence Prevention” to help reverse the trend.

Council was receptive, but questions of how much the office would be responsible for followed.

Rickenmann’s proposal asked for $802,800 for three years of funding for the office. If voted into existence as pitched, the office would include a director overseeing a team of “violence interrupters” and partnership coordinators.

“We’ve got to do something different, and we’ve got to have somebody who’s a lead coordinator. Right now there’s not a lead coordinator anywhere,” he said.

The proposal laid out how the office would mediate conflicts and would act as a “quarterback” for law enforcement and non-profits for joint organizing and funding to combat gun violence.

Additionally, Rickenmann argued the office would allow the city to be eligible for federal grants, third-party grants and corporate funding.

WIS first covered the proposed plan on Monday.

Rickenmann’s presentation expanded on the documents originally included in the agenda, reflecting a grid chart on prevention, intervention and enforcement when it comes to people, places and behaviors.

The council’s conversation focused on what the office would be responsible for, ranging from judicial reform and blight removal to therapy and community building.

District 1 Councilwoman Tina Herbert gave some pushback. Her district was identified by the Columbia Police Department as an area with several hotspots for gun violence.

“I think that I would feel more comfortable with us being a resource for the issue because if we put ourselves out as the leader, then people are going to expect us to solve the problem and I don’t know if we have the specific capacity to do that,” she said.

Herbert advocated for a more tailored approach.

“I think that if we’re way too broad, it’s going to be very hard for someone who comes in to really be able to hone in on any particular objectives. So I would like for us as we further discuss this to narrow the focus in some regard,” she said.

Rickenmann said gun violence is the product of several factors and all need to be addressed.

“If you look at the root cause of gun violence, all those aspects are interacted. You can’t just pick one or two and focus on that. We’ve got to draw the right experts in to and the right community partners, law enforcement together to hit on all of them,” he said.

No decisions were made about the proposal and a timeline to move forward is unclear.

At-Large City Councilman Howard Duvall recommended moving the proposal to the council’s public safety committee, something Rickenmann resisted in order to further iron out details of the office.

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