Police, city could monitor cameras, ban gang members from downtown
Interim Columbia Police Chief Ruben Santiago says he has concerns about closing streets in Five Points on weekend nights.
Santiago said he has seen the concept — which supporters say would ease crowding and let police keep tabs on who comes into the area — work, usually in cities with plenty of public transit. But he said he’s worried that people would have to park far away and that crime could follow them.
“We need to have a sound program, a sound plan when it comes to parking,” Santiago said at a news conference. “I don’t want to start closing off streets in the hopes that we’ll be able to reduce crime when we start to displace it.”
The idea was one of five that university President Harris Pastides included in a statement earlier this month that called Five Points unsafe late at night. Along with mandatory 2 a.m. bar closings, road closures were one of two of his proposals that the Five Points Association has said it opposes.
Santiago spoke for nearly an hour Friday, talking broadly about violent crime issues in Columbia. So far this year, Columbia has had 63 attempted murders, and 56 involved guns, he said. In a third of those attempted murders, the victims didn’t do anything to provoke an attack.
“It’s bigger than Five Points, but we need to use this as an example going forward,” Santiago said.
He also emphasized strategies to handle issues in Five Points. They are:
Cameras The city has posted signs throughout the area that say Five Points has surveillance cameras in an effort to deter crime. While the district has hundreds of cameras, they’re only reviewed after a crime is committed. Santiago said he wants them to be actively monitored.
Lights Santiago said the city has trimmed limbs near lights around Five Points and that it needs to evaluate where lights are needed and what kind it uses.
Transportation Visitors need shuttles to private apartment complexes, and taxi companies need to help get people out of the area faster, Santiago said.
Gang Identification Police have created a database of more than 150 known gang members in the city, Santiago said, and Mayor Steve Benjamin is pushing for civil injunctions, which would act as restraining orders against gang members in certain parts of the city.
Crime prevention Santiago said the city needs to identify new crime prevention tools and that it is developing a citywide plan for surveillance cameras.