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One of two portable lights sits in front of Seoul Taco on Monday, on Broadway in Columbia. There is another light placed on the corner of Broadway and Tenth Street in front of Nash Vegas.

A truck drives by the mobile security lights downtown put up by the police Monday at the corner of Broadway and Hitt Street in Columbia. Columbia police put up the lights in an attempt to deter crime.

A new security light is moved to the corner of Broadway and Tenth Street on Monday in Columbia. The hope is these lights will increase safety downtown.

One of two portable lights sits in front of Seoul Taco on Monday, on Broadway in Columbia. There is another light placed on the corner of Broadway and Tenth Street in front of Nash Vegas.

A truck drives by the mobile security lights downtown put up by the police Monday at the corner of Broadway and Hitt Street in Columbia. Columbia police put up the lights in an attempt to deter crime.

A new security light is moved to the corner of Broadway and Tenth Street on Monday in Columbia. The hope is these lights will increase safety downtown.

In an effort to discourage crime downtown, the city has rolled out a set of portable lights attached to trailers to be used in high-traffic areas.

Columbia Police Department spokesperson Jeff Pitts said the city began using the lights as a temporary solution in December to illuminate densely populated areas with the hope that they would stop people from loitering as well as the potential crime that comes with large groups gathering.

It’s a stopgap version of the city and The District’s plan to install new streetlights that change brightness at different times.

Pitts said an increase in shots fired incidents downtown led the city to implement the portable lights.

From the beginning of January to April 19, the Columbia police dispatch recorded 51 instances of shots fired reported in Columbia. Most recently, one person was injured in a shooting downtown early Sunday morning.

In 2021, The District paid the city $30,000 for the installation of permanent lights downtown that will have the ability to act as normal streetlights or be turned up to a daylight mode. The District’s executive director, Nickie Davis, said the lights will be scheduled to turn up to the daylight level when bars close.

“This was a process we started a long time ago, and we really want to be able to help CPD (Columbia Police Department) disperse crowds after bars are out,” she said. “I think this will help lingering people that like to start stuff in the middle of the night.”

These lights have yet to be installed. Davis said she thinks it will be another six to eight months before the permanent lights are installed as the city waits to receive missing parts.

In the meantime, the lights currently being used are attached to trailers that can be moved easily. Pitts said they have been placed strategically and are moved on a case-by-case basis. When there was a concert at a downtown bar last weekend, for example, the department moved an extra light to the area.

Pitts said that if Columbia police start to see issues in a certain area of downtown, they might move the lights to illuminate it.

There is no set schedule for when these lights are turned on, Pitts said. It is up to the department’s watch commanders to make that decision.

He said that the portable lights haven’t been up long enough to be able to say definitively whether they are effective in deterring crime.

Tera Eckerle, lead day server at Tellers Gallery & Bar downtown, said she is happy about the portable lights, especially after a recent incident at the bar in which someone appeared to have shot a BB gun at the window.

Eckerle said that when she used to work nights, the streets would be crowded with people, which she found scary. She said she thinks the crowding at night is getting worse but the lights will help reduce that and, consequently, the risks that come with.

“It’s always at dark when the lights go down, when all the shadows come out,” she said.

Police responded to the downtown intersection of Ninth and Cherry streets around 1:45 a.m. Sunday.

K-12 education reporter, spring 2022 Studying journalism and minoring in sociology and Italian. Reach me at maggietrovato@mail.missouri.edu

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Assistant city editor, spring 2021. Studying print and digital news journalism. Reach me at skylarlaird@mail.missouri.edu, or in the newsroom at 882-5720.

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City and County Government editor 573-882-4557 anklamf@missouri.edu

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