The Columbia Police Department plans to add 50 officers over the next four to six years following the passing of Proposition 1, a public safety tax. Assistant Chief Mark Fitzgerald said increased staffing will allow CPD to prioritize enforcing misdemeanor crimes that the department believes precede violent felonies and pursue other tactics to ensure downtown safety. He added that this is not the one-stop cure to crime. “The solutions they’d have to come from not just the police department, but from the community as a whole,” Fitzgerald said. Story | Daniel Davis II Graphic | Anese Daniel #themaneater #CPDfunding #downtowncolumbia