Columbia to hire attorney to deal specifically with federal gun crimes
The city of Columbia is taking another step to deal with the persistent issue of gun crime.
The Columbia Police Department is set to hire an attorney who will work as a special assistant U.S. attorney assigned to the U.S. Attorney’s office for the specific purpose of prosecuting federal gun crimes that are investigated by Columbia police. Columbia City Council approved the creation of the new position, which initially will be funded by a federal grant.
Police Chief Skip Holbrook said the department will work to identify funding to keep the attorney position going beyond the life of the grant. The department likely will hire the new prosecutor in coming weeks.
In a conversation with The State, Holbrook noted the police department has taken a number of steps toward dealing with gun violence in recent years, including using ShotSpotter gunshot detection technology in parts of the city where shootings are the most frequent. It also has established a Crime Gun Intelligence Unit, a dedicated team that works to identify gun crime offenders, as well as firearms sellers and buyers, in order to make arrests.
But while those elements have been effective at the investigative level, Holbrook said the logical next step was initiating a process focused on the prosecution of gun crime, particularly crimes that rise to the federal level.
“We have all this technology, analysis, investigative resources for identifying and investigating our trigger-pullers and prolific offenders,” Holbrook said. “This gives us a dedicated person that exclusively is going to work on prosecuting those impact cases that affect Columbia.”
Holbrook said this is the first time the Columbia police have ever designated a special assistant U.S. attorney specifically for firearm prosecution.
Third-term Columbia Mayor Steve Benjamin was bullish on the idea of the special assistant U.S. attorney, particularly if it leads to lasting accountability for those who commit gun crimes in the capital city.
“This is a continuation of the innovative work that Chief Holbrook and the CPD have been doing,” Benjamin told The State. “I can’t think of any other city that has forged this partnership to focus intently on gun crimes and taking shooters off the street. We invest heavily in deterrent programs and the like, but we have to be unapologetic in fighting gun crimes and taking shooters off the street, and making sure we hold them accountable.
“That’s what this position will help us do.”
Gunfire remains troublesome in the capital city.
Columbia’s ShotSpotter technology, which uses sensors placed at various spots in the city to capture the acoustic sound of gunfire, alerts officers when shots have been fired and gives them a location of the incident and a head start getting to the scene.
According to statistics provided by police, since June 1, 2020, Columbia police have responded to more than 1,300 ShotSpotter alerts. They have recovered more than 2,600 shell casings. There were 48 people shot among those ShotSpotter cases, eight of them fatally. Nearly 40 people have been arrested in the last year in connection with ShotSpotter responses.
And violence has continued to be a problem statewide. In a Thursday news conference, South Carolina Law Enforcement Division Chief Mark Keel said more people were murdered in the state in 2020 than in any previous year on record, and that shootings have been on the rise in the Palmetto State. Murders increased by 25% in 2020 over 2019.
“I never dreamed I would be talking about a 25% increase in murders,” statewide, Keel said at the Thursday conference.
Holbrook admits firearm-related violence continues to worry him at the city level.
“I remain very concerned about gun crime,” Holbrook said. “The loss of life speaks for itself. There has to be a greater value placed on life and the sanctity of human life. Violent crime in general is a clear and present threat to the success of our city and communities. When people want relocate business and bring families and live in Columbia, the first things they do is look at schools and crime rates. We’ve got to do everything in our power to drive violent crime down.”
The Columbia chief said having a dedicated gun prosecutor working with the U.S. Attorney’s office will signal to would-be offenders that cases are being moved along expeditiously.
“We have to show results and follow-through,” Holbrook said. “Meaning we identify a person as a trigger-puller, a problem in the community, we make the arrest, we get him detained, we get him prosecuted, he goes away to prison, he’s not recommitting crimes in the community, and people can see that and say, ‘They are doing what they said they were going to do.’”
This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 3:05 PM.
