Columbia’s commitment to addressing gun violence came from many places — its elected officials, city manager, and the leadership of the Columbia Police Department.
“With so many of the things we deal with today, we can’t police our way out of the problem,” Police Chief Skip Holbrook said. “We had to rethink everything: priorities, strategy, technology, partnerships — and making sure it’s all aligned.”
In 2024, Columbia recorded a 40% decrease in both fatal and non-fatal shootings. At the Municipal Association of SC 2025 Annual Meeting, Holbrook presented on how this drop came about, joined by Deputy Chief Melron Kelly, as well as Cannon Fulmer, a crime analyst with the department.
The department emphasizes evidence-based strategies, Holbrook said, and Fulmer had plenty of data to back up their efforts. He said the City of Columbia comprises about 67 square miles, excluding Fort Jackson, which the department does not police. The “hot spots” where shootings are concentrated amount to just 1.8 square miles — about 3% of the total.
“It's very concentrated among just a small number of people. It's very concentrated to just a small number of places, and it's associated with a small number of behaviors,” Fulmer said.
The department’s gun crime interventions have taken many forms. It developed a Real-Time Crime Center, which takes in information from a security camera network and automated license plate readers. Perhaps the most discussed technology, ShotSpotter, uses acoustic sensors to listen for gunfire and immediately dispatch police to the identified locations.
“Where we deployed ShotSpotter was in some of our most challenged areas, areas that were arguably underserved, that certainly lacked trust in law enforcement and government in general. Before ShotSpotter, gunfire was going unreported 75% to 80% of the time,” Holbrook said.
Other efforts have included hiring a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney within the U.S. Attorney’s Office to prioritize prolific offenders involved in gun crime, as well as a ballistics canine. The department also established a Murder and Non-Fatal Shooting Unit, which cleared 100% of its 2024 murder investigations, compared to a national average of about 60%.
“When you solve a crime, it elevates public trust, it brings closure to families and victims. It's all for a purpose,” Holbrook said.
Columbia Police Department’s ShotSpotter technology.
Photo: City of Columbia.
Columbia police created the Ceasefire Columbia program, which identifies high-risk probationers, and emphasizes to them the consequences of reoffending. It connects participants with many service providers providing social and employment assistance — all ahead of a prolonged follow-up period.
Kelly said that’s it’s important to bring together all stakeholders, even those that don’t like the police, for conversation and to demonstrate that the police want to help.
“You can't lead people unless you love people,” he said. “You have to have the right dosage of enforcement versus intervention. We know that we can't jail our way out of any crime issue that we're facing.”
Fulmer highlighted features of a city’s “built environment” that are known from research to increase the likelihood of gun violence: vacant lots, impromptu paths, also known as desire paths, which pedestrians form across a property, or concentrations of abandoned buildings. Columbia placed codes enforcement under the police department to help remediate these issues, but also the police have identified specific areas to target with high-visibility, proactive police patrolling.
The results in the targeted areas include a 54% reduction in shooting incidents, a 34% reduction in ShotSpotter alerts, 27% reduction in property crimes and 40% decline in arrests.
In all forms of proactive police work, Kelly said, it’s critical to build community relationships well ahead of any crisis.
“Invite [community members] into your organization, be it by a citizen's police academy or an Explorers Program. We have a Young Ambassadors program where we invite high school kids to a roundtable to explain to them what law enforcement does, the same way we do with our citizen review panel. Make them a part of this. This is their police department, this is their city,” he said.