The Columbia Police Officers Association (CPOA) has endorsed challenger Sam Turner in his campaign against Boone County southern district commissioner Justin Aldred.
The CPOA is critical of the city of Columbia’s current approach to community safety and says the whole of Columbia is in Boone County. Commissioner Aldred, a Democrat who is seeking his second term in November, has highlighted public safety in his campaign. He tells 939 the Eagle that he’s proud of April’s groundbreaking for the new multi-million dollar Boone County Sheriff’s regional law enforcement training center in Columbia:
“I think that child care, especially for our first responders, is something that is top of the list. But that’s also something that I’d like to see expanded on in my second term. I’d like to see that pilot be successful,” Commissioner Aldred says.
The new facility will include a 160-seat training room, a driving simulator, an indoor tactical gun range and a large indoor warehouse area for traffic stop training.
Mr. Turner has emphasized public safety in his campaign and appreciates CPOA’s endorsement. He says having a community that’s safe is a important. Mr. Turner, who owns an agricultural business, tells 939 the Eagle that he’s optimistic about winning in November:
“My degree is in economics. So we spent a lot of time looking at the numbers. We’re very optimistic about our chances, and I mean we’re just going to continue to work hard and see what happens,” Mr. Turner says.
Public safety, housing, infrastructure and roads are some of the priorities of the two candidates. Commissioner Aldred was first elected in 2020. He tells 939 the Eagle that about 60,000 residents have moved into Boone County since the last master plan was approved in 1996:
“But the data that we’re seeing from that tells us that we are going to have a need for 37,000 additional housing units by 2050. So that’s something that we want to see a focus on,” says Aldred.
In addition to public safety, Mr. Turner has emphasized infrastructure and says Boone County’s roads need more funding:
“And somebody that can go into the county’s budget, find where we can cut back and put that money towards infrastructure,” says Turner.
Election day is Tuesday November 5. The winner of the Aldred-Turner race will earn a four-year term as commissioner. Today is the deadline for you to register to vote.
