COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ) The Columbia Police Department and True North of Columbia have a longtime partnership, but roughly a year ago the two started a collaboration aimed at distributing "stop tops." The stop tops are stickers that work as covers for beverages, aimed at preventing drinks from being tampered with or drugged.
The covers contain a hole in the middle that allows people to still drink through the cup with a straw. Executive Director of True North of Columbia Michele Snodderley said the idea to begin distributing the covers happened in 2023. She said some of their college-aged employees reported that either they or someone they knew had someone tamper with their drunk.
Snodderley said at first, she wasn't sure how well received the covers would be. "We thought OK, they're gonna probably take the stop tops and probably wear them as a sticker instead of putting them on the cups," Snodderley said. "But that that wasn't the case.
We had people who come up to us and hug us and share their story about what is happening and it's both men and women." She said the organization works to pass the stop tops out to bars in Downtown Columbia during popular times such as after football games, during the University of Missouri's homecoming and when students return to campus. This will include on Thursday for Halloween.
She said roughly every bar has received them and the organization hopes to spread awareness about the importance of safe drinking. "We're hoping that when we're down .