Campus Security Report Shows Decline in Crime
- By Sydny Shepard
- Mar 16, 2016
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released its annual “Crime on Campus” report and the statistics shine a new light on violence at colleges and universities across the Volunteer State.
The numbers show that overall, crime is down at colleges and university campuses, but the TBI said sex crimes are on the rise and it’s hoping that this report will serve as a tool to change that. Jackson State Community College Police Chief Darron Billings said that the college’s goal is for the crime stat to be zero, a number that campuses nation-wide strive for.
While across the state some campuses fared better than others, the overall campus crime went down 7 percebt between 2014 and 2015. The West Tennessee colleges and universities seemed to show a more significant decrease in crime than other schools in the state. Lane College saw a significant decrease in crimes like burglaries and assaults while Freed-Hardeman University had a slight increase in thefts. Jackson State Community College and Union University both stayed relatively the same with low numbers across the board.
The TBI is concerned that although crime is down, forcible sex offenses like rape are up more than 25 percent.
Although crime may never fully go away, students said the statistics are the first step in bringing the crime rate even further down.
About the Author
Sydny Shepard is the Executive Editor of Campus Security & Life Safety.