Star Staff Reports
In a departure from trends over the past several years, preliminary crime rates and figures from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) released by the UofM Public Safety Institute and the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission show a decline in reported major violent crime during the first quarter of this year and an increase in reported major property crime.
For the first quarter of the year (January – March), the major violent crime rate (murder, rape, aggravated assault, and robbery) dropped 6.2 percent in Memphis and 5.1 percent countywide.
Murders were static in Memphis and dropped 6.2 percent countywide. While the number of reported aggravated assaults had driven increases in the past two years, there was an 11.0 percent drop in the aggravated assault rate in Memphis and a 9.3 percent drop throughout the county. On the other hand, contrary to recent downward trends, the robbery rate went up – by 29.9 percent in both Memphis and countywide.
Contrary to recent trends, the major property crime rate (burglary, motor vehicle theft, and other felony theft) went up – by 6.9 percent in Memphis and 3.7 percent countywide.
The increase was driven by significant increases in reported burglaries (up 23.2 percent in Memphis and 11.8 percent countywide) and reported motor vehicle thefts (an increase of 12.8 percent in Memphis and 11.0 percent throughout the county).
The domestic violence rate was down compared to the first quarter of last year (7.7 percent in Memphis and 8.5 percent countywide).
The TBI also tracks overall crime by looking at 54 separate categories. Both Memphis and all of Shelby County showed slight increases – 3.6 percent in Memphis and 2.5 percent in all of Shelby County.
In an encouraging sign, crime involving firearms was down 7.3 percent in Memphis and 6.4 percent in all of Shelby County.
The release of the preliminary first quarter crime data was delayed due to technical issues in transmitting data from the Memphis Police Department to the TBI. The issues were resolved two weeks ago.
“We just don’t know whether these significant swings in decreases and increases in specific categories reflect new trends or a three-month aberration. It will be interesting to see what the second quarter shows,” said Bill Gibbons, executive director of the UofM Public Safety Institute and president of the Memphis Shelby Crime Commission.
Gibbons noted that the decrease in crimes involving firearms is probably attributable to the decrease in reported aggravated assaults, with most reported aggravated assaults involving guns.
“We still have a long way to go. Our violent crime rate – and especially our level of gun violence – remains alarmingly higher than just a decade ago,” said Gibbons.
