NASHVILLE—The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released its 2014 Crime in Tennessee report on Monday, and it showed an overall decline in crime, but reported murders increased and arrests for driving under the influence were up slightly.
The annual study compiles data reported from each law enforcement agency in the state, providing an updated and comprehensive picture of the successes and challenges facing communities across Tennessee, a press release said.
Among the report’s findings:
- Overall, reported incidents dropped in the Group A (counted by offenses) category by 2.4 percent and by 2.5 percent in the Group B (counted by arrestees) category.
- Domestic violence offenses made up 51 percent of all offenses in the category of crimes against persons.
- Reported murders increased by 9.9 percent in 2014.
- Weapon law violations decreased by 2.5 percent in 2014.
- Law enforcement departments arrested 26,810 for DUI in 2014, representing a 0.4 percent increase from the previous year.
“We’re extremely thankful for our dedicated law enforcement partners,” said TBI Director Mark Gwyn. “Together, they helped us compile a thorough snapshot of crime in Tennessee. We now hope every department takes this information and works to further address the key crime issues facing their communities and our state.”
As a disclaimer, the TBI said it strongly discourages the ranking and comparison of jurisdictions and their crime rates by the data in the 2014 report. Demographic, socio-economic, and other factors out of the control of law enforcement contribute to the nature of the crimes committed. Crime varies from place to place and ranking the agencies solely on numbers would neither be fair to the agencies nor their communities.
The full Crime in Tennessee report is available online at www.tbi.tn.gov/tn_crime_stats/stats_analys.shtml.
Rick Hasbrouck says
John,
Any idea why Oak Ridge is in non-compliance with reporting? Oak Ridge has nothing reported for 2014, 2013 shows no compliance as well.
Thanks for all you do!
Ellen Smith says
I don’t know the details, but it’s a computer software incompatibility problem. As I understand it, TBI requires data to be reported electronically through a particular interface (that’s the only way they will accept data), and Oak Ridge’s crime data system can’t talk to TBI’s system through the required interface. Oak Ridge has contracted with a new software vendor that is supposed to be compatible with TBI’s software protocol. Go to http://www.raidsonline.com/ to get current crime reports for Oak Ridge,
johnhuotari says
Rick,
I haven’t followed up on this recently, but here’s an excerpt from a story I did in February 2014, when the Oak Ridge City Council agreed to purchase a new hardware and software suite for the Oak Ridge Police Department.
“The Oak Ridge City Council agreed unanimously in a voice vote on Monday to buy the hardware and software suite, as well as technical support services, for $486,808 from Spillman Technologies Inc. of Salt Lake City, Utah.
The hardware and software suite includes a computer-aided dispatch system, or CADS; a records management system, or RMS; mobile and field reporting applications; and barcoding and scanner capabilities. It also includes the electronic, or e-ticket, capabilities and the conversion of older legacy data, as well as the first year of maintenance costs.
“It appears to meet our needs absolutely,” Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson said. “It does modernize our police department tremendously. It also allows us to integrate with the state system.”
Watson was referring to the Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System, or TIBRS, the state’s mandatory crime reporting system. The city’s current system is not compliant with TIBRS, and that could affect the city’s ability to get grants and state and federal assistance, Akagi told Oak Ridge City Manager Mark Watson in a Jan. 28 memo. He said efforts to get the current vendor, TriTech Inc., to help the city make its current system compliant with TIBRS have not been successful.
ORPD now pays TriTech Inc. about $80,000 in annual maintenance fees, and it would have cost about $300,000 to upgrade the system’s 15-year-old technology, Akagi told council members on Monday.”
Here’s a link to that story: http://oakridgetoday.com/2014/02/16/new-orpd-hardware-software-package-allows-officers-issue-electronic-citations/
I hope that helps.
Thank you.
John