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School Crime Down 9% in Three Years

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT)  --  Crime on the campuses of Tennessee’s schools continues to fall.

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation says simple assaults were the most commonly reported offense in the state’s K-12 schools last year. Kristin Helm is with the TBI.

“Crimes against person’s actually decreased by 4.3 percent, and crimes against property decreased 8.2 percent, which gives an overall decrease of crime committed at school by about 5.5 percent from 2010 till 2011.”

Aggravated assaults were up slightly to 331 incidents and there was one murder reported in 2011.  Memphis police arrested a student in the stabbing death of a private school principle last August.

Interestingly, the lunch hour is the time of day when most crimes are reported, suggesting that the cafeteria is a trouble spot in many schools.

School offenses accounted for just over two percent of all crime reported in Tennessee during 2011.