MURFREESBORO, Tenn. (WMOT) -- A new report shows a sharp and steady decline in the number of crimes committed at Tennessee schools.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation today released its annual School Crime Report. The report covers both public and private schools and includes grade school through High School.
During the three year period ending in 2014, crime in Tennessee schools fell 14.4 percent. Simple assaults were the most common crime reported, but the number of assaults fell over the three year period by nearly 20 percent.
Among the more interesting findings: Guns were used 264 times in the commission of a school crime, and while African Americans students account for just 24 percent of Tennessee’s student population statewide, they are the victims of nearly half of all school crimes.
The TBI issues a separate annual report for crime on the state’s college campuses. Those reports have shown a slower but equally steady decline in crime.