Here at the Law Office of Rob McKinney, we know that a Tennessee conviction for DUI, drugs or other crime can have a devastating effect on a person’s life. That is especially true if you are a college student. Your conviction could follow you “forever,” making it difficult for you to work in the field of your choice.
The good news, as reported by Knox News, is that the overall crime rate on Tennessee’s college campuses decreased by 2.8 percent last year. The bad news is that DUI incidents increased by over 60 percent, although the 78 reported cases still represent less than 2 percent of overall campus crimes. All information comes from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s annual Crime on Campus report.
Top four campus crimes
Tennessee’s five college campuses have a total student body population of 88,740. Only 1.94 percent of them allegedly committed one or more of the top four campus crimes. As for these four categories, the figures break down as follows:
- Larceny and theft - 822 incidents - 47.85 percent of these four categories
- Drug and narcotic violations - 495 incidents - 25.81 percent of these four categories
- Liquor law violations - 323 incidents - 18.8 percent of these four categories
- DUI - 78 incidents - 4.54 percent of these four categories
Larceny and theft offenses
Larceny and theft incidents remain the top crime problem on all five campuses. These offenses range from theft of small pieces of property such as books, cellphones, laptops, etc., to high-dollar items including vehicles. Unfortunately, law enforcement officials never solve the vast majority of these crimes.
The University of Tennessee has two programs in place to curtail theft. Operation ID encourages students to give campus police the identifying information, such as serial number, of each of their electronics, making these objects easier to track if stolen. GOTCHA authorizes campus officers to leave tickets on any unattended property they find so as to remind students how dangerous it is to leave their property unattended and vulnerable to theft.
Drug and alcohol violations
Drug and alcohol offenses likewise remain a perennial campus crime problem across the state. Alleged offenses range from underage drinking to personal drug possession and usage to student-to-student drug trafficking to driving under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs. As serious and dangerous as these crimes can be, however, it should be noted that barely 1 percent of Tennessee’s overall student population received citations for allegedly committing such crimes.
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