Crime on Memphis’ major college campuses increased between 2022 and 2023, according to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation’s annual Crime on Campus report.

The increase on college campuses paralleled a similar trend to the city’s reported increase in crime last year, most of which took place during the first nine months of the year.

The Crime on Campus report is released by TBI annually and is based on data reported through the Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System (TIBRS). Colleges and universities in Tennessee have been required to report crimes that take place on campus and student housing to TIBRS since 1989, TBI said in the report.

According to the data, there was a 10.2% increase in crimes reported among Memphis’ major higher-education campuses, an increase from 555 reported crimes to 594. The campuses reviewed by The Commercial Appeal were the University of Memphis, Rhodes College, the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Baptist Health Sciences University, LeMoyne-Owen College, Southwest Community College and the Tennessee College of Applied Technology at Memphis.

Of the almost 600 offenses reported in 2023 across these campuses, 105 were reported as being cleared — where investigators arrest at least one person involved in the crime — last year.

Christian Brothers University is not included in this story because, between 2021 and 2023, CBU reported that there was not a single Group A or Group B offense on campus. A database compiled by USA Today analyzed crimes on college campuses across the country reported through the Clery Act to the U.S. Department of Education showed that CBU reported nine offenses in 2022.

It is unclear why there was a discrepancy.

Group A offenses include major violent and property crimes — like thefts, burglaries, robberies, aggravated assaults and sexual assaults. Group B offenses are a smaller subsection of crimes — like trespassing, public intoxication and writing bad checks.

In addition to crime increasing on Memphis-area college campuses, crime increased by 1.5% for all Tennessee higher education institutions.

What campuses saw the highest increases in crime?

In terms of raw reported offenses, the University of Memphis saw the largest increase in reported crime with 37 more Group A offenses reported in 2023 compared to 2022. The U of M, however, is by far the largest university in the city — with a campus population of 22,754 reported to TBI in 2023.

Placing each college on a more comparable level, by using a rate of crimes per 1,000 people, the biggest increase in reported Group A crimes from 2022 to 2023 was the Tennessee College of Applied Technology at Memphis (TCATM) with a 193% increase between the two years, going from 10.6 crimes reported per 1,000 people to 31.06.

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Right below TCATM was Southwest Tennessee Community College, which had a 37.3% increase — from 2.82 crimes per 1,000 people to 3.88.

Rounding out the top three largest increases was Baptist, which had a 21.48% increase, from 4.46 crimes per 1,000 people in 2022 to 5.42 in 2023.

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center had a 20.85% increase in its crime rate, increasing from 8.4 crimes per 1,000 people to 10.15.

The University of Memphis had a 20.47% increase, with a 13.31 crime rate in 2022 and a 16.04 rate in 2023.

The smallest increase came from LeMoyne-Owen College, which saw a 10.8% increase in 2023. In 2022, LeMoyne-Owen had a crime rate of 1.22 and that rate increased to 1.35 crimes reported per 1,000 people. That reported increase in the crime rate was due to the campus population decreasing, however, and not due to an increase in crimes reported. LeMoyne-Owen reported only a single crime in 2022 and one in 2023.

Only one campus, Rhodes College, saw a decrease in crimes reported between 2022 and 2023. Rhodes saw a 32.6% decrease in its on-campus crime rate.

What crimes were most reported on campuses in Memphis?

Vandalism and theft were the two most commonly reported crimes across each college campus, according to TBI’s report. Much of the crimes reported were various property crimes, though some assaults — both violent and sexual — were reported.

At the U of M, there were 98 reports of vandalism, 70 motor vehicle thefts and 46 thefts from a motor vehicle reported in 2023. There were also 50 various assault offenses reported, with eight of them being aggravated assaults, 21 being simple assaults, 18 being intimidation cases and three stalking incidents.

Rhodes College saw 20 reports of vandalism in 2023, along with 17 thefts from a building, along with 13 other larcenies being reported. There were 14 assaults reported last year, with no aggravated assaults, six simple assaults, three intimidation incidents and five stalking incidents.

The University of Tennessee Health Science Center had 19 vandalism incidents last year, 14 motor vehicle thefts and nine simple assaults. There were no aggravated assaults or stalking incidents reported last year, but four intimidation incidents were reported.

Baptist had three thefts from a motor vehicle, one simple assault and one vandalism incident reported in 2023. Those five offenses were the only ones reported to TBI.

LeMoyne-Owen’s only offense reported to TBI in 2023 was a motor vehicle theft.

Southwest Tennessee Community College reported five instances of vandalism, four thefts from a building and two motor vehicle thefts in 2023. There were three assault offenses, with two being simple assaults and one being an intimidation incident.

Lucas Finton is a criminal justice reporter with The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached at Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, or (901)208-3922, and followed on X, formerly known as Twitter, @LucasFinton.

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: TBI report: Crime rose on most of Memphis’ college campuses in 2023