KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Crime in Knoxville is on the decline and that's according to the Knoxville Police Department.
In 2022, Knoxville had 36 murders, 86 non-deadly shootings and more than 2,300 thefts from cars and trucks.
“We experienced a decrease in homicides by about a third, we had a decrease in non-fatal shootings from about 12%, solve rate increased to well over 70%,” Knoxville Police Chief Paul Noel said.
Those statistics also show a 34% decrease in things being stolen from cars. The drop in crime in Knoxville was better than what the country saw as a whole. Violent crime across the U.S. in 2023 dropped by only 8%.
Chief Noel believes a focus on relationship-building in certain areas has helped, especially in East Knoxville where homicides were down by more than 55% in 2023.
"[We are] using data analytics to identify some of the most violent areas within Knoxville, and also some of the most violent individuals who are operating in those areas,” Chief Noel said. “We have used our proactive efforts to get those individuals off the street, and we're more visible in those high crime areas."
The efforts to reduce crime have been a couple of years in the making. In 2021, Knoxville hired LaKenya Middlebrook as the community and empowerment officer. She said fighting crime is a community effort.
“It's really effective to utilize and work with individuals in our community who are closest to the ground,” Middlebrook said.
There are also organizations across the city working to reduce crime. One of those is a group called Turn Up Knox. Denzel Grant is the director of the organization.
“Juvenile crime actually hit a 10-year low last year,” Grant said. “To see the results of the work that's being put in, not only by organizations, like ourselves, city leaders, other grassroots organizations that are getting out there.”
Denzel said one way to further reduce crime is to work to get to the root of the problem.
“There are economic factors that go into people committing gun violence, whether it's lack of housing, lack of financial resources, lack of employment,” he said. "These are a lot of the factors that pretty much push people into a position of survival. A lot of people don't get to experience morality, and when you don't get to experience morality, you're just really focused on the need to survive. And I think that's where a lot of our gun violence stems from.”
And all three agree most importantly, it's up to the community to help reduce crime in our city.
To see the report, you can find the statistics here.