McMinnville police second in solving crimes
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The report, which compiles crime statistics from every jurisdiction in Tennessee, revealed 45.9 percent of crimes reported in McMinnville were solved by arrest or other means in 2002. The crime-solving rate is up over 1 percent from last year. Only Soddy Daisy had a higher rate in medium-sized cities with 54.9 percent clearance; however, Soddy Daisy had significantly fewer crimes reported.
According to McMinnville Police Captain Bryan Denton, the continuing high clearance rate is a testament to teamwork within the department.
“Our statistics are better than most here and that’s because of the quality of our employees,” Denton said. “The patrol division is very good at gathering information and then relaying that to investigators so crimes can be solved.”
As for the number of crimes, McMinnville had the 16th fewest crimes reported among 20 similarly sized cities across the state with 1,691 reported last year. Neighboring Manchester had the least with 878, while Dickson had the most with 2,482. Tullahoma had 2,406, Shelbyville 1,928 while Crossville had 2,322.
While ranking low in crime numbers, McMinnville was fifth on the list of 20 in the number of arrests made. McMinnville had 923 arrests last year, a number which was actually down from 1,091 in 2001. The arrest numbers fell well short of those of Tullahoma with 1,310 and Crossville 1,348; however, the number was significantly higher than Manchester with 336, which had the least of the 20 medium-sized cities.
The juvenile crime news was mixed. While the 171 juveniles arrested in 2002 was down from 219 the year before, McMinnville ranked third on the 20-city survey, behind only Crossville with 198 and Goodlettsville with 183. As means of comparison, Manchester arrested 31 juveniles while Mt. Juliet arrested 21.
Denton said it is encouraging to see a smaller juvenile crime rate, but the numbers, which are higher than most similar sized cities, mean there is much work to do.
“The juvenile crime rate is still high and that disturbs us,” Denton said. “I think programs here to help at-risk children will help us in the long run to reduce the instances of juvenile crime. It just takes time.”
McMinnville was also toward the upper end in drug arrests, placing sixth with 200 made last year. Crossville had double the number with 400 followed closely by Lawrenceburg with 381. Manchester again was on the lower end with just 35 drug arrests.
“We do have a drug problem here and that’s no secret,” Denton said. “But, I also believe we have a high number of arrests because we are working drugs very aggressively and catching people.”
Cases of domestic violence saw McMinnville rank eighth in the 20-city survey with 127 cases in 2002, down slightly from last year. Lawrenceburg had the highest with 445 cases, while Dickson had the next highest with 372 cases.
In other crime areas, McMinnville ranked 13th in DUIs with 68. Shelbyville ranked first with 159. McMinnville ranked ninth in robberies with nine. Springfield was first with 25.
As a reference, Nashville’s crime stats were included separately in the survey revealing there were 89,490 crimes reported with a clearance rate of 21.5 percent and 24,084 arrests. There were 6,550 arrests for drugs, 2,672 juveniles arrested, 7,541 domestics, 2,945 DUI arrests and 2,108 robberies reported in Metro Nashville.
TBI crime stats
Where McMinnville ranks in a TBI survey of 20 similarly sized cities in Tennessee:
Category Rank
Crimes solved 2nd
Total crimes 16th
Total arrests 5th
Juvenile arrests 3rd
Drug arrests 6th
Domestic violence 8th
DUI arrests 13th