Clarksville, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) released two publications reporting hate crime in Tennessee and violence directed towards Tennessee Law enforcement officers. Across the state, bias-motivated incidents have increased 1.0% from 2017 to 2018 according to the report. Additionally, from 2015 to 2018 law enforcement officers killed or assaulted have increased 27.6%.
The 2018 Hate Crimes Report from the TBI details crimes motivated by biases. Biases can be based on religion, race, ethnicity, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender and gender identity, and disability. In 2018, 552,110 group A offenses, assault, burglary, damage of property, homicide, theft, robbery, and kidnapping for example, were reported, of those 0.04% were reported with a known bias motivation. According to the report, crimes of the crimes that have been motivated by bias, 55.6% were because of the victim’s race, ethnicity, or ancestry. Biases towards African Americans accounted for 31.6% of the total reported number of hate crimes, down 6.1% from 2017.
In 2018, Clarksville reported four victims of assault as a result of racial biases. In 2017, only one victim of assault, and one victim of intimidation as a result of racial bias was reported. Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office reported one victim of assault due to sexual orientation bias and one victim of assault due to gender bias in 2018.
The TBI collects all hate crime data that are motivated by the offender’s bias against race religion, sexual orientation, ancestry, gender, gender identity, or disability and are committed against person, property of society in accordance with the Federal Crimes Statistics Act of 1990. Law enforcement investigates crimes to conclude if the offence was motivated by bias. Agents use objective facts such as race of victim and offender, bias related drawings at the crime scene, comments from the offender, objects used and left at the crime scene, group affiliations, and dates or holidays the crime was committed.
Law Enforcement Officers Killed or Assaulted Report (LEOKA)
According to the LEOKA report, 2,313 law enforcement officers were killed or assaulted in the line of duty in Tennessee. Assault accounted for the most offences to a law enforcement officer with 1280 occurrences, with hands, feet, or teeth being the most common weapon used by offenders. Officers responding to disturbance calls or attempting arrests were subject to the most assault.
2018 did see the one law enforcement officer murdered in the line of duty. Sergeant Daniel Scott Baker of the Dickson County Sheriff’s Officer was killed in the line of duty on May 30, 2018. Sergeant Baker was shot and killed when responding to a call about a suspicious vehicle. The subject who shot Sergeant Baker was found days later and arrest with Baker’s handcuffs.
The information in the report is collected through the Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System.