Crime in Memphis dropped in almost every major category, according to Tennessee Bureau of Investigation data reviewed by the Memphis Shelby County Crime Commission.
The data shows a substantial drop in major property crime, which includes burglaries, thefts and motor vehicle theft. That category dropped nearly 20% between 2024 and 2023.
Major violent crime had a much less substantial drop year-over-year, with a 4.2% drop recorded for murders, rapes, aggravated assaults and robberies. Aggravated assaults, though the raw number of them was lower in 2024 than in 2023, was the only crime rate to see an increase.
The aggravated assault rate, which scales for changes in population size, rose 0.6% between 2023 and 2024. That increase was due to estimated population losses.
Mayor Paul Young speaks to the media to address a new report from the U.S. Department of Justice that found MPD routinely engages in policing that violates Memphians’ civil rights as Memphis Interim Police Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis looks on during a press conference at Memphis City Hall in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday, December 5, 2024.
Here is how violent crime compared in 2024:
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The murder rate dropped from 56.4 murders per 100,000 people to 39.8 murders, reflecting a 29.5% decrease.
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The rape rate dropped from 76.6 rapes per 100,000 people to 70.4 rapes, reflecting an 8.1% decrease.
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The aggravated assault rate increased from 2,082.2 aggravated assaults per 100,000 people to 2,094.4 aggravated assaults, reflecting a 0.6% increase.
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The robbery rate decreased from 452 robberies per 100,000 people to 351.3 robberies, reflecting a 22.3% decrease.
Here is how property crime compared in 2024:
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The burglary rate dropped from 1,091.9 burglaries per 100,000 people to 881.9 robberies, reflecting a 19.2% decrease.
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The theft offense rate dropped from 5,129.8 thefts per 100,000 people to 4,566 thefts, reflecting an 11% decrease.
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The motor vehicle theft rate dropped from 2,565.3 motor vehicle thefts per 100,000 people to 1,607.3 thefts, reflecting a 37.3% decrease.
In recent months, Memphis Mayor Paul Young has touted dramatic decreases in crime. Those decreases are based on the raw numbers of major violent and property crimes within the city.
Why do Memphis crime stats differ from TBI stats?
Most numbers, comparing TBI and the city’s statistics, are similar. However, aggravated assaults have a massive variation. In 2024, the city reported 7,649 aggravated assaults. TBI, by contrast, reported 12,881 aggravated assaults.
Both numbers come from Memphis Police Department data, and both numbers are technically correct, but categorize aggravated assaults on a different basis. The city’s data is incident-based, meaning that if four people are victims of a singular assault — such as a non-fatal drive-by shooting — that is counted as one incident.
TBI’s numbers are broken down by victims. By TBI’s count, the incident described above would count as four aggravated assaults.
Those differences drive the majority of discrepancies between the data that the City of Memphis presents publicly and those that TBI calculates. Looking at the same violent crime categories between the city and TBI — murder, aggravated assaults and robberies — the total violent crime rate displayed by the city is 1,616.6 crimes per 100,000 people and TBI’s is 2,485.5.
Gerald Stubbs, an off-duty Memphis Police Department officer, watches as MPD officers, as well as officers and deputies from nearby departments, take part in a Sea of Blue, a procession of police vehicles with their lights flashing, to honor slain MPD officer Joseph McKinney on Sunday, April 21, 2024. McKinney was killed in a shootout April 12 while responding to a “suspicious vehicle” call.
The city’s crime rate, for those same crimes, dropped by 7.4% according to the city’s count, but only dropped by 4.1% per the TBI data. The differences are slim, but show the same trend: violent crime took a slight step back to the mean last year and property crime took a larger jump.
Crime down from 2023 highs
That decrease is compared to 2023’s near-record-high crime statistics, however. The decrease, while applauded by officials, has regularly been referenced as a starting point for lowering Memphis crime.
Most categories of violent and property crime still outpace crime rates from 2016 and earlier, aside from rapes and burglaries, but many of the crime categories are returning to pandemic-era levels.
Murders in 2024 were below pre-pandemic levels, and the aggravated assault rate dipped below 2021 levels during the pandemic. In cases where violent crimes were not lower than their counterparts in 2021, they were less than 10% higher.
Property crime, however, continues to be nearly 27% higher compared to 2021.
Lucas Finton covers crime, policing, jails, the courts and criminal justice policy for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by phone or email: (901)208-3922 and Lucas.Finton@commercialappeal.com, and followed on X @LucasFinton.
This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis crime down in 2024, but not to pre-pandemic levels
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