The state of North Carolina released crime statistics for the 2017-2018 school year with the report revealing positive, along with discouraging, numbers.
Let's start with the good news.
Crime on campus is slightly down overall in the state.
Some areas of note:
- Bomb threats are down 25%
- Assault with a weapon is down 8%
- Robbery with a weapon is down a whopping 88%
Now the bad news.
Sexual offenses and possession of firearms has increased from the 2016-2017 school year to the 2017-2018 school year on campuses statewide.
- Sexual offenses increased by 23 cases, a 48.9 percent rise
- Firearm possession increased by 23 cases, a 21.9 percent rise
- Possession of an alcoholic beverage and sexual assault saw slight increases of 0.9 percent.
Experts say it's hard to say exactly why there was a drastic hike in sexual offenses, but the aftermath of the #metoo movement could have motivated more victims to come forward.
Former and current students WFMY News 2 spoke with said that could be true.
"I think more people are more comfortable coming forward," Liz Downer said.
"Possibly it could be more reporting going on with the 'Me Too' movement, people are more aware and more willing to report," another woman said. "Do we say that's good news? Well not really but I'm glad to know maybe more reporting is going on."
There were decreases in:
- Possession of a weapon excluding firearms and powerful explosives (211, 7.7 percent)
- Assault on school personnel (169, 11.8 percent)
- Bomb threat (22, 24.7 percent)
- Assault resulting in serious injury (21, 32.3 percent)
- Burning of a school building (14, 93.3 percent)
- Robbery with a dangerous weapon (8, 87.5 percent)
- Assault involving the use of a weapon (4, 8.3 percent)
- Taking indecent liberties with a minor (1, 100 percent)
- Rape (1, 50 percent)
The report says "the two most frequently reported crimes in elementary school were possession of a weapon excluding firearms and assault on school personnel. In both middle and high schools, the order of crime frequency was 1) possession of a controlled substance, 2) possession of a weapon excluding firearms, and 3) possession of an alcoholic beverage."
The number of reportable crimes by high school students decreased by 1.6% from 2016-17 to 2017-18.
Guilford County had 323 reportable crimes, a rate of 14.08 per 1,000 students. Forsyth County showed 177 reportable crimes, a rate of 10.58.
The entire report is viewable here.
RELATED: New Facilities Report: Guilford County Schools Needs To Spend Almost $1.5 Billion To Fix Up Schools
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