2025 TBI data shows WCSO saw decrease in crime reported, increase in arrests

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation released its 2025 crime report, showing a slight decrease in offenses reported by the Washington County Sheriff's Office. Washington County saw a nearly 4% decrease in crime rates in 2025 from the previous year and a 1% increase in total arrests made with an average of 1.30 offenses for each arrest, according to a WCSO crime report.The WCSO decrease in crime rates follows a statewide trend. Tennessee experienced a 10% decrease in the number of offenses in 2025, according to TBI data. The TBI uses a National Incident-Based Reporting System that categorizes offenses into two groups: Group A and Group B. Group A offenses are more serious in nature — such as murder, assault, human trafficking — and include 46 different offense types. Group B offense data is only recorded when an arrest is made and includes all other offenses not in Group A, including back checks, driving under the influence and others. In 2025, the WCSO reported more Group B offenses than Group A offenses, with a total of 2,683 arrests. A total of 1,761 Group A offenses were reported in 2025 and include three different categories of crimes: crimes against property, crimes against persons and crimes against society. The most common offense committed was simple assault with 346 reports, according to the data. Offenses listed with zero reports for the WCSO include murder, negligent manslaughter, incest, involuntary servitude, statutory rape, bribery, fraud-computer hacking/invasion, theft-pocket-picking, theft-purse snatching, gambling, prostitution, bad checks, curfew/vagrancy and peeping tom. Out of all the crimes reported in 2025, 521 were drug-related, with the majority of drug-related offenses under the crimes against society category. Crimes against society include drug and narcotic violations, drug and narcotic equipment violations, gambling and other offenses. Created with Datawrapper The data shows WCSO cleared more than 60% of offenses reported in 2025, meaning an arrest was made or cleared by exceptional means. If an offense was cleared by exceptional means, the agency did one of the following: Identified the offender Gathered enough evidence to support an arrest, make a charge and turn over the offender for prosecution in court Identified the offender's location resulting in the suspect being taken into custody Encountered a circumstance outside the control of the agency that prohibited the agency from arresting, charging and prosecuting the offender From 2024 to 2025, the WCSO increased its clearance rate by nearly 20%. Clearance rates statewide decreased by 3%. The majority of crimes reported in 2025 by the WCSO were committed by males, according to the TBI's crime insight platform. Additionally, the offender race reported most frequently was white. The offender ethnicity reported most frequently was not Hispanic or Latino. The age group with the highest number of crimes reported in 2025 was ages 35 through 44. The U.S. Census estimates that in 2025, 88.9% of Washington County residents were reported as white, and 84.5% were reported as white and not Hispanic or Latino. Additionally, more than 50% of the county's population is estimated to be female.