UT System committee reviews 2024 campus crime data; UTC chief outlines staffing, training and AI camera use

At a meeting of the University of Tennessee System trustees' Audit and Compliance Committee, trustees heard a year-to-year summary of 2024 campus crime statistics compiled by the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and an update on public-safety staffing and technology at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Kelly Mahalik summarized the TBI report required by the College and University Security Information Act, explaining that the Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System (TIBRS) uses FBI definitions to categorize offenses and that each campus's rate is calculated per 1,000 people using the 2024 fall-term population. "These statistics are based on data submitted through the TBI's, Tennessee Incident Based Reporting System," Mahalik said.

The data presented showed a statewide decline in several categories in 2024, including assaultive offenses, stalking and drug and narcotics violations, TBI noted. Within the UT System specifically, Mahalik said 2022 was a high watermark, 2023 saw a slight decrease, and the system shows a slight increase from 2023 to 2024.

Campus-level details presented to the committee included: - UT Knoxville: population used for the rate, 44,509. Reported increases in drug and narcotics violations and weapons-law violations; Mahalik told trustees that "95% of those drug violations and 40 out of 41% of the weapons law violations were cleared, meaning an arrest was made for that incident." (The materials given to trustees include full campus breakdowns.) - UT Chattanooga: population 13,103. Reported decreases in vandalism and theft and a slight increase in drug and narcotics violations. - UT Southern: population 1,060. Little change over three years; theft decreased but drug violations rose slightly. UT Southern does not have its own law-enforcement entity; Pulaski Police Department supplied its data. - UT Martin: population 8,493. Slight increases in vandalism and in drug and narcotics violations; Mahalik said 92% of the drug and narcotics reports at Martin were cleared by arrest. - UT Health Science Center: population 7,992. Reported decreases in theft and vandalism and a sharp decline in drug and narcotics violations.

Committee members asked for follow-up detail and additional aggregation. Chairman John Compton requested an aggregated per-thousand comparison for 2022, 2023 and 2024 so the trustees could view an overall trend; a trustee also asked for disposition information and cautioned that the number of reports alone is not always the most informative metric.

Following the statistics presentation, Sean OB4Brien, associate vice chancellor for public safety and chief of police at UT Chattanooga, described his department's priorities since joining UTC in May 2024: rebuilding campus relationships, organizational and professional development to improve retention, and training and equipment for active-violence response. "Our responsibility is to support the mission of the university and everybody who either works here, attends here, or visits here," O'Brien said.

O'Brien told trustees UTC Public Safety is working to reach 24 sworn officer positions and to fill remaining vacancies. He described joint exercises with regional partners, casualty-care and tactical-violence classes supported by THEC, and multi-agency drills that in one recent exercise included more than 100 first responders.

On technology, O'Brien described use of a vendor, Veil AI, to derive live alerts from the university's network of more than 900 cameras. He said the system can flag weapons, falls and unexpected occupancy in sensitive areas and route alerts to dispatch and command staff. "If they are not telling you what is happening right now, they are of very little value," he said of cameras; the AI is intended to provide situational awareness in the moment.

Trustees asked about the AI's accuracy; O'Brien said the vendor partnership is still developing features, but that the system had performed well in drills and had identified weapons or holstered firearms as well as trip-and-fall incidents in testing.

Mahalik, O'Brien and trustees noted that some increases in drug and weapons reports can reflect proactive, self-initiated policing rather than a rise in criminal behavior. Mahalik said the TBI data represent incidents reported to or initiated by law enforcement and do not necessarily reflect final charging decisions.

The committee did not vote on new public-safety policy at the meeting. Trustees asked staff to provide an aggregated per-thousand comparison for 20222024 and to follow up with additional detail on categories such as fraud and counterfeiting and on dispositions where available.

Less-critical procedural items that followed included approval of minutes and a consent agenda (voice approvals). The committee adjourned into a nonpublic executive session under Tennessee Code Annotated section 4-35-108 to review matters not subject to public inspection.