After compiling crime data for 2016, police with the Metro Nashville Police East Precinct have found that there was a 7.5% drop in crime from 2015 to 2016, making 2016 one of the safest times to live in East Nashville in recent history.
"We saw an all-time reduction in violent crime, we saw an all-time reduction in street robberies, an all-time low in aggravated assaults and in residential burglaries," Commander David Imhof with the Metro Nashville Police Department said.
The statistics were talked about at the weekly crime prevention meeting at the Turnip Truck in East Nashville on Thursday, where citizens are given the opportunity to speak with police about what's happening in their neighborhood.
"If you look at the crime statistics, the numbers are drastically lower than they were ten years ago," Robert Hodge, an East Nashville resident who has been attending the crime prevention meetings for more than three years, said.
While the numbers released are encouraging, crime still exists in East Nashville.
In the days leading up to the second weekly meeting of the year, two businesses were robbed at gunpoint and police believe the robberies were done by the same man.
Two E. Nashville Businesses Robbed; Police Search For Gunman
"It's disturbing, it's unsettling," Hodge said.
Police acknowledge that more work needs to be done to improve the safety of the people not just of East Nashville, but of all of Middle Tennessee. "If you live on a street where
There is crime, your quality of life isn't as great as someone who lives on a block without crime," Imhof explained.
One way police are hoping to cut down on crime is with the help of the public, either in taking steps to prevent crimes from happening to themselves, or by keeping their eyes open in their neighborhood and getting involved.
“Over the years you’ve just seen an explosion of people caring about their neighborhoods and people wanting their kids to be safe and their property to safe and then to have a good quality of life, and I don’t think you’re just seeing that in East Nashville, you’re seeing that across Nashville," Imhof said.
Police ask Nashville homeowners and car owners to make sure their doors are locked, especially a night, and that valuables be kept out of plain sight.
