WILSON COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — From crime trends, mental health to the use of artificial technology, Wilson County law enforcement answered some of the most pressing questions in the community.
On Tuesday morning, the Wilson County mayor moderated a panel discussion with every agency in the county.
“I think it’s really incredible that you see all these law enforcement agencies within our county coming together and stand in front of our public and answer some of these questions,” said Zach Patton, Public Information Officer for Lebanon Police.
One of the topics discussed was the use of license plate readers and the high volume of crime bleeding in from Davidson County.
📧 Have breaking news come to you: Subscribe to News 2 email alerts →
“LPR is a tool to prevent crime, and I wish Davidson County, Metro would understand that what they aren’t doing is directly affecting Wilson County,” said Robert Bryan, Sheriff for Wilson County.
Davidson County does not currently have an LPR program in place and because of this, Sheriff Robert Bryan said the Wilson County jail is filling up with criminals from Davidson County.
“If the crime is not domestic related or in the home then 95% are from elsewhere,” said Tyler Chandler, Deputy Chief for Mt. Juliet Police.
Mt. Juliet was the first in Wilson County to install LPRs in the county about four years ago. Now they are looking to expand their drone technology to fight crime.
“We already have a drone piloted by our IT department and we brought that out for a suspect search, and it helped us spot a suspect that was hiding in the woods,” Chandler said.
Chandler said crime trends are down when it comes to stolen vehicles, theft, and burglaries. However, one area that has increased is mental health calls.
“We saw our mental health calls increase from 2023 to 2024 but also what changed is we now have a mental health specialist on staff in the department,” Chandler said.
It’s an initiative Lebanon police started in the county. Lebanon Police PIO, Zach Patton, said their mental health co-responder helped over 200 people alone last year.
“And she’ll go out with an officer every day and essentially go to calls where someone may be having a crisis,” Patton said.
This public safety meeting was part of Mayor Hutto’s “looking into the future series.” The next forum will be in May where the mayor will discuss education.
