At the height of the Black Lives Matter movement — after George Floyd’s murder at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer in 2020 prompted nationwide outrage over police brutality — education leaders in Montgomery County, Maryland, removed campus cops from schools.

Similar actions swept the country: Dozens of districts cut ties with the police, satisfying advocates who argued the officers did more harm than good. But the decision in this suburban Washington, D.C., school system was short lived. A year later, in April 2022, the district and the police department quietly signed an agreement to bring back the officers.

The reversal, which followed multiple campus safety incidents including a shooting inside a high school, came amid a national shift in the sentiment around school safety. As students returned to classrooms following pandemic-induced campus closures, educators reported that children brought with them newfound behavioral and mental health challenges that put teachers and other youth at risk.

New federal data, however, complicate that narrative: In the immediate aftermath of the pandemic, the latest figures from 2022 show, campus violent crime continued a decades-long plunge.

In a national survey of youth ages 12 to 18, students reported that they were the victims of campus violent crime — including rape, robbery and assault — at a rate of 15.6 incidents per 1,000 students in 2022, the first year that students nationwide returned to in-person learning. That’s a decline from pre-pandemic levels: In 2018, for example, students reported a campus violent crime victimization rate of 24 incidents per 1,000. A decade ago, the rate was nearly double that.

The data, which reflect an ongoing national drop in violent crime as well, were detailed in a new report by the U.S. Departments of Education and Justice, which includes information on a host of indicators related to campus violent crime, safety and security. In total, the figures suggest that campus violent crime has decreased since the pandemic with one notable exception. School shootings, while statistically rare compared to other forms of campus disorder, were once again at an all-time high.

Read the full article about the drop in campus crime by Mark Keierleber at The 74.