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Next Generation
Crime Stats
UCR’s NIBRS Can Offer Fuller Crime Picture
05/05/15
“I believe that NIBRS is the pathway to better data—to richer data—that
we can all use to have informed conversations about the most important
issues we face.”
That statement by FBI Director James Comey regarding the FBI Uniform
Crime Reporting Program’s National Incident-Based Reporting System, or
NIBRS, was part of a speech he delivered recently to the National
Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives on the topic of law
enforcement and race. To help address the issue more effectively, Comey
called for better reporting of incidents where force is used by—as well
as against—police. He noted that current demographic data regarding
officer-involved shootings is not consistently reported to the FBI’s
Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program because reporting is voluntary
for police departments.
The desire to enhance the quality and quantity of the crime data
collected throughout the nation is not new. Back in the 1980s, the
Bureau—working directly with our law enforcement partners to help us
improve UCR—took advantage of a rapidly changing data processing
environment to create a system that would capture more detailed
information on individual crime occurrences. All of this additional
detail would, collectively, paint a more comprehensive picture of crime
on a national level.
NIBRS was officially implemented in 1989. While there have been
agencies submitting NIBRS data since then—mostly through their state
UCR programs—still not enough do so to report on it from a national
perspective. Explains Assistant Director Stephen Morris, who heads up
our Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division, “The biggest
challenge for any agency, whether you’re a local police department or a
state program office, is the resources needed to convert systems to
NIBRS and the personnel needed to oversee those systems.”
The Bureau is undertaking a number of efforts to educate law
enforcement and others on the benefits of NIBRS and to increase
participation in the program. For example, CJIS is in discussions with
its multi-agency Advisory Policy Board about the possible expansion of
data to include non-fatal line-of-duty shootings by law enforcement and
about transitioning to a NIBRS-only data collection. We have also
partnered with the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics
on the National Crime Statistics Exchange, or NCS-X, to assist states
and agencies interested in submitting their crime data through NIBRS.
Said Morris, “You’re never going to have 18,000 agencies providing
data, but if you have most of the major organizations and they’re
geographically dispersed, we’ll be statistically sound as far a
national picture of crime goes.”
Unlike UCR’s traditional Summary Reporting System (SRS), which is an
aggregate monthly tally of crimes in just 10 offense categories, NIBRS
captures—in 24 categories—specific details about crimes and criminals,
such as the date, time, location, and circumstance of the incident as
well as characteristics of the victim and offender—such as age, race,
sex, ethnicity, and any information about their relationship to one
another. “NIBRS has the ability to give you the who, what, when, where,
and sometimes the why of a crime,” added Morris.
Another key difference between the SRS—which has been in operation
since the 1930s—and NIBRS is this: Under SRS, during an incident
involving multiple offenses, only the most serious crime is reported
(i.e., a murder that took place during a robbery would be counted, but
the robbery would not). But in NIBRS, both the murder and the robbery
would be reported, giving us a more accurate accounting of crime.
See link below for Side by Side UCR Comparison
National Incident-Based Reporting vs. Traditional Summary Reporting
When used to its full potential, NIBRS will be able to identify with
precision when and where crime takes place, the form it takes, and the
characteristics of its victims and perpetrators. Armed with this
information, law enforcement agencies can better define the resources
they need and apply them where they’re needed most. And legislators,
municipal planners, academicians, sociologists, advocacy groups, and
the public gain access to more extensive crime data as well.
“And at the end of the day,” said Morris, “NIBRS will also be able to
provide two important elements to law enforcement agencies that have
become so important—accountability and transparency.”
Side by Side Comparison
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