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Justice
Records Improvement Program
National Incident-Based Reporting
System (NIBRS) Implementation Program
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NIBRS | Program activities | State-by-State
summary | Related sites
About the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)
The FBI's Uniform
Crime Reporting (UCR) program, which began in 1929, collects information
about crimes reported to the police. In 1982, BJS and the FBI sponsored
a study of the UCR Program with the objective of revising it to meet law
enforcement needs into the 21st century. A 5-year redesign effort to provide
more comprehensive and detailed crime statistics resulted in the National
Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) which collects data on each reported
crime incident. The UCR Program is currently being expanded to NIBRS.
Currently under the
Summary system, law enforcement authorities aggregate the number of incidents
by offense type monthly and report these totals to the FBI. Under
incident-based reporting, agencies will provide an individual record for each
crime reported.
The Summary UCR Program
collects offense information on the eight Part I crimes of homicide, forcible
rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle
theft, and arson. It provides limited information about offenses, victims
and offenders, and includes reported arrests for 21 additional crime
categories. Under NIBRS, law enforcement authorities will provide information
to the FBI on each criminal incident involving 46 specific offenses, including
the 8 Part I crimes, that occur in their jurisdiction. Details about each
incident include information about multiple victims and offenders. Arrest
information on the 46 offenses plus 11 lesser offenses is also provided in
NIBRS.
See the current level
of UCR participation by State as of August,
2001.
For additional information, see also:
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Program Activities
Financial assistance
The objective of this program is to improve the quality of crime statistics
in the United States by implementing the National Incident-Based Reporting
System (NIBRS). This
program provides funding to States (in conjunction with units of Local
government) and tribes that want to participate in the FBI's new approach
to uniform crime reporting, NIBRS.
The NIBRS awards were made to States applying on behalf of one or more
cities or counties in the State, regardless of whether the state maintains
a UCR program. Funds were also provided for use at the State level, provided
that the State also received funds on behalf of a city or county jurisdiction.
This program was funded under the Crime
Identification Technology Act of 1998, P.L.105-251 (CITA).
Technical assistance and research
BJS supports additional technical assistance, research, and training to assist jurisdictions in implementing NIBRS-compliant systems and analyzing NIBRS data.
- Overall NIBRS support, including technical assistance for systems implementation and data analysis, is provided by SEARCH, The National Consortium for Justice Information and Statistics. Assistance includes onsite visits, web assistance, guidance via telephone and email, and training seminars. A website has been created and will be enhanced to include State and local profiles of NIBRS activity. Classes will be conducted to train practitioners on programs suitable for analysis of NIBRS data. The technical assistance program builds upon extensive previous efforts to review ongoing NIBRS activity and to identify impediments to NIBRS implementation and recommend solutions to these problems.
- The Incident-Based Reporting Resource Center, an online resource for incident-based crime data, was established by the Justice Research and Statistics Association with BJS support. The Center seeks to put practical analytical information and tools into the hands of analysts who want to work with incident-based data, and to provide a forum where analysts can exchange information and ideas about using incident-based data.
- BJS annually sponsors the American Statistical Association (ASA) and BJS Statistical Methodological Research Program through the ASA Committee on Law and Justice Statistics. This program is designed to encourage the creative and appropriate use of criminal justice data to inform substance and methodological issues. Special funding has been obtained specifically for researching topics pertaining to NIBRS. Awards are generally for a one or two year period and may be as high as $50,000. For more information, including potential NIBRS research topics and evaluation criteria, go to the Solicitation for Proposals on the ASA website.
- Through the State Justice Statistics Program for Statistical Analysis Centers (SACs), BJS encourages and provides funding to States to do statistical analysis using incident-based crime data that are compatible with NIBRS.
- Showcasing Modern Law Enforcement Records Management Systems
assists large and medium-sized jurisdictions in acquiring NIBRS-compliant
records management systems, documents successful experiences, and demonstrates
the feasibility for similar agencies to develop NIBRS-compliant systems.
BJS has funded three cities, Chicago, Wichita, and Charlotte-Mecklenburg,
to implement automated NIBRS-compliant records management systems. Wichita
has completed the testing phase and has submitted live NIBRS data for
2001. Chicago and Charlotte-Mecklenburg will begin sending test data
soon. Eight other jurisdictions committed to implementing NIBRS were
selected to observe the three in their step-by-step progress: Los Angeles
County, CA, Washington, DC, New Castle, DE, Honolulu, HI, Jefferson
Parish, LA, Suffolk County, NY, Austin, TX, and Seattle, WA. Of the
observer sites, New Castle, DE has succeeded in enabling the entire
State to report NIBRS data.
- NIBRS and COMPASS (Community Mapping, Planning, and Analysis for
Safety Strategies) Incident-based crime statistics and NIBRS-compliant
record management systems are also a central component of the OJP-initiative
called COMPASS
(PDF, 16K). COMPASS seeks to use a data-driven approach for enhancing
community safety through strategic problem-solving. This approach begins
with the integration of current statistics collected from a variety
of sources, including incident-based crime, public safety, demographic,
social and environmental data. Seattle, Washington was selected as the
first pilot site and Milwaukee, Wisconsin was selected as the second.
- Under BJS sponsorship, the Police Executive Research Forum
(PERF) conducted a project to stimulate NIBRS participation by law enforcement
agencies. PERF interviewed key information systems/data management personnel
and personnel from a variety of other units within law enforcement agencies,
gathering detailed information on departmental information systems and
the varying levels of departmental effort to switch to an IBR system
compatible with the FBI’s requirements. PERF presented this and other
information at the National Symposium: Data Systems for Policing in
the 21st Century on July 19-20, 2001. The symposium focused on implementation
of IBR systems compatible with the FBI’s reporting requirements for
NIBRS, and using NIBRS as an analytic crime-fighting tool.
PERF is compiling these publications and other materials into an information
resource manual, designed to serve as an Incident-Reporting System Resource
Guide for law enforcement departments making the transition to an incident-based
system compatible with the FBI’s reporting requirements. Under its own
initiative, PERF hosted a 2nd Annual Conference on Technology &
Information Systems for Policing in the 21st Century on July 11-13,
2002 in Chicago.
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State-by-State summary
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Related
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