About the UCR Program
\nThe FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort of more than 19,000 city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies eligible to voluntarily report data on crimes brought to their attention. Since 1930, the FBI has administered the UCR Program and has continued to assess and monitor the nature and type of crime in the nation. The program’s primary objective is to generate reliable information for use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management; over the years, however, the data have become one of the country’s leading social indicators. Criminologists, sociologists, legislators, municipal planners, the media, and other students of criminal justice use the data for varied research and planning purposes.
\nUCR Advisory Groups
\nThe Criminal Justice Information System’s (CJIS’s) Committees of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) provide vital links between local law enforcement and the FBI in the oversight of the UCR Program. The IACP, which represents thousands of police departments nationwide, and the NSA, which serves sheriffs throughout the country, encourage agencies to participate fully in the program. Both committees fulfill advisory capacities concerning the UCR Program’s operation. In 1988, a Data Providers’ Advisory Policy Board (APB) was established to provide input for UCR matters. This board operated until 1993 when it combined with the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) APB and formed the CJIS APB to address all issues regarding the FBI’s criminal justice information services. The current APB ensures a continued emphasis on UCR-related issues. In addition, the Association of State UCR Programs (ASUCRP) focuses on UCR issues within individual state law enforcement associations and promotes interest in the UCR Program. These organizations foster widespread and responsible use of uniform crime statistics and lend assistance to data contributors when needed.
\nHistorical Background of UCR
\nRecognizing a need for national crime statistics, the IACP formed the Committee on Uniform Crime Records in the 1920s to develop a system of uniform crime statistics. After studying state criminal codes and making an evaluation of the recordkeeping practices in use, the committee completed a plan for crime reporting, which became the foundation of the UCR Program in 1929. The plan included standardized offense definitions for seven main offense classifications, known as Part I crimes, to gauge fluctuations in the overall volume and rate of crime. The seven Part I offense classifications included the violent crimes of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, and aggravated assault as well as the property crimes of burglary, larceny-theft, and motor vehicle theft. Developers also instituted the Hierarchy Rule as the main reporting procedure for what is now known as the SRS of the UCR Program. Under the Hierarchy Rule, law enforcement agencies report only the most serious offense in an incident.
\nThe FBI Becomes Clearinghouse for Crime Data
\nIn January 1930, 400 cities representing 20 million inhabitants in 43 states began participating in the UCR Program, then administered by the IACP. That same year, Congress enacted Title 28, Section 534, of the United States Code (U.S.C.) authorizing the attorney general to gather crime information. The attorney general, in turn, designated the FBI to serve as the national clearinghouse for the crime data collected beginning in September 1930. Since then, the FBI has obtained data based on uniform classifications and procedures for reporting offenses and arrests from the nation’s law enforcement agencies. By congressional mandate, arson was added as a Part I offense category in 1979.
\nRedesign of UCR
\nAlthough the data collected and disseminated by the UCR Program remained virtually unchanged throughout the years, in the 1980s, a broad utility had evolved for UCR. Recognizing the need for improved statistics, law enforcement called for a thorough evaluative study to modernize the UCR Program. The FBI concurred with the need for an updated program and lent its complete support by formulating a comprehensive three-phase redesign effort. The first two phases of this effort, guided by input from representatives of the FBI, the Bureau Justice Statistics (BJS), the IACP, and the NSA, culminated with the release of a comprehensive report.
The final report, the Blueprint for the Future of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program (Blueprint), was released in May 1985. It specifically outlined three areas of enhancement to help the UCR Program meet future informational needs. First, agencies would use an incident-based system to report offenses and arrests. Second, the national UCR Program would collect data on two levels (i.e., limited and full participation), and third, the national UCR Program would introduce a quality assurance program.
In January 1986, the FBI began phase III of the redesign effort guided by the general recommendations set forth in the Blueprint. Contractors developed new data guidelines and system specifications while the FBI studied various state systems to select an experimental site to implement the redesigned program. Upon selecting the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division (SLED), which enlisted the cooperation of nine local law enforcement agencies, the FBI developed automated data capture specifications to adapt the SLED’s state system to the national UCR Program’s standards, and the BJS funded the revisions. The pilot demonstration ran March 1–September 30, 1987, and resulted in further refinement of the guidelines and specifications.
March 1–3, 1988, the FBI held a National UCR Conference to present the new system to law enforcement and to obtain feedback on its acceptability. Attendees of the National UCR Conference passed three overall recommendations without dissent:
Furthermore, attendees recommended that the implementation of national incident-based reporting proceed at a pace commensurate with the resources and limitations of contributing law enforcement agencies.
\nEstablishing NIBRS
\nFrom March 1988 through January 1989, the FBI proceeded in developing and assuming management of the UCR Program’s NIBRS. By April 1989, the national UCR Program received the first test submission of NIBRS data. Over the course of the next few years, the national UCR Program published information about the redesigned program in five documents. The handbook and its four associated volumes provided the definitions, policies, and procedures of NIBRS; the offense codes, reports, data elements, and data values used in the system; explanations of mandatory and optional data elements, data element edits, and error messages; data submission specifications; and approaches for implementing an incident-based system.
Originally designed with 52 data elements, NIBRS currently captures up to 58 data elements via 6 types of data segments: administrative, offense, property, victim, offender, and arrestee. The FBI refrained from making any changes to NIBRS as data contributors implemented the system in the late 1980s, and the FBI began accepting NIBRS data from a handful of agencies in January 1989. In 1990, a data element to indicate whether an incident was bias-motivated was added to help NIBRS comply with a federal mandate.
\nCrime Data Modernization (CDM) Initiative
\nThe national UCR Program publicly committed to improving the way the nation collects, analyzes, and uses crime statistics in 2015 to support the growing need for more comprehensive information. The goal was, and is, to increase the reliability, accuracy, accessibility, and timeliness of crime data as well as to expand the wide range of data collected through the CDM Initiative.
", "aboutUs": true }, { "heading": "Methodologies Explain Potential Differences in UCR Data", "text": "Methodologies Explain Potential Differences in UCR Data
\nThe Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program has migrated its data releases from static web publications to more dynamic, multi-year displays of data on the Crime Data Explorer (CDE).
\nJust as the data in the tables of the annual publications sometimes differed from those available in the master files for the same year, the data in the tables of the various releases may also differ from those on the Explorer Pages of the CDE. These variations are due to the difference in methodologies between the tables and data displayed on the CDE. Historically, the agency, state, regional, and national data in the NIBRS (i.e., National Incident-Based Reporting System), Crime in the United States, Hate Crime Statistics, and Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted releases must pass internal data quality reviews prior to publication. According to the methodology, data that do not meet established criteria are not included.
\nAs is the case with all the master files released for 1960 through 2019, the data displayed on the CDE include all reported data from agencies and entities aggregated from the agency data, such as states. According to methodology of typical open data websites, all reported data remain in file on the CDE.
\nThe FBI makes every effort through its editing procedures, training practices, and correspondence to ensure the validity of the data it receives. However, individual agencies that contribute data are responsible for adhering to the established standards of reporting, submitting accurate monthly statistics, and correcting errors in the data.
", "aboutUs": true }, { "heading": "Did You Know…? Common Uniform Crime Reporting Misconceptions", "text": "Overview
\nThe FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is responsible for gathering, analyzing, and reporting national crime statistics from over 19,000 law enforcement agencies across the country. The ability to report these figures involves numerous moving parts and fluctuating factors to ensure high-quality products are delivered to those who rely upon crime metrics. Unfortunately, due to the salient nature of the topic, a number of misconceptions have developed around the nature of crime and crime data, often adding confusion around the regular releases of crime measures.
\nThis special report addresses some of these misconceptions and provides clarity on how reporting crime statistics can change as part of efforts to provide the highest quality products for those relying on the FBI.
\nHow Law Enforcement Agencies Send Data to the FBI
\nFor the FBI to compile and report crime figures, law enforcement voluntarily sends their data to the FBI in a couple of ways. Most law enforcement agencies deliver their data on a regular basis to their state agency that acts as a clearinghouse in relaying agency data to the FBI’s UCR Program. State UCR Programs are instrumental in ensuring data quality, uniformity, and timeliness of all data provided to them by their state’s agencies. The remaining agencies submit directly to the FBI. For either method, all data must first originate from the state and local law enforcement agencies and then be sent to the FBI, leading to the first misconception around crime data.
\nMisconception #1: All Crime Is the Same, Right?
\nIn almost every case, different states and jurisdictions have different ways to define the same or similar criminal actions. Some such differences are small, such as age of consent in different states concerning statutory rape offenses. Others, however, can be quite significant, such as whether a state recognizes gambling or assisted suicide as an illegal offense. Due to these differences, the same crime can be reported differently depending on the jurisdiction and where the crime occurred. How then can the FBI gather and report crime in an accurate and uniform manner?
\nThe FBI, in conjunction with the Criminal Justice Information Services Advisory Policy Board, developed a national standard to ensure no matter where a crime is reported, the FBI can easily compare the totals and provide a complete set of crime metrics to the public. Comparison of totals requires the crime data to be streamlined when law enforcement agencies report data to the FBI. For all crime reports, that process is not performed by the FBI. Local police agencies often work with their state programs to translate the data from their local criminal codes to match the federal definitions. If a particular incident or offense at the local level would not meet the definition at the federal level, that record would not be sent to the FBI. Criminal incidents or offenses that do not meet federal definitions are still recorded and retained by the local agency, which is one reason local crime counts may not match what the FBI releases to the public.
\nOnce the dataset is conformed, it is sent to the FBI to be included in the FBI’s annual report. If the FBI did not ensure all crimes are defined consistently for the purpose of statistics, there would be no way to compile the data, provide the public with a uniform national picture, or determine whether reported crime is trending up or down.
\nMisconception #2: Published Crime Numbers Should Always Match Local Counts
\nAs previously mentioned, agencies report their data throughout the year to either their state programs or the FBI. However, when preparing to release a data set to the public, the FBI must determine at what point in time to stop considering data for the next release. This is commonly referred to as a deadline or “cut-off” date.
\nOnly data submitted by the deadline will be included in the release. Therefore, the reported incidents and offenses will more or less match the submitted data once updates are obtained. Reporting crime and law enforcement data by state and local agencies is voluntary, and each year some agencies are unable to provide a full accounting of every metric prior to the FBI’s deadline date. Other times, some offenses or incidents do not meet the national definitions. Because the FBI can only report the data submitted by agencies, it can lead to potential differences between counts at the time of publication. Generally, the differences in counts reported by agencies are for several reasons: agencies update their data before or after the deadline date, the data is based on state statutes which do not match the FBI’s definitions, or the counting methodology used by the agency does not match the FBI’s methodology.
\nMisconception #3: Data Doesn’t Change After Publication
\nIf an agency does not submit all their data on time, is that data never accounted for? The FBI never stops accepting data from law enforcement. Even after a submission deadline for the next publication, the FBI continues to take new data and updates to old data. The public is made aware of updates to the data via the footnotes provided on all applicable tables. This is the most fundamental part of ensuring high quality, meaningful data results, and transparency of the data.
\nThe world of crime is constantly changing, including what and when specifics about crime become known. Oftentimes, agencies send additional data for previous years (sometimes 3-4 years old or older) to make sure they provide a full accounting of their data to the FBI. When past data is updated, it is the FBI’s responsibility to ensure the new information is accurately presented in FBI crime data. Each year, the FBI updates a set of files, known as “master files,” that contain nearly every piece of information reported to the FBI’s UCR Program and any new or updated data that are received. Additionally, more recent improvements to FBI processes have included complete updates to publication tables, as well as, allowing the public to acquire the most recent and complete annual data.
\nThe FBI’s process has been to update all reported data each time a new year’s data is released, approximately once a year. However, the transition to monthly data releases allows data updates to also occur on that cadence. Older data that might have been unreported will be updated faster. These changes will provide a more timely insight into reported crime and will help law enforcement crush violent crime and defend the homeland. It will also assist legislators in making decisions to keep people safe.
\nThe transition from annual to monthly releases will provide updated data more often throughout the year, but the fundamental concept of changing data will always exist. The concept of fluctuating data, coupled with the need to allow agencies time to voluntarily report their data alongside their other duties, means there will still be some lag in the FBI reporting national statistics. The time between a crime occurring and an agency providing the data to the FBI can be several months. However, this is still a vast improvement compared to the yearlong release time for the traditional FBI crime reports.
\nMisconception #4: Federal Crime Reports Should Always Agree
\nThe FBI’s UCR Program provides a national picture of reported crime collected from states and agencies that have different definitions for various crimes. The FBI’s data, when studied alongside other government data collections, can help provide a full picture of crime. While the FBI’s UCR Program and the National Crime Victimization Survey published by the Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) both tell a story in this space, results of each are not comparable as the programs’ origins have different purposes, use different methods, and focus on somewhat different aspects of crime. Together, their complementary information provides a more comprehensive understanding of the nation’s crime problem than either could produce alone. For additional details into the differences between data collections of the FBI’s UCR Program and BJS, read The Nation’s Two Crime Measures published by the FBI.
\nConclusion
\nThe FBI’s UCR Program has been collecting and reporting national crime data for almost 100 years. In that time, much about crime has changed. What has not changed, however, is the continued mission of the FBI to provide users with complete, relevant, and valuable statistics about crime and the law enforcement community. The FBI will continue to ensure data are gathered and provided to the public; hopefully, dispelling some misconceptions and misinterpretations of crime calculations that can develop after years of reporting.
", "aboutUs": true }, { "heading": "Why Does the FBI Discourage Ranking and Comparisons?", "text": "Usefulness of UCR Data
\nUCR crime statistics are used in many ways and serve many purposes. They provide law enforcement with data for use in budget formulation, planning, resource allocation, assessment of police operations, etc., to help address the crime problem at various levels. Chambers of commerce and tourism agencies examine these data to see how they impact the particular geographic jurisdictions they represent. Criminal justice researchers study the nature, cause, and movement of crime over time. Legislators draft anti-crime measures using the research findings and recommendations of law enforcement administrators, planners, as well as public and private entities concerned with crime problems. The news media use the crime statistics provided by the UCR Program to inform the public about the state of crime as it compares to the national level.
\nPitfalls of Ranking
\nUCR data are sometimes used to compile rankings of individual jurisdictions and institutions of higher learning. These incomplete analyses have often created misleading perceptions which adversely affect geographic entities and their residents. For this reason, the FBI has a long-standing policy against ranking participating law enforcement agencies on the basis of crime data alone. Despite repeated warnings against these practices, some data users continue to challenge and misunderstand this position.
\nData users should not rank locales because there are many factors that cause the nature and type of crime to vary from place to place. UCR statistics include only jurisdictional population figures along with reported crime, clearance, or arrest data. Rankings ignore the uniqueness of each locale. Some factors that are known to affect the volume and type of crime occurring from place to place are:
\nRanking agencies based solely on UCR data has serious implications. For example, if a user wants to measure the effectiveness of a law enforcement agency, these measurements are not available. As a substitute, a user might list UCR clearance rates, rank them by agency, and attempt to infer the effectiveness of individual law enforcement agencies. This inference is flawed because all the other measures of police effectiveness were ignored. The nature of the offenses that were cleared must be considered as those cleared may not have been the most serious, like murder or rape. The agency’s clearances may or may not result in conviction, the ultimate goal. The agency may make many arrests for Part II offenses, like drug abuse violations, which demonstrate police activity but are not considered in the clearance rate. The agency’s available resources are also critical to successful operation, so its rate of officers to population and budget should be considered. The UCR clearance rate was simply not designed to provide a complete assessment of law enforcement effectiveness. In order to obtain a valid picture of an agency’s effectiveness, data users must consider an agency’s emphases and resources; and its crime, clearance, and arrest rates; along with other appropriate factors.
\nBecause of concern regarding the proper use of UCR data, the FBI has the following policies:
\nPolice-involved shootings and use of force have long been topics of national discussion, but a number of high-profile cases in which subjects died during arrests or while in police custody have heightened awareness of these issues. The opportunity to analyze information concerning use-of-force incidents and to have an informed dialogue is hindered by the lack of nationwide statistics. To address the issue, representatives from major law enforcement organizations collaborated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and developed the National Use-of-Force Data Collection. The national data collection of federal, state, local, and tribal contributors will enable data users to view data on use-of-force occurrences involving law enforcement from a nationwide perspective. The goal of the resulting statistics is to provide an aggregate view of the incidents reported and the circumstances, subjects, and officers surrounding the incidents. The data collected focuses on information that is readily known and reportable within days after a use-of-force occurrence. Statistical reports will emphasize the collective nature of the data and will not assess whether the officers involved in use-of-force incidents acted lawfully or within the bounds of department policy.
" }, { "id": "faq2", "category": "National Use-of-Force Data Collection", "heading": "What is the scope of use-of-force incidents covered by the National Use-of-Force Data Collection?", "text": "This collection includes actions by a law enforcement officer as a response to resistance that results in the death or serious bodily injury of a person or when a law enforcement officer discharges a firearm at or in the direction of a person. The term “serious bodily injury” means bodily injury that involves a substantial risk of death, unconsciousness, protracted and obvious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty. Serious bodily injury would include all gunshot wounds (regardless of whether they are penetrating or grazing), apparent broken bones, possible internal injury, severe laceration, stitches, sutures, chipped teeth, loss of teeth, canine bites requiring medical attention, unconsciousness due to an applied carotid artery hold, and injuries severe enough to require medical intervention and/or hospitalization. The term “medical intervention” does not include routine evaluation of the subject to determine fitness for arrest or detention by an emergency medical technician or medical staff at a medical facility. (This definition is based, in part, upon Title 18 United States Code [U.S.C], Section 2246 [4].)
" }, { "id": "faq3", "category": "National Use-of-Force Data Collection", "heading": "Who will contribute data to the National Use-of-Force Data Collection?", "text": "Participation is open to all federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and investigative agencies in coordination with the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. Each law enforcement agency will be responsible for reporting information for its own officers connected to incidents that meet the criteria of the data collection.
" }, { "id": "faq4", "category": "National Use-of-Force Data Collection", "heading": "Is it mandatory for law enforcement agencies to contribute to the National Use-of-Force Data Collection?", "text": "The FBI has no legal authority to mandate reporting of any data to the UCR Program. The FBI works closely with the major law enforcement agency organizations and the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Advisory Policy Board (APB), which is composed of federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement partners to encourage law enforcement agencies to participate in the data collection.
" }, { "id": "faq5", "category": "National Use-of-Force Data Collection", "heading": "When did the National Use-of-Force Data Collection begin?", "text": "The FBI officially began collecting use-of-force data on January 1, 2019.
" }, { "id": "faq6", "category": "National Use-of-Force Data Collection", "heading": "Is the National Use-of-Force Data Collection going to capture and report information about the people involved in use-of-force incidents?", "text": "No names or personally identifiable information will be shared as part of this collection. The goal of the National Use-of-Force Data Collection is not to offer insight into single use-of-force incidents, but to provide an aggregate view of the incidents reported and the circumstances, subjects, and officers surrounding the incidents. The data collected will focus on the type of information that is readily known and can be reported within the first few days after a use-of-force occurrence. Statistical reports will emphasize the collective nature of the data and will not assess whether the officers involved in use-of-force incidents acted lawfully or within the bounds of department policy.
" }, { "id": "faq7", "category": "National Use-of-Force Data Collection", "heading": "Will the National Use-of-Force Data Collection include the final disposition or adjudication of the use-of-force incidents?", "text": "The National Use-of-Force Data Collection does not collect information about final dispositions or adjudications of use-of-force incidents.
" }, { "id": "faq8", "category": "National Use-of-Force Data Collection", "heading": "Are all the data elements in the National Use-of-Force Data Collection required?", "text": "Yes, agencies must respond to all data elements. However, for many questions, if information is unknown because the investigation is still incomplete, users can select “Pending further investigation.” If the information is not known and is unlikely to ever be known, they may select “Unknown and is unlikely to ever be known.” In months when no use-of-force incidents occurred in their jurisdictions, agencies must submit a “zero report” to confirm that no use-of-force incident occurred.
" }, { "id": "faq9", "category": "National Use-of-Force Data Collection", "heading": "What training is available for the National Use-of-Force Data Collection?", "text": "The FBI uses Microsoft Teams to provide live demonstrations of how to submit and manage use-of-force data within the National Use-of-Force Data Collection portal. The demonstrations can be scheduled by request. The FBI also developed a set of instructional videos, a series of quick guides, FAQs, and a Help Desk to assist users. To request a demo or get help, contact ucr@fbi.gov.
" }, { "id": "faq10", "category": "National Use-of-Force Data Collection", "heading": "What oversight will ensure the information is accurate and truthful within the National Use-of-Force Data Collection?", "text": "The FBI CJIS Division will coordinate with law enforcement agencies to prevent potential duplicate reporting in situations where multiple law enforcement agencies are present during an incident with a use of force that meets the criteria for this data collection. The FBI UCR Program will compile information in order to provide a complete picture of incidents when multiple agencies are involved in a use-of-force incident.
" }, { "id": "faq11", "category": "National Use-of-Force Data Collection", "heading": "What is the FBI’s role in collecting and reporting use-of-force data?", "text": "With the input of its law enforcement partners, the FBI developed the National Use-of-Force Data Collection portal and maintains the database for use-of-force information. The FBI periodically releases statistics to the public via the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer.
" }, { "id": "faq12", "category": "National Use-of-Force Data Collection", "heading": "What is the role of law enforcement agencies in the collection and reporting of use-of-force data to the FBI?", "text": "Law enforcement agencies may voluntarily submit their use-of-force incidents to the National Use-of-Force Data Collection. Many agencies already publish use-of-force statistics to their constituents and have made transparency a priority in their communities. For the national data collection, each law enforcement agency will be responsible for reporting information for their own officers connected to incidents that meet the criteria of the data collection. For months in which no use-of-force incidents occur, agencies submit a 'zero report.' Most law enforcement agencies in the United States already report various types of data to the FBI - either directly or via their state UCR Programs.
" }, { "id": "faq13", "category": "National Use-of-Force Data Collection", "heading": "Why is the FBI leading the National Use-of-Force Data Collection initiative?", "text": "In 2015, then FBI Director James B. Comey made crime data modernization a top priority at the FBI. At that time, he stated that the FBI was not collecting the right information to understand and analyze events that included police-involved shootings. The Director pledged that the FBI would support efforts to establish a reliable system for law enforcement to report information on use-of-force incidents. Major law enforcement organizations and agencies worked with the FBI to develop the National Use-of-Force Data Collection, along with other partners, such as the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The FBI continues to meet and coordinate with these organizations and agencies to provide reliable, accurate, and timely information.
" }, { "id": "faq14", "category": "LEOKA", "heading": "What is the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Data Collection?", "text": "The FBI’s LEOKA Data Collection was instituted to provide an accurate accounting of the reported circumstances surrounding accidental deaths, felonious killings, and nonfatal assaults of sworn law enforcement officers. The purposes of this data collection are to identify situations in which officers are killed, feloniously or accidentally, or assaulted in the line of duty; describe the incidents statistically; and publish the data to aid agencies in developing policies. The information is solicited for statistical purposes as well as a means of collecting data that can be incorporated into law enforcement training programs with the hope of preventing line of duty deaths and assaults. Additionally, members of federal, state, county, city, college and university, tribal, and territorial law enforcement organizations use the data as part of their research, as do governmental offices, special interest groups, academia, and all who are concerned about individuals who serve in a law enforcement capacity.
" }, { "id": "faq15", "category": "LEOKA", "heading": "What are the general criteria for determining if a law enforcement officer’s death or assault can be included in the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Data Collection?", "text": "The data pertains to accidental deaths, felonious killings, and assaults of duly sworn federal, state, county, city, college and university, tribal, and territorial officers who, at the time of the incident, met the following criteria:
Agencies can report information about officers who were feloniously or accidentally killed on the Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP) under the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted Collection Tool. Only authorized users can access LEEP. As of September 2021, agencies report assaults on officers via the National Incident-Based Reporting System, also called NIBRS, or the Summary Reporting System, also called SRS.
" }, { "id": "faq17", "category": "LEOKA", "heading": "How often will data for the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Data Collection be released, and what will the data releases include?", "text": "Since 2019, LEOKA data have been released in two installments annually and comprised of statistics and summaries regarding law enforcement officer deaths and assaults. The publication consisted of four sections: Officers Feloniously Killed, Officers Accidentally Killed, Federal Officers Killed and Assaulted, and Assaults that occurred in the line of duty. Starting in 2025 with data for 2024, the FBI’s UCR Program will no longer release traditional publication tables for felonious and accidental deaths reported to the LEOKA program. As part of the program’s modernization efforts, the FBI will provide visual representations of data on the LEOKA page on the Crime Data Explorer (CDE). These visuals will include charts and graphs with the capability to download and export selected data elements. The assault tables will continue to be published as a part of Crime in the Nation. In addition, the LEOKA Data Collection releases a monthly Infographic showing a snapshot of preliminary data reported to the FBI’s UCR Program. The monthly infographic is published to the FBI’s CDE website.
" }, { "id": "faq18", "category": "LEOKA", "heading": "Are agencies federally mandated to submit data to the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Data Collection?", "text": "Agencies are not federally mandated to contribute their data to the LEOKA Data Collection.
" }, { "id": "faq19", "category": "LEOKA", "heading": "What are the benefits of reporting to the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Data Collection?", "text": "The LEOKA data are incorporated into the FBI’s Officer Safety Awareness Training (OSAT), which is free of charge and offered to federal, state, county, city, college/university, tribal, territorial, and international law enforcement agencies. The goal of the OSAT course is to provide relevant, high quality, and potentially lifesaving information to law enforcement agencies. For information about OSAT, or to request a training session, email OSAT@fbi.gov.
" }, { "id": "faq20", "category": "LEOKA", "heading": "What officer deaths are excluded from the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted Data Collection (LEOKA)?", "text": "Deaths resulting from the following are not included in the LEOKA Data Collection’s statistics:
When reviewing the presented data, readers should be aware of certain features of the LEOKA data collection process that could affect their interpretation of the information.
The purpose of LEOKA is to:
The FBI’s LEOKA Program is one of several entities that report information concerning line-of-duty deaths and/or assaults of law enforcement officers in the United States, U.S. Territories, and other outlying areas. Each organization has its own purpose and may use different methods to collect and report information or focus on somewhat different aspects of these important topics. Therefore, care should be taken not to compare LEOKA data to data provided by other entities, such as the Officer Down Memorial Page, National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund, and others. Refer to the LEOKA Resources for the requirements that determine which officers are included in this data.
" }, { "id": "faq24", "category": "LESDC", "heading": "What is the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection (LESDC)?", "text": "The LESDC was established based on mandates within the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act (LESDCA) which was signed into law on June 16, 2020. The collection provides a mechanism for law enforcement agencies to report suicides and attempted suicides of law enforcement personnel, based on the scope of the LESDCA, for the purpose of compiling national statistics on these tragedies.
" }, { "id": "faq25", "category": "LESDC", "heading": "What data is captured in the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection (LESDC)?", "text": "As established within the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act, the following information will be made available for the collection:
Suicidal thoughts, or suicide ideation/gesturing, which refers to thinking about or planning suicide, should not be reported.
" }, { "id": "faq27", "category": "LESDC", "heading": "What qualifies an incident for submission into the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection (LESDC)?", "text": "An incident will be applicable for submission if the following terms apply:
An attempted suicide is defined as a non-fatal act of self-harm behavior with an intent to die as a result of the behavior but falls short of completing the suicide.
" }, { "id": "faq29", "category": "LESDC", "heading": "Can a law enforcement officer self-report a “suicide” or “attempted” suicide event to the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection (LESDC)?", "text": "No. All incidents must be submitted to the collection through the applicable law enforcement agency. If information is known concerning a suicide or attempted suicide incident of a law enforcement officer as defined within the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act the appropriate personnel within the agency should be notified as applicable.
" }, { "id": "faq30", "category": "LESDC", "heading": "How do I access the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection (LESDC) application?", "text": "The Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection resides on the Federal Bureau of Investigation Criminal Justice Information Services Division Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP). To obtain access to the collection, law enforcement agency personnel will need to obtain LEEP authorization and access. LEEP accounts are available to personnel affiliated with the criminal justice system. To apply for a LEEP account, go to www.cjis.gov and complete the online application. Once LEEP access has been obtained, agency personnel will then need to apply for access to the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection.
" }, { "id": "faq31", "category": "LESDC", "heading": "When did the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection open to the law enforcement community for applicable submissions?", "text": "The collection is opened for submissions January 1, 2022.
" }, { "id": "faq32", "category": "LESDC", "heading": "What are the reporting timeframes for the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection (LESDC)?", "text": "The collection opened for submissions beginning January 1, 2022, and accepts applicable submissions from incidents occurring January 1, 2022, forward. Although it is recommended for a law enforcement agency to submit an applicable incident as soon as possible, the Federal Bureau of Investigation Uniform Crime Reporting Program prefers submissions no later than 120 days after the incident is known. Once the collection is established, additional criteria may be identified and will be communicated to the law enforcement community as necessary.
" }, { "id": "faq33", "category": "LESDC", "heading": "Is the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection (LESDC) mandatory or optional?", "text": "The Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection will serve as the principal tool to compile data on law enforcement suicides and attempted suicides within law enforcement agencies across the country. By providing accurate and detailed information on suicides and attempted suicides, departments can implement more effective prevention and postvention programs to save more lives. The United States Attorney General, through the Federal Bureau of Investigation, is mandated to establish the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection based on the passing of the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act (LESDCA). Submissions to the collection are voluntary.
" }, { "id": "faq34", "category": "LESDC", "heading": "How often will data be published for the Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection (LESDC), and what will the publication include?", "text": "The Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection Act mandates the United States (US) Attorney General, through the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), provide an annual report to the US Congress. The initial report will discuss the progress of establishing the collection and what the data collection will capture. Additionally, this report will be published on the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Crime Data Explorer monthly. Once the collection has been established, the FBI UCR Program staff will reassess future data publications to determine an appropriate level of publication while maintaining the privacy of agencies and individuals of reported incidents.
" }, { "id": "faq35", "category": "LEPC", "heading": "What is a law enforcement public contact?", "text": "A law enforcement public contact is an incident or occurrence where a law enforcement officer is called to respond to a scene by a citizen(s) or initiates an activity which results in contact with a citizen(s). Note: “Citizen” refers to any member of the general public. The volume of law enforcement public contact data will provide context to information collected and reported within the FBI’s National Use-of-Force Data Collection and Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Data Collection.
" }, { "id": "faq36", "category": "LEPC", "heading": "Did the Law Enforcement Public Contact Data Collection (LEPC) go through the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division Advisory Policy Board (APB)?", "text": "Yes. In 2017, the CJIS Advisory Policy Board recommended, and the FBI Director approved, the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program to begin collecting and reporting the number of law enforcement contacts with the public on an annual basis.
" }, { "id": "faq37", "category": "LEPC", "heading": "What is the scope of the Law Enforcement Public Contact Data Collection (LEPC)?", "text": "The LEPC Data Collection will focus on three categories of contact:
No. The reported number of law enforcement public contacts does not include the total number of individuals encountered during the incident. Rather, the reported number of law enforcement public contacts includes the total number of interactions that require law enforcement presence to resolve, correct, or assist a participation situation that falls within the three specified categories of contact.
" }, { "id": "faq39", "category": "LEPC", "heading": "For Law Enforcement Public Contact Data Collection (LEPC), what is the definition of citizen calls for service?", "text": "Citizen calls for service are assignments typically distributed to law enforcement officers requiring their presence to resolve, correct, or assist a particular situation. In this category, someone from the public has requested law enforcement intervention. Examples of citizen calls for service include, but are not limited to:
Unit/officer-initiated contacts are activities in which a law enforcement officer initiates contact with members of the public to resolve, correct, or assist a particular situation. Examples of unit/officer-initiated contacts include, but are not limited to:
Court/bailiff activities are defined as any activity that takes place within a courtroom. Examples of court/bailiff activities include, but are not limited to:
Law enforcement agencies to include federal, state, local, territorial, college/university, and tribal and Uniform Crime Reporting state programs will be able to contribute data.
" }, { "id": "faq43", "category": "LEPC", "heading": "How can agencies submit Law enforcement Public Contact Data Collection (LEPC) data?", "text": "Agencies can submit LEPC data in the following ways:
Law enforcement agencies can submit law enforcement public contact data on an annual basis. All counts will include contacts with the public occurring between January 1 and December 31 of a calendar year. Agencies can submit counts that are actual or estimated numbers.
" }, { "id": "faq45", "category": "LEPC", "heading": "For Law Enforcement Public Contact Data Collection (LEPC), what is the difference between actual numbers or estimated numbers to be collected for each type of law enforcement public contact?", "text": "Actual numbers are the known numbers of law enforcement public contacts based on reports generated using a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, records management system, or other sources (e.g., docket sheets, call logs, etc.). Estimated numbers are the numbers of law enforcement public contacts that were not reported in a CAD; however, a general number is known based on knowledge of the officer’s workload (e.g., citation counts, street/foot patrol, traffic duty, public outreach, etc.).
" }, { "id": "faq46", "category": "LEPC", "heading": "For Law Enforcement Public Contact Data Collection (LEPC), are law enforcement agencies expected to collect LEPC data using actual numbers, estimated numbers, or both?", "text": "Law enforcement agencies should collect LEPC data using either actual numbers or estimated numbers. The state or agency should make the decision to use actual numbers or estimated numbers.
" }, { "id": "faq47", "category": "LEPC", "heading": "For Law Enforcement Public Contact Data Collection (LEPC), what happens if my agency does not have the information on a given category to provide to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program?", "text": "Agencies submitting law enforcement public contact information will have the option to note if the data for one of the three specified categories is not available or not applicable.
" }, { "id": "faq48", "category": "LEPC", "heading": "For Law Enforcement Public Contact Data Collection (LEPC), what is the difference between not available and not applicable?", "text": "Not available is defined as information that has not been gathered, or information that is unobtainable due to several factors, such as system issues. Not applicable is used to indicate the requested information is not being provided because it does not apply to the participating agency (i.e., the agency does not participate in the activities outlined in the specified category).
" }, { "id": "faq49", "category": "LEPC", "heading": "What is the benefit of the Law Enforcement Public Contact Data Collection (LEPC)?", "text": "The volume of law enforcement public contacts provides context to information collected and reported within the FBI’s National Use-of-Force Data Collection and the FBI’s Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted Data Collection. These and other law enforcement data collections are administered by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program.
" }, { "id": "faq50", "category": "General", "heading": "What methodology is used to display the trends on the Crime Data Explorer (CDE) homepage?", "text": "On the CDE home page, trends will show a 12-month period with a 3-month lag. For instance, for the January release, the U.S. Violent Crime Trends and U.S. Property Crime Trends dates will show October 2023 through September 2024. The reason for the 3-month lag is to allow data to stabilize. Users can access a Source Data Excel spreadsheet to see which data was used to create the trends.
" }, { "id": "faq51", "category": "General", "heading": "How are the data submitted to the FBI verified?", "text": "The FBI performs automated checks of submitted data to ensure that it conforms to a national standard format. The FBI’s UCR Program works closely with states to ensure agencies submit data to the FBI in strict compliance with FBI’s UCR Program guidelines. It is the responsibility of the state UCR program or contributing law enforcement agency to submit accurate statistics and correct existing data that are in error.
" }, { "id": "faq52", "category": "General", "heading": "What does the Continuous “Rolling” 12-Month Participation Percentage in the National Use-of-Force Data Collection mean?", "text": "Beginning in January 2024, both the participation percentage and incident data for the National Use-of-Force Data Collection are determined using a “rolling” basis of the previous 12-month span and cross over calendar years. This change better reflects the overall occurrence of incidents in which force is used and provides continuity in the participation percentages from year-to-year and month-to-month.
" }, { "id": "faq53", "category": "General", "heading": "What is the Crime Data Explorer (CDE)?", "text": "The CDE is an interactive tool that helps law enforcement and the public use and understand the massive amounts of crime data the FBI collects and publishes each year. The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program manages the CDE. The CDE is part of the FBI’s broader effort to modernize reports of national crime data. It is a web-based solution that enables the public to view and interact with UCR Program data in an intuitive and user-friendly way. The CDE allows the public to query, view, and download data about crime (e.g. offense and arrest numbers) and law enforcement (e.g., law enforcement employee numbers, officers killed) that is submitted to the UCR Program in machine readable and open-source formats.
" }, { "id": "faq54", "category": "General", "heading": "Where does the FBI get the data in the CDE?", "text": "The CDE contains data reported to the UCR Program from more than 18,000 federal, state, local, county, tribal, territorial, and college and university law enforcement agencies. Non-federal agencies participate voluntarily and submit their crime data either through a state UCR program or directly to the FBI’s UCR Program.
" }, { "id": "faq55", "category": "General", "heading": "What kinds of data does the CDE contain?", "text": "The CDE contains both crime and law enforcement data reported from more than 18,000 eligible law enforcement agencies. Crime data includes violent crime (for example, murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) and property crime (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, arson), cargo theft, and human trafficking. Other datasets provided on the CDE include Hate Crime, Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, Law Enforcement Employee Data, Law Enforcement National Use-of-Force Data Collection, and Law Enforcement Suicide Data Collection datasets.
" }, { "id": "faq56", "category": "General", "heading": "How are the data displayed on the CDE?", "text": "Data is available from 1979 (depending on dataset) to the current release. The information is displayed on the Explorer pages as estimates reflecting crime trends at the state and national levels and as reported crime at the agency level. Additional data is available in .csv spreadsheet format in the download and documentation section of the CDE. In instances of multiple offenders, the CDE currently links an offender to only one offense—the first listed if more than one was reported via NIBRS—because, with the exception of murder, only one offender and one offense was reported using the older, now obsolete UCR Summary Reporting System (This maintains the comparability in the long timeline of crime data from UCR.) The same is true for incidents involving multiple victims. Data users can, however, see linkages for incidents with multiple offenses, multiple offenders, and/or multiple victims by downloading NIBRS master files.
" }, { "id": "faq57", "category": "General", "heading": "What features are available to users?", "text": "CDE users can:
Although the CDE makes crime data available to the public in a much timelier fashion, there is still a lag time from the date an offense occurs until the incident is reported to the UCR Program. Following are some reasons for delay:
The UCR Program is the nation’s premier crime reporting system since 1929. It generates reliable information for use by law enforcement administration, operations, and management. Law enforcement agencies across the country voluntarily participate in the program. The FBI makes every effort through its editing procedures, training practices, and correspondence to ensure the validity of the data it receives. However, individual agencies that contribute data are responsible for adhering to the established standards of reporting, submitting accurate monthly statistics, and correcting errors in the data.
" }, { "id": "faq60", "category": "General", "heading": "Does the Uniform Crime Reporting Program collect Personally Identifying Information (PII)?", "text": "No. Neither earlier UCR collection systems nor the current National Incident-Based Reporting System collects or publishes any personal information, or PII.
" }, { "id": "faq61", "category": "General", "heading": "What are the differences between the CDE and the annual Crime in the United States (CIUS) report?", "text": "CIUS is an annual report that compiles the volume and rate of violent and property crime offenses for the nation and by individual state from data submitted to the UCR Program. The report includes curated tables and narratives created from data provided by individual law enforcement agencies that supply 12 months of complete offense data. In addition, the CIUS report includes arrest, clearance, trend, and law enforcement employee data. CIUS is a static publication, and it represents a “snapshot” of crime that occurred during the previous year. Conversely, the CDE is a site that makes the vast amount of UCR data available as downloadable files, interactive charts and tables and an API (Application Programming Interface). The CDE allows the user to discover and use the specific UCR data in which they are interested.
" }, { "id": "faq62", "category": "General", "heading": "Where can I find annual reports like Crime in the United States (CIUS) or Hate Crime Statistics?", "text": "CIUS 1994 through 2019 are available at https://www.fbi.gov/services/cjis/ucr/publications. From 2020 data forward, CIUS downloadable tables, topic summaries, and methodology/resources are available here on the CDE on the Documents & Downloads page. [NOTE:] These links will also provide archival publications and downloadable versions of other UCR annual reports, such as Hate Crime Statistics, Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted, and NIBRS.
" }, { "id": "faq63", "category": "General", "heading": "How does the Uniform Crime Reporting Program explain potential differences in UCR data?", "text": "The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program has migrated its data releases from static web publications hosted on fbi.gov to more dynamic, multi-year displays of data on the Crime Data Explorer (CDE). Just as the data in the tables of the annual publications sometimes differed from those available in the master files for the same year, the data in the tables of the various releases may also differ from those on the Explorer Pages of the CDE. These variations are due to the difference in methodologies between the tables and data displayed on the CDE. Historically, the agency, state, regional, and national data in the NIBRS (i.e., National Incident-Based Reporting System), Crime in the United States, Hate Crime Statistics, and Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted releases must pass internal data quality reviews prior to publication. According to the methodology, data that do not meet established criteria are not included. As is the case with all the master files released for 1960 through 2019, the data displayed on the CDE include all reported data from agencies and entities aggregated from the agency data, such as states. According to methodology of typical open data websites, all reported data remain in file. Individuals who typically work with data files, such as master files, can also access the CDE releases of data for 2019 and earlier for data based on the same methodology. Individuals who typically use data from tables in Crime in the United States and other UCR web publications on fbi.gov will continue to have access to that format via the downloadable publication tables for 2019 and prior years on that site.
" }, { "id": "faq64", "category": "General", "heading": "What methodology is used to display the trends on the Crime Data Explorer (CDE) home page?", "text": "On the CDE home page, monthly preliminary trends will show a 12-month period with a 3-month lag. For instance, for the August release, the preliminary United States (U.S.) Violent Crime Trends and preliminary U.S. Property Crime Trends include data for May 2024 through April 2025 compared to the same time period from 2023 to 2024. The data used to produce these preliminary trends are from all law enforcement agencies that submitted at least 6 common months of complete offense reports within the two consecutive 12-month windows. The reason for the 3-month lag is to allow data to stabilize for a more reliable assessment of year-to-year changes in reported crime. Users can access a Source Data Excel spreadsheet to see which data was used to create the preliminary trends.
" }, { "id": "faq65", "category": "General", "heading": "What is included in the monthly data releases?", "text": "On the CDE, the Crime, Hate Crime, Expanded Homicide Data, Expanded Property Crime, and Arrest pages will typically show data through the 14th of the month of the release. For example, for the release in August, the pages will show they were last updated on August 14.
" }, { "id": "faq66", "category": "General", "heading": "What is the difference between Summary Reporting System (also called SRS) data and National Incident-Based Reporting System (also called NIBRS) data?", "text": "Unlike data reported through the FBI’s UCR Program’s traditional SRS—an aggregate monthly tally of crimes—NIBRS is much more detailed with its ability to provide information about circumstances and context for crimes like location, time of day, and whether the incident was cleared. SRS is limited, collecting aggregated (i.e., totaled) data and omitting some data in accordance with its Hierarchy Rule. (The SRS Hierarchy Rule states only the one most serious offense within a criminal incident is counted. For example, if a robbery and a homicide occur in the same incident, SRS will only count the homicide.) NIBRS collects data on up to 10 offenses per incident, and NIBRS collects data on types of offenses SRS does not count at all. In addition, NIBRS captures details about victims, offenders, arrestees, property types, location, and more, but SRS provides victim and offender data for only for homicide offenses with limited details for only a few other offenses. For example, SRS can tell us how many rapes occurred and how many arrests there were for rape offenses (by age, sex, race, and ethnicity of arrestee) in a jurisdiction. However, NIBRS can tell us how many rapes occurred; the age, sex, race, and ethnicity of the victims, the offenders, and any persons arrested for rape; the date, time, and locations of those offenses; connections to any other offenses that may have occurred in those incidents; and whether the offenses were bias motivated. With its more comprehensive data collection, NIBRS offers more context about crime than SRS.
" }, { "id": "faq67", "category": "General", "heading": "Are all states certified to contribute data via the National Incident-Based Reporting System (also known as NIBRS)?", "text": "Yes, all states and the territory of Guam are now NIBRS certified.
" }, { "id": "faq68", "category": "General", "heading": "What are zero reports versus no reports? Are zero reports included in monthly data releases?", "text": "Zero reports are displayed to indicate that an agency submitted a zero value for an incident for that month. Zero reports are included in the monthly data releases. No reports are displayed when an agency does not submit data to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program.
" }, { "id": "faq69", "category": "General", "heading": "Will the preliminary trends posted on the CDE home page for monthly releases match the trends published in the annual “Reported Crimes in the Nation” report?", "text": "The preliminary trends are produced according to different methodologies. On the CDE home page, preliminary U.S. violent and U.S. property crime trends will show a 12-month period with a 3-month lag. The data used to produce the monthly preliminary trends are from all law enforcement agencies that submitted at least 6 common months of complete offense reports within the two consecutive captured 12-month windows. “Reported Crimes in the Nation” estimated trends used reported data and standard estimation procedures to capture crime volume and rates covering 100% of the United States population.
" }, { "id": "faq70", "category": "General", "heading": "What is the FBI doing to encourage agencies to contribute their data via the National Incident-Based Reporting System (also known as NIBRS)?", "text": "The FBI engages with all state UCR Programs and their respective law enforcement agencies to assist with transition efforts, which includes data integration support, training, and technical assistance to federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies.
" }, { "id": "faq71", "category": "General", "heading": "How can one tell if an agency has submitted its data monthly?", "text": "A participation list is not released monthly. To determine if an agency submitted monthly data, review the line charts on the Crime Data Explorer pages navigated to a specific agency. If an agency did not submit data, the line chart would not show any data. If an agency submitted a zero report, it would show zero.
" }, { "id": "faq72", "category": "General", "heading": "What agencies are represented in the monthly data releases?", "text": "The number of law enforcement agencies represented in the FBI’s UCR Program monthly releases may fluctuate. Participation is voluntary and there is no mandatory cadence. Data submitted by 11:59 p.m. the day before the release will be displayed on the Crime Data Explorer.
" }, { "id": "faq73", "category": "General", "heading": "When did the FBI begin collecting data via the National Incident-Based Reporting System (also known as NIBRS)?", "text": "The FBI began collecting NIBRS data in 1989.
" }, { "id": "faq74", "category": "General", "heading": "Why did the FBI switch to monthly data releases?", "text": "This new format allows for a timelier release of data to the public with the understanding that data will be continuously updated allowing for agency reporting cadences to mature.
" }, { "id": "faq75", "category": "General", "heading": "What are the challenges preventing departments from switching to contributing their data the National Incident-Based Reporting System (also known as NIBRS)?", "text": "The challenges vary across agencies and states. Some of the more common challenges are funding and technology issues. The transition requires technological changes. Departments have reported staffing issues in building the system and training delays regarding software knowledge. For larger agencies, there have been delays with the procurement process, whether that be approval for the transition from city council or police agencies. Crime perception has been a concern; however, it has been determined this is a misconception. Agencies believe the more complete data may make it appear crime rates have risen. However, additional NIBRS data does not truly mean crime rates are on the rise. NIBRS presents a more complete picture of reported crimes in any individual city or state by eliminating the hierarchy rule and collecting more types of offenses.
" }, { "id": "faq76", "category": "General", "heading": "Where do the city population statistics come from? Why am I seeing differences between the city population estimates in the Census Bureau and what you report?", "text": "For population estimates, the FBI computed individual rates of growth from one year to the next for every city/town and county using the current decennial counts through the most recent population estimates available from the U.S. Census Bureau. Each agency’s rates of growth were averaged; that average was then applied and added to its most recent Census population estimate to derive the agency’s current year population estimate.
" }, { "id": "faq77", "category": "General", "heading": "Why would UCR data reflect fewer reported offenses in your annual report for an agency than the number of offenses the agency is reporting for the same year?", "text": "There are several reasons why the FBI's UCR Program reported statistics may be different than that which is reported directly by a specific department. When making comparisons, methodologies, publication dates, and data deadlines should be taken into consideration.
" }, { "id": "faq78", "category": "General", "heading": "How do I find/calculate National/State/Agency Rates?", "text": "The CDE explorer pages allow users to view national, state, and agency level rates using the data view toggle dropdown above the provided line chart. This visual shows a custom view of an area’s offense rate by month. To calculate yearly rates for a state or agency, tables 8-11 on the documents and downloads page of the CDE displays agency level reporting, along with agency populations, for all participating agencies by state. This information can be used to calculate both the state and agency reported offense rates. Please note that tables 8-11 only include agencies that reported a full 12 months of data to the UCR Program, so not every participating agency will be included.
" }, { "id": "faq79", "category": "Hate Crime", "heading": "What is a hate crime?", "text": "The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program defines hate crime as a committed criminal offense which is motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias(es) against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.
" }, { "id": "faq80", "category": "Hate Crime", "heading": "When should agencies report Hate Crime?", "text": "Hate crimes are motivated, in whole or in part, by the offender’s bias against a race, gender, gender identity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or ethnicity, and were committed against people, property, or society. Because motivation is subjective, it is sometimes difficult to know with certainty whether a crime resulted from the offender’s bias. The presence of bias alone does not necessarily mean that a crime can be considered a hate crime. Only when a law enforcement investigation reveals sufficient evidence to lead a reasonable and prudent person to conclude that the offender’s actions were motivated, in whole or in part, by their bias, should an agency report an incident as a hate crime. Note: For FBI UCR Program purposes, even if the offender was mistaken in his or her perception the victim was a member of the group he or she was acting against, the offense is still a bias crime because the offender was motivated by bias against the group.
" }, { "id": "faq81", "category": "Hate Crime", "heading": "What are the definitions of single-bias and multiple-bias hate crime incidents?", "text": "The FBI collects data about both single-bias and multiple-bias hate crimes. A single-bias incident includes one or more offenses that were motivated by the same bias. Beginning in 2013, law enforcement agencies could report up to five bias motivations per offense type. Therefore, the definition of a multiple-bias incident has been revised to an incident in which one or more offenses were motivated by two or more biases. For the years prior to 2013, a multiple-bias incident was defined as an incident in which more than one offense type occurred and at least two offense types were motivated by a different bias.
" }, { "id": "faq82", "category": "Hate Crime", "heading": "How often is hate crime reported?", "text": "Law enforcement agencies report hate crimes brought to their attention monthly or quarterly to the FBI either through their state UCR programs or directly.
" }, { "id": "faq83", "category": "Hate Crime", "heading": "Where may I find hate crime rates for each anti-bias?", "text": "The FBI does not produce percentage increases or decreases for each anti-bias as there are many factors that could lead to different volumes for each year, such as different, more, or less agencies submitting.
" }, { "id": "faq84", "category": "Hate Crime", "heading": "What are the victim types collected in the FBI UCR Program’s hate crime data set?", "text": "The victim of a hate crime can be an individual, a business, an institution, or society. Law enforcement can also indicate the number of individual victims, the number of victims 18 years of age and older, and the number of victims under the age of 18.
" }, { "id": "faq85", "category": "Hate Crime", "heading": "What information is collected on the offender(s) in the FBI UCR Program’s hate crime data set?", "text": "The term known offender does not imply the suspect’s identity is known; rather, the term indicates some aspect of the suspect was identified, thus distinguishing the suspect from an unknown offender. LEAs specify the number of offenders (adults and juveniles) and, when possible, the race and ethnicity of the offender or offenders as a group.
" }, { "id": "faq86", "category": "Hate Crime", "heading": "What type of hate crime data does the FBI UCR Program collect?", "text": "The types of hate crimes reported to the FBI UCR Program’s Hate Crime Statistics Collection are broken down by specific categories. The aggregate hate crime data collected for each incident includes:
For more information visit https://www.fbi.gov/how-we-can-help-you/more-fbi-services-and-information/ucr/hate-crime.
" }, { "id": "faq87", "category": "NIBRS Estimation", "heading": "What is NIBRS Estimation?", "text": "The UCR Program has estimated crime statistics for the nation, its regions, and for states since the 1960s. Estimation is the statistical process which allows inferences to be made about an outcome of interest (e.g., the number of robberies in the United States) in a population, even if information about the outcome is only known for part of that population. The FBI collaborated with the Bureau of Justice Statistics to develop comprehensive methodologies and establish the estimation process for NIBRS.
" }, { "id": "faq88", "category": "NIBRS Estimation", "heading": "If large jurisdictions are not participating, how are their crimes estimated?", "text": "Large jurisdictions–often defined as cities with 250,000 or more persons–have unique qualities which makes accounting for them in the estimation process more challenging. In 2021, 61 of 87 large jurisdictions submitted NIBRS data. To account for these unique qualities, the estimation process isolates these jurisdictions to ensure only agencies in cities with 250,000 persons or more can represent other agencies of the same size. Furthermore, the average crime counts from each agency for murder, rape, aggravated assault, burglary, robbery, larceny, and motor vehicle theft are used to calibrate (adjust) the statistical weights to ensure each large jurisdiction is properly represented. Further details on the calibration process can be found in the Primer on Weighting.
" }, { "id": "faq89", "category": "NIBRS Estimation", "heading": "For NIBRS Estimation, what is the significance of the 'agencies selected with certainty,' and which agencies are considered as self-representing agencies?", "text": "Self-representing agencies are agencies that are unique in some way, and it would be difficult for any other agency to represent them in the UCR. Typically, these are large agencies that have a unique crime profile. For estimation, city agencies serving 250,000 or more people are considered self-representing.
" }, { "id": "faq90", "category": "NIBRS Estimation", "heading": "For NIBRS Estimation, if not all the 'self-representing agencies' transitioned to NIBRS, how will the UCR Program calculate national estimates for crime data?", "text": "Although not all self-representing agencies had transitioned to NIBRS in 2021, the UCR Program calculated national estimates for crime data using statistical weights. Developed in partnership with the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the NIBRS estimation process adjusts for the crime profiles of non-transitioned agencies to ensure the weights of the transitioned self-representing agencies reflect both their crime profile and the crime profiles of the non-transitioned agencies. Crime profiles are based on the average volume of crime reported in each Part I offense (murder, rape, aggravated assault, burglary, robbery, larceny, and motor vehicle theft). This adjustment process is known as calibration. Details of the calibration process and how the estimates were validated can be found in the Primer on Weighting.
" }, { "id": "faq91", "category": "NIBRS Estimation", "heading": "Will the FBI estimate crime figures with NIBRS data?", "text": "Yes, the UCR Program began estimating national figures using NIBRS data reported for 2021 to account for the full complement of offenses captured through NIBRS. In addition, the new methodology of the NIBRS estimation process includes more detailed measures on the characteristics of victims and persons arrested, drug offenses, and law enforcement officers assaulted. More information can be found in the following report on the key NIBRS estimates.
" }, { "id": "faq92", "category": "NIBRS Estimation", "heading": "Is there any set reporting threshold that NIBRS data need to meet to help produce annual national estimates? If so, what is it, and how is it calculated/determined?", "text": "The purpose of the new methodology is to produce representative estimates with NIBRS data. The new methodology addresses the same concerns as thresholds used in other data releases— mainly ensuring the aggregate calculation fairly represents the experience for an area, such as a state or the nation. When a substantial amount of data is missing, there is a general concern the data received may not represent what would be expected if all data were received. The Office of Management and Budget recommends using a minimum coverage of 60 percent when calculations do not take into account nonreporting or missing data. Within the UCR Program, coverage in crime data collections is based on the population served by reporting law enforcement agencies.
" }, { "id": "faq93", "category": "NIBRS Estimation", "heading": "Will I still be able to look at changes in crime over time with NIBRS Estimates?", "text": "The FBI has produced a report showing changes in violent and property crime offenses from NIBRS estimates from 2020 and 2021 to provide a 2-year trend view of estimated data. This analysis covers many major crime offenses, allowing users to view increases and decreases in crime over that time period and to view a valid comparison of major crime offenses across the past two years. As 2021 was the first year NIBRS estimation data was produced, the ability to compare estimated data across time will be limited. However, as NIBRS gathers more yearly data and more estimates are produced, a clearer picture of nationally representative data over time will become available for public viewing.
" } ]