Ucr Nibrs Compare and Contast

Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)
Curtis W. Lockwood

APUS

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for (CMRJ 501, 1002 Fall 12)

December 07, 2012

Telephone: [phone]
E-mail: [e-mail]
Instructor: Dr. Allan Conkey

Abstract
The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) are official information on crime in the United States, published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. UCR is a nationwide, cooperative statistical report. The report includes approximately 17,000 city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies who voluntarily report information on crimes from their jurisdiction.

The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is an incident-based reporting system

allowing police agencies to collect information on each occurrence of crime. NIBRS

information comes from local, state and federal records A police department can develop a

reporting system to fit it 's local needs.

Keywords: crime, statistics, data, law enforcement, indexes.

Table of Contents
Introduction and History 1
Groups which influenced UCR and NBIRS Development 1
The Parts of the UCR System 2
The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) 2
Combining UCR and the NIBRS 3
Providing UCR Data to the public 3
Conclusion 3
References5

Introduction and History The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) are official information on crime in the United States...
Groups which influenced UCR and NBIRS Development The International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the National Sheriffs Association (NSA)
The Parts of the UCR System The UCR Program currently consists of four parts...
The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) …. an incident-based reporting system allowing police agencies to collect information on each occurrence of crime.
Combining UCR and the NIBRS As with the UCR, participation in NIBRS is voluntary on the part of law enforcement agencies.
Providing UCR Data to the public They deliver UCR data to the public in several ways Conclusion The FBI has made a concerted effort to establish a usable system to assist in sharing information

Introduction and History
The Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) are official information on crime in the United States, published by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. UCR is a nationwide, cooperative statistical report. The report includes approximately 17,000 city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies who voluntarily report information on crimes from their jurisdiction.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police developed the initial system in 1929. The system was then put into use by the FBI in 1930 as the Uniform Crime Report (UCR). The FBI used this system initially to get an idea about the amount of crime and how often crime happened in the U.S. The development of this crime information system was to indicate on a national level about the locations and types of crimes which was most often committed. Police agencies across the United States provide the data to the FBI, which then compiles the reports. (quick facts, 2012)

Groups which influenced UCR and NBIRS Development UCR program

The following associations serve as advisers for the UCR program:The Criminal Justice

Information Systems Committees of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)

and the National Sheriffs Association (NSA). They also work to encourage the use of the UCR

program among police and sheriff 's departments across the nation.

Additionally, in 1988, an advisory board called the Data Providers ' Advisory Policy Board, was

developed in order to assist in development of the UCR system. This organization worked until

1993 when it then combined with the National Crime Information Center Advisory Policy Board.

Their purpose was to look at all of the issues about the FBI 's law enforcement information

products and services. These and other organizations were developed for the purpose of

encouraging use of the FBI 's systems. (Levitt, 1998)
The Parts of the UCR System

The UCR, in it 's current operation, has four parts: Traditional Summary Reporting System (SRS) and the Natonal Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), Offense and arrest data Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Program, Hate Crime Statistics Program and the Cargo Theft Reporting Program. (Wikipedia, 2012)

The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)

The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is an incident-based reporting system

allowing police agencies to collect information on each occurrence of crime. NIBRS

information comes from local, state and federal records A police department can develop a

reporting system to fit it 's local needs.

The NIBRS is newer program that is part of the UCR. Police agencies in the 1970 's needed a

better system to evaluate crime. As a result, The FBI developed a system which would meet the

needs for police information on crime trends. The FBI developed the system with federal funds

which allowed them to develop this new system. The FBI then conducted a study over several

years with the goal of expanding and enhancing the UCR program. The study was called:

"Blueprint for the Future of the Uniform Crime Reporting Program". (Quick Facts, 2012)

As a response to this study, the FBI developed new procedures for collecting information and

disseminating it to state and local agencies. The information looks at different aspects of an

individual crime. This new system was put to work in 1988 and called the National Incident

Based Reporting System. The system has been revised several times and is currently known as

UCR/NIBRS. When it first started, the system didn 't show individual details of a crime. Now, the

information from NIBRS is available to all police agencies. There are 22 categories of offense

which NIBRS categorizes, then the categories are then separated into 46 infractions instead of a

simple summary as it was in UCR. The very first state agency which to use and test the system

was the South Carolina Law Enforcement Division. (Reeves, 1993)

Combining UCR and the NIBRS

The NIBRS, like the UCR, is a voluntary reporting system. The result of the information

gathered is not a representative sample of the U.S. reporting agencies. The information generally

reflects a trend of crime activity. The local, county and state agencies determine how they use the

a variety of planning and research purposes in each agency. The FBI discourages agencies from

using the information to measure their effectiveness in any way.

Providing UCR Data to the public

The FBI developed a Crime Statistics Management Unit to mete out information to agencies

om the UCR program to local agencies. Primarily they publish the publications Crime in the

U.S., Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted and Hate Crime Statistics. (Lynch, 2007)

The FBI provides a handbook to police agencies to assist them in making usable reports to be input into the FBI systems. This allows the agencies to report crimes in a uniform manner by providing standard definitions of crime which vary among the many states.
Conclusion
More than 17,000 agencies send in information to the FBI each year. The FBI has made a concerted effort to establish a usable system to assist in sharing information among agencies to assist them in planning and preparation according to current crime trends. Their efforts have greatly improved the knowledge of police agencies in the United States as to the crime trends and assist them in planning the procedures and programs to act in response.
References

Levitt, S. (1998) Relationship between crime reporting and police:Implications for use of uniform crime reports. Journal of quantitative criminology retrieved fromhttps://www.ncjrs.gov/app/publications/abstract.aspx
Lynch, J. & Addington, L. (2007). Understanding crime statistics: revisiting the divergence of the NCVS and UCR. Cambridge studies in criminology. Cambridge University Press. Doi.9780521862042
Quick Facts. (2012) Federal Bureau of Investigation. Http://www.fbi.gov/quickfacts.htm. Retrieved 2012-06-12. http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr
Reaves, B. (1993) Using NIBRS data to analyze violent crime. University of Michigan library retrieved from Washington, D.C. U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics www.doj.gov/
Wikipedia (2012) Uniform Crime Report retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform Crime Reports

References: Levitt, S. (1998) Relationship between crime reporting and police:Implications for use of uniform crime reports. Journal of quantitative criminology retrieved fromhttps://www.ncjrs.gov/app/publications/abstract.aspx Lynch, J. & Addington, L. (2007). Understanding crime statistics: revisiting the divergence of the NCVS and UCR. Cambridge studies in criminology. Cambridge University Press. Doi.9780521862042 Quick Facts. (2012) Federal Bureau of Investigation. Http://www.fbi.gov/quickfacts.htm. Retrieved 2012-06-12. http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/ucr Reaves, B. (1993) Using NIBRS data to analyze violent crime. University of Michigan library retrieved from Washington, D.C. U.S. Dept. of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice Statistics www.doj.gov/ Wikipedia (2012) Uniform Crime Report retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform Crime Reports