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Incident-based
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Justice
Statistics Improvement Program
National Incident-Based Reporting
System (NIBRS) Implementation Program
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About
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 December,
2003.
For additional information, see also:
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Program Activities
The objective of this program was to improve the quality of crime statistics
in the United States by implementing the National Incident-Based Reporting
System (NIBRS). This program provided funding to States in 2001 (in conjunction
with units of Local government) and tribes that wanted to participate
in the FBI's new approach to uniform crime reporting, NIBRS. Grant funds
have not been available since 2001.
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 maintained
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.
- 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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