Implementation Assistance to Transition from UCR Reporting to NIBRS reporting

The National Crime Statistics Exchange (NCS-X) is an effort to expand the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) into a nationally representative system of incident-based crime statistics. BJS and the FBI are implementing NCS-X with the support of other Department of Justice agencies, including the Office for Victims of Crime. The goal of NCS-X is to enroll a sample of 400 scientifically selected law enforcement agencies to submit data to NIBRS; when these 400 new NIBRS-reporting agencies are combined with the more than 6,900 agencies that currently report to NIBRS, the nation will have a nationally representative system of incident-based crime statistics drawn from the operational data systems of local police departments. These incident-based data will draw upon the attributes and circumstances of criminal incidents and allow for more detailed and transparent descriptions of crime in communities. The current mechanism by which local law enforcement (LE) agencies report data to the FBI’s NIBRS, in general, is for local LE agencies to submit data to their state UCR reporting program, and then for the state UCR program to report those data to the FBI. While the FBI does accept NIBRS data directly from a small number of law enforcement agencies, the highly preferred route of reporting is through the state UCR program. The FY2019 solicitation furthers the goals of the NCS-X initiative by providing funding to the remaining states and local agencies in the NCS-X sample in order to assist them transition to NIBRS reporting.

The Geneva Police Department (GPD) is one of six law enforcement agencies using a records management system (RMS) hosted by the Batavia Police Department (BPD). The Batavia RMS consortium is staffed by 36 sworn and 19 civilian personnel and serves a jurisdiction of about 22,000 residents. The goal of this project is to submit incident-based crime data, from all consortium agencies, to the Illinois Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program, that is compliant with both the state’s reporting requirements and the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS) standard. To accomplish this goal, GPD will (1) upgrade the consortium RMS to enable incident-based report, (2) obtain hardware and software to support the RMS, (3) receive technical assistance from the RMS vendor, and (4) train personnel in collecting and reporting incident-based data. GPD and BPD will work with the Illinois UCR Program to certify data meet the state’s incident-based reporting requirements and will submit NIBRS-complaint incident-based data as a final deliverable of this award.

CA/NCF