An Analysis of Drug-Related Offenses in Oklahoma Using Incident-Based Reporting Data

The State Justice Statistics (SJS) Program is designed to maintain and enhance each state's capacity to address criminal justice issues through collection and analysis of data. The SJS Program provides support to each state to coordinate and conduct statistical activities within the state, conduct research to estimate impacts of legislative and policy changes, and serve as a liaison in assisting BJS to gather data from respondent agencies within their states.

The Oklahoma Statistical Analysis Center (SAC) is located at the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI). Oklahoma’s SAC is co-located with the state’s criminal history repository and the state’s incident-based reporting system. The SAC includes the SAC Director and four statistical research specialists. The SAC Director works with SAC staff and agency leadership to plan and develop the agency’s research agenda. SAC staff also works closely with the agency’s Field Services Unit, which is responsible for the statewide collection of crime statistics and exploring the feasibility of providing online access to incident-based datasets in the future. In addition, SAC staff assists the Oklahoma Information Fusion Center with research and crime analysis.

Under this award, the Oklahoma Statistical Analysis Center (SAC), located within the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI), will conduct activities under the following Core Capacity area: Increasing access to statistical data. The Oklahoma SAC is requesting funds to increase access to statistical data through enhancing data sources and improving analytic capabilities.

These funds will be used to carry out research and analyses using incident-based crime data that are compatible with NIBRS. For this project, staff will analyze drug-related offenses reported in SIBRS by selected agencies for calendar years 2016 through 2019. There are three objectives for this project. First, staff will identify changes in reported drug crimes over time, as well as differences in reporting practices among jurisdictions. Second, staff will examine trends and characteristics associated with drug-related offenses in Oklahoma. Staff are interested in identifying the dynamics of drug-related offenses over the last several years and whether the passage of SQ 780 and 788 has had an impact on drug-related offenses or the types and amounts of drugs seized. Third, staff will evaluate the quality and completeness of SIBRS data and provide a report of observations to the Field Services Unit (FSU) so they can incorporate this information into future training, as needed.

Funding is being requested for staff to attend SJS-focused training. In addition, hardware and software will be purchased for new Staff to assist with research projects and publications. Recruitment for the statistical research specialist position is underway.

(CA/NCF)