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Strategies for Implementing National Incidence Based Reporting System (NIBRS) in Law Enforcement Agencies

NCJ Number
141093
Date Published
February 1986
Annotation
The Massachusetts Criminal Justice Statistical Analysis Center conducted a project to encourage the implementation of the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS). NIBRS is slated to replace the summary based Uniform Crime Reporting System.
Abstract

The Statistical Analysis Center provided technical assistance to law enforcement agencies through direct meetings, telephone consultations, letters, and newspaper articles. Subgrants were provided to State and local agencies, particularly local police departments and the Criminal History Systems Board, to purchase software and technical assistance. The Center conducted a needs assessment of police management information systems in the State. The assessment provided a baseline for monitoring implementation of NIBRS and identified software and hardware with which NIBRS would have to deal. The Center sponsored group meetings with chiefs of police and data processing staff to educate personnel about NIBRS and its role in managing departmental information. Finally, agencies were given documentary information in the form of articles, papers, and documents prepared based on requests for information. According to this report, NIBRS implementation has had a positive impact on the criminal justice information system. It has resulted in provision of UCR data from agencies which had not previously participated. NIBRS development also expanded the capacity of some agencies to analyze crime data. The most beneficial approaches to implementing NIBRS seem to be periodic meetings with law enforcement representatives, collaboration with software vendors, provision of seed money for demonstration projects, development of user groups based on common software, development of data analysis products, and coordination of modifications to State criminal justice systems with NIBRS information. 7 references

Date Published: February 24, 1986