Pennsylvania Incident-Based Reporting Expansion Program

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 6,300 agencies that reported to NIBRS as of 2013, 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.

Funding from 2015 National Crime Statistics Exchange (NCS-X) Implementation Assistance Program will help states to expand their current capacity to report incident-based crime data to the FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). The plan to transition local agencies to NIBRS reporting requires enhancing the “state pipeline” in order to ensure that each state’s Uniform Crime Reporting program is capable of receiving and processing local incident-based crime data.

Specifically, funds will be used to expand capacity of the state program by updating the current web-based system, modifying it to be compatible with the new NIBRS changes (e.g., human trafficking, animal cruelty), and enhancing it to encourage participation in NIBRS by other PA agencies, particularly smaller agencies that utilize the system in place of a primary RMS. Funds will also be used to support targeted outreach to the 29 NCS-X sample agencies in PA. Also, funds will be used to improve the quality and quantity of NIBRS training in the state, to increase agencies programmatic knowledge of NIBRS and their reporting skills.

Note: This project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law. (CA/NCF)