Using Incident-Based Reporting Data to Analyze Violent Crime - Robbery in Oklahoma

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 will use 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 robberies reported in SIBRS. There are three objectives for this project. First, staff will examine how law enforcement has reported robberies in SIBRS from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017. Staff are interested in identifying changes over time in robbery patterns, as well as differences in reporting practices among jurisdictions. Second, staff will examine trends and characteristics associated with robberies in Oklahoma. Staff are interested in identifying the dynamics of robberies during a calendar year and their impact on violent crime reporting. Statistical analysis will include type of weapon used, location type, day of week, time of day, and other types of offenses associated with robbery. Staff will also conduct a qualitative analysis of incident report narratives associated with robberies. Third, this project will include a victim and offender analysis based on demographics and the highest number of reported robberies associated with other related crimes. It will also include victim to offender relationship data and the types of victim injuries reported into SIBRS. Finally, staff will provide recommendations to FSU for the improvement of training modules that address the quality and completeness of incident-based reporting. As part of the analysis, staff will assess and review the quality of SIBRS data.

Funding is also being requested for travel to attend the ASUCRP Conference and either the fall or spring JRSA meeting.

(CA/NCF)