NCS-X Implementation Assistance - Switch from UCR to NIBRS

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 6,600 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 FY2018 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.

Garden Grove PD supports a population base of 200,000 with 167 sworn officers. The agency processes 75,000 incidents, including 7,000 arrests, per year. It is the 5th largest city in Orange County, CA. NIBRS reporting capacity is not currently included in the agency’s Spillman RMS. Upgrades will be needed for GGPD to be able to report NIBRS/IBR data to the State.

GGPD is requesting $450,000 to support its vendor, Spillman, to update the current RMS to be state-IBR/NIBRS compliant. The project is a relatively straightforward technical update to the RMS. The application timeline anticipates a NIBRS transition by Oct 1, 2019. This date assumes the NCS-X award will begin August 1, 2018, despite guidance provided in the solicitation; therefore, the transition timeline will need to be extended slightly to account for this incorrect project start date.

(CA/NCF)