NCS-X Implementation Assistance 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 6,600 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 in the transition to NIBRS reporting.

Gwinnett County Police Department (GCPD) is the 3rd largest police agency in Georgia, after DeKalb County PD and Atlanta PD. The agency employs 813 sworn officers and serves a population of approximately 800,000. The agency describes their current business practices and how the transition to NIBRS will require GCPD to procure a new record management system (RMS). The agency has initiated the competitive procurement process, issuing a request for proposals for a new integrated computer aided dispatch and RMS. The transition will also require officers to enter additional data elements in a timelier manner, necessitating new MDTs for field-based reporting that can interface correctly with the new RMS. The application also states clearly that the final deliverable is certification with the state UCR Program.

(CA/NCF)