University of California - Santa Cruz Police Department NIBRS Transition Project

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.

The University of California, Santa Cruz Police Department (UCSC PD) has 21 sworn officers and 12 civilian employees. UCSC PD serves approximately 25,000 campus daily student and staff population, including approximately 10,000 campus residents. UCSC PD also provides law enforcement services to university locations throughout Santa Cruz County, as well as locations in Santa Clara, San Mateo, and Monterey Counties. UCSC PD utilizes the Sun Ridge Systems Computer Aided Dispatch and Record Management System (CAD/RMS) to collect, analyze, publish, and disseminate information. This Sun Ridge RIMS system can be upgraded to be NIBRS compliant.

The proposed NIBRS transition project will occur in two phases: Phase 1 includes expanding data storage capacity to meet the expanded reporting requirements and identifying and hiring a contractor/consultant to manage the transition; Phase 2 includes deploying the upgraded software package, configuring it to meet the data requirements and technical specifications, training staff on the new system requirements, and alerting the public to the changes associated with the transition.

Funds are requested for equipment and ancillary hardware; contractor costs for project management, NIBRS software upgrade, and technical assistance from the RMS service provider. The application also requests indirect costs for the RMS contract, a budget item required by the University system.

(CA/NCF)