Uniform Crime Reporting Program
UNIFORM CRIME REPORTING PROGRAM (UCR)
BACKGROUND
During the many years since its inception in 1930, the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program strives to depict the crime problem in America. Expanding in scope, importance, and size over the years, the Program encompasses Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies nationwide, which contribute crime statistics. Without their cooperation and support, the Program could not fulfill its mission.
The primary objective of UCR is to collect a reliable set of criminal statistics for use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management. To meet this objective, law enforcement agencies across the Nation have voluntarily supplied information on crimes coming to their attention.
The information submitted to the UCR Program should be only a portion of the data a law enforcement agency tabulates for its own effective and efficient use. Many states have developed information collection systems of which UCR is a by-product. These states gather data from the law enforcement agencies within their boundaries and forward the UCR statistics to the FBI. (From the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook, NIBRS Edition, 1992)
MEMBERS & CRIME REPORTING
The Association of State Uniform Crime Reporting Programs, Incorporated is dedicated to improving the collection, use, and utility of crime data as reported through the federal Uniform Crime Reporting system, and all state and local crime reporting programs. The Uniform Crime Reporting programs of the States, the District of Columbia, and the Territories are Active Members of the Association.
CRIME DATA & THE FBI
Crime data are, for the most part, supplied by Federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to the FBI on a monthly basis. The FBI assembles, publishes, and distributes the data to contributing agencies, state UCR Programs, to Government bodies, and to others interested in the Nation’s crime problem. While the primary goal of UCR is to produce a reliable set of criminal statistics for use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management, its data have over the years become one of the Nation’s leading social indicators (From the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Handbook, NIBRS Edition, 1992)
MAJOR COMPONENTS
The Uniform Crime Reporting Program consists of two major components, the summary-based data (often referred to simply as Summary) which has been collected since 1930, and the incident-based data of the National Incident-Based Reporting System (often referred to as NIBRS). NIBRS is being phased in across the United States of America as states mandate, or encourage voluntary participation in this program, which encompasses and supersedes Summary data gathering.