Agency-level survey with non-reporting agencies in NIBRS states for the National Crime Statistics Exchange

21

BJS National Crime Statistics – Exchange (NCS-X)

Agency Survey

RTI/PERF

RTI International and the Police Executive Research Forum (PERF), with funding from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), are conducting a survey to obtain critical information about data collection, reporting, and technical capabilities of law enforcement agencies. This survey is part of the National Crime Statistics Exchange (NCS-X), a collaborative effort between BJS, the FBI, and other DOJ agencies, aimed at expanding the sample of agencies reporting National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) data to the FBI. Specifically, the responses to this survey will be used to learn more about how agencies collect and store crime data and to determine what barriers exist that prevent agencies from reporting incident-based data. Neither personal nor specific agency information will be identified in any final reports.

Please assign a person knowledgeable about your agency’s database administration and crime data reporting practices to complete the survey. In most cases, this assigned staff member will need to consult with others in your agency to complete all the questions.

Your participation is vital to our goal of achieving as close to a 100 percent response rate as possible. Thus, although your participation is voluntary, our receipt of your completed survey is critical to the achievement of our goal.

If you have questions about NCS-X, please contact RTI (1-866-354-4992, [email protected]), Alexia Cooper at BJS (202-307-0582, [email protected]), or Amy Blasher at the FBI (304-625-4830, [email protected]). If you have questions about the survey itself, please contact Mary Beth Lombardo at PERF (202-454-8329, [email protected]).

1. Agency Name

Agency ORI Number

Please provide the date your agency completed this survey (MM/DD/YYYY):

/

/

Please provide your agency’s complete mailing address:

Street:

City:

State:

Zip Code:

2. Primary Contact/Completer’s Information

We recognize that more than one person in your agency may assist in completing the survey. Please provide information for a primary point of contact.

Last Name:

First Name:

Telephone:

Email Address:

Title or Position:

Which of these best describes your area of responsibility within your agency?

Department Administration

Records Administrator

Crime Analysis

Other (please specify): ____________________________

2a. Alternate Contact/Completer’s Information

If needed, please provide information for one alternate point of contact.

Last Name:

First Name:

Telephone:

Email Address:

Title or Position:

Which of these best describes their area of responsibility within your agency?

Department Administration

Records Administrator

Crime Analysis

Other (please specify): ____________________________

3. How many full-time sworn (or commissioned) officers does your agency currently employ? (In your sworn/commissioned count, include full-time and full-time equivalent officers.)

3a. How many part-time sworn (or commissioned) officers does your agency currently employ?

4. What is the approximate population of the jurisdiction your agency serves?

Offense/Incident Data Collection, Processing, and Reporting

We would like to learn more about how your agency collects, uses, reports, and shares crime offense/incident information for such crimes as homicide, rape, robbery, assault, burglary, theft, motor vehicle theft, and other offenses.

5. How do officers in your agency collect and record crime offense/incident reports? Mark all that apply.

__ Officers manually complete a paper offense/incident report form

__ Officers enter the offense/incident report information directly into an automated system, such as a laptop computer, tablet, MDT (mobile data terminal), or other digital device

__ Other (please specify): ________________________________________________________

__ All of the above

If your agency manually records some offenses/incidents and automates others, please briefly describe the differences in collecting and recording practices.

6. If your officers manually complete paper offense/incident report forms, is the information subsequently entered into an automated records management system in the agency?

__ Yes, by a central data entry or records staff

__ Yes, by the officer

__ Yes, by the officer dictating information regarding the offense/incident, which is then entered into an automated system

__ No, the paper forms are maintained in paper format only

__ Our agency does not use paper forms

7. Does your agency currently use an automated records management system (RMS)?

__Yes

__ No

__ Don’t know

If NO, skip to question 7e.

7a. What is the source of the RMS?

__ Commercial solution (Vendor/Application: _______________________________________)

__ State-provided solution (Name: ________________________________________________)

__ In-house developed solution (Name: ____________________________________________)

__ Don’t know

7b. When was the RMS software installed?

__ Within the last 12 months

__ 1-2 years ago

__ 3-4 years ago

__ 5-9 years ago

__ 10+ years ago

__ Don’t know

7c. When was the RMS software last updated?

__ 12 months or under

__ 1-2 years

__ 3-4 years

__ 5-9 years

__ 10+ years

__ Don’t know

7d. What is the approximate age of the hardware which runs the RMS software?

__ 12 months or under

__ 1-2 years

__ 3-4 years

__ 5-9 years

__ 10+ years

__ Don’t know

Skip to question 8.

7e. Do you have any plans to acquire, develop, upgrade, or replace an automated RMS within the next 24 months?

__ Yes

__ No

__ Don’t know

__ Maybe

8. How does your agency store offense/incident information? Mark all that apply.

__ Manual hardcopy files

__ Document imaging system (e.g., microfilm, microfiche)

__ Automated/electronic Records Management System (RMS) – all records are entered as electronic data

__ Automated/electronic Records Management System (RMS) – some information is entered as electronic data, other information is kept in hardcopy files

__ Automated/electronic Records Management System (RMS) – some information is entered as electronic data, other paper documents are scanned and retained as part of the case file

__ Other (please specify): ________________________________________________________

__ Don’t know

9. Does your agency participate in the National Data Exchange (N-DEx) program? If not, do you plan to begin participating in some capacity within the next 18 months?¹

	Currently	Within 18 months	Not at all
Our agency accesses N-DEx as a criminal investigative resource
Our agency contributes offense/incident Reports to N-DEx

Check here if your agency would like to learn more about N-DEx:

10. Does your agency compile and report crime statistics or offense/incident reports to another local agency, or a regional, state, or federal agency?

__ Yes

__ No

__ Don’t know

11. Where and how often does your agency report summary Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) statistics?

Which agency?	Frequency?
	Annually	Monthly	Weekly	Other	N/A
State UCR reporting agency
Directly to FBI UCR reporting program
Other (please specify):

Check here if your agency does not currently report summary UCR statistics:

12. Where and how often does your agency report individual offense/incident reports?

Which agency?	Frequency?
	Annually	Monthly	Weekly	Other	N/A
State incident-based reporting (IBR) program
Directly to FBI NIBRS Reporting program
State criminal history records repository
Local/regional/statewide information sharing program (e.g., LInX or a fusion center)
HIDTA (High-Intensity Drug-Trafficking Areas)
Other (please specify):

Check here if your agency does not currently report individual offense or incident reports:

13. Does your agency regularly perform crime analysis?

__ Yes

__ No [Skip to question 14]

13a. How many full-time crime analysts does your agency currently employ? (Include full-time and full-time equivalent analysts in your count.)

13b. How many part-time crime analysts does your agency currently employ?

13c. What specific analytic functions do your analysts perform? Mark all that apply.

__ Offense/incident report data entry

__ Crime mapping

__ Intelligence

__ Data mining

__ Trend analysis

__ CompStat support

__ Suspect identification

__ Pattern detection

__ Other (please specify): ________________________________________________________

13d. Please indicate the ways in which your agency analyzes or uses its crime incident data. Mark all that apply.

__ My agency does not directly analyze its crime data

__ Crime analysis to inform patrol officers

__ Crime analysis to support investigators

__ CompStat (or similar process)

__ Predictive analysis

__ Identification of repeat offenders

__ Identification of repeat addresses

__ Crime mapping

__ Hot Spot policing

__ Intelligence

__ Sharing with other area agencies

__ Posting to the department or other public websites

__ Other (please specify): ________________________________________________________

14. How does your agency support information technology (IT) hardware, software, and maintenance?

__ In-house IT unit or division

Number of full-time IT staff employed by your agency: _____

Number of part-time IT staff employed by your agency: _____

__ City/county IT unit or division

__ Contracted support through regional or local government service provider

__ Commercial contract

__ Other (please specify):_________________________________________________________

Agency Incident Reports

We would like to learn more about the types of information that agencies record and store when a crime is reported. For each question, please indicate how your agency records this information and in what format.

15. When an incident involves multiple offenses, does your agency record and store information about all of the offenses?

__ My agency currently records and stores information on all offenses in an incident in our Records Management System.

__ Information on all offenses in an incident is recorded and stored in an electronic/automated system, but not captured in our RMS (e.g., information is stored in a Microsoft Access database or scanned into a system that allows for indexing).

__ Information on all offenses in an incident is recorded and stored, but not automated.

__ We only record and store information on the most serious offense in an incident.

__ We do not currently record and store any information on the offenses in an incident.

16. Does your agency assign a detailed offense code or statute code to each offense in an incident?

__ My agency currently records and stores offense/statute codes for all offenses in an incident in our Records Management System.

__ Offense/statute codes for all offenses in an incident are recorded and stored in an electronic/automated system, but not captured in our RMS (e.g., information is stored in a Microsoft Access database or scanned into a system that allows for indexing).

__ Offense/statute codes for all offenses in an incident are recorded and stored, but not automated.

__ We only record and store information on offense/statute codes for the most serious offense in an incident.

__ We do not currently record and store offense or statute codes for all offenses in an incident.

17. Does your agency record and store demographic information on each victim in an incident?

__ My agency currently records and stores demographic information on each victim in an incident in our Records Management System.

__ Demographic information for each victim in an incident is recorded and stored on an electronic/automated system, but not captured in our RMS (e.g., information is stored in a Microsoft Access database or scanned into a system that allows for indexing).

__ Demographic information for each victim in an incident is recorded and stored, but not automated.

__ We do not currently record and store demographic information for each victim in an incident.

18. Does your agency record and store information on the severity of each victim’s injuries in an incident?

__ My agency currently records and stores information on the severity of each victim’s injuries in an incident in our Records Management System.

__ Information about the severity of each victim’s injuries in an incident is recorded and stored in an electronic/automated system, but not captured in our RMS (e.g., information is stored in a Microsoft Access database or scanned into a system that allows for indexing).

__ Information about the severity of each victim’s injuries in an incident is recorded and stored, but not automated.

__ We do not currently record and store information about the severity of each victim’s injuries in an incident

19. Does your agency record and store demographic information on each reported or known offender in an incident?

__ My agency currently records and stores demographic information on each offender in an incident in our Records Management System.

__ Demographic information for each offender in an incident is recorded and stored in an electronic/automated system, but not captured in our RMS (e.g., information is stored in a Microsoft Access database or scanned into a system that allows for indexing).

__ Demographic information for each offender in an incident is recorded and stored, but not automated.

__ We do not currently record and store the demographic information for each offender in an incident.

20. Does your agency record and store information about the relationships between each victim and each offender for all offenses in an incident?

__ My agency currently records and stores information about relationships between victims and offenders for all offenses in an incident in our Records Management System.

__ Victim/offender relationship information for all offenses in an incident is recorded and stored in an electronic/automated system, but not captured in our RMS (e.g., information is stored in a Microsoft Access database or scanned into a system that allows for indexing).

__ Victim/offender relationship information for all offenses in an incident is recorded and stored, but not automated.

__ We do not currently record and store victim/offender relationship information for all offenses in an incident.

21. If an arrest is made in connection with an incident, does your agency track whether or not the apprehension of the arrestee resulted in the clearance of more than one reported incident within your jurisdiction?

__ My agency currently records and stores multiple clearance information in our Records Management System.

__ Information about multiple clearances is recorded and stored in an electronic/automated system, but not captured in our RMS (e.g., information is stored in a Microsoft Access database or scanned into a system that allows for indexing).

__ Information about multiple clearances is recorded and stored, but not automated.

__ We only record and store information on multiple clearances when it is connected to the most serious offense in an incident.

__ We do not currently record and store any information about multiple clearances.

21a. Does your agency track whether an incident was cleared exceptionally?²

__ My agency currently records and stores exceptional clearance information in our Records Management System.

__ Information about exceptional clearances is recorded and stored in an electronic/automated system, but not captured in our RMS (e.g., information is stored in a Microsoft Access database or scanned into a system that allows for indexing).

__ Information about exceptional clearances is recorded and stored, but not automated.

__ We only record and store information on exceptional clearances when it is connected to the most serious offense in an incident.

__ We do not currently record and store any information about exceptional clearances.

21b. When your agency clears a crime by arrest or by exceptional means, does your agency also record and store information about the exceptional clearance date?

__ My agency currently records and stores exceptional clearance date information in our Records Management System.

__ Information about exceptional clearance dates is recorded and stored in an electronic/automated system, but not captured in our RMS (e.g., information is stored in a Microsoft Access database or scanned into a system that allows for indexing).

__ Information about exceptional clearance dates is recorded and stored, but not automated.

__ We do not currently record and store any information about exceptional clearance dates.

Contributing Data to Incident-Based Reporting Systems

In this section, we are interested in learning about why agencies have chosen not to contribute their incident-based data to a regional, a state, or a federal incident-based reporting system and what might be done to ease their transition to contributing to these types of systems.

22. Below is a list of reasons some agencies have given for why they are reluctant to contribute their incident-based data to their state’s incident-based reporting (IBR) system or to NIBRS directly (in the absence of a state IBR system). Please indicate the extent to which your agency agrees or disagrees with the following statements.

	Strongly disagree	Disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Strongly agree
It would require costly new software and/or hardware to implement state IBR or NIBRS-compliant reporting
Our officers are not trained in how to collect data according to the state IBR or other NIBRS-compliant incident-based reporting system requirements
We lack the necessary data entry personnel
The state IBR or NIBRS-compliant reporting systems impose additional data collection requirements, which pose an extra burden
The data entry process for reporting to the state IBR or to NIBRS directly is too complex
Because of the way the state IBR or NIBRS-compliant incident-based reporting systems record crime, the incidence of crime in our jurisdiction will appear to increase.
We have concerns about reporting rape/sexual assault incidents to other reporting systems given the sensitive nature of these crimes.
Our agency feels the data we are currently collecting are sufficient
An incident-based reporting system designed for statistical reporting, such as NIBRS, is not an effective tool for investigative support
The additional time and effort needed to collect these data will cause lost officer patrol time
Our current RMS does not collect or store information in a way that meets the reporting requirements of the state IBR or NIBRS-compliant reporting programs
Data editing requirements to ensure state IBR or NIBRS compliance represents an undue burden on our agency

Check here if your agency does not currently collect incident-based crime data:

22a. Using the list of reasons some agencies have given for why they are reluctant to contribute to their state’s IBR system or to NIBRS directly from Q22 (above), please select the 3 reasons that are most important to your agency.

1.  _______________________________________

2. _______________________________________

3. _______________________________________

Please describe any reasons or factors not mentioned above that have led your agency to choose not to contribute to your state’s IBR system or to NIBRS directly.

23. Below is a list of factors that could make it more likely for agencies to begin contributing to their state’s IBR system or directly to NIBRS. Please indicate the extent to which your agency agrees or disagrees with the following statements.

	Strongly disagree	Disagree	Neither agree nor disagree	Agree	Strongly Agree
Funding or grants for new software to facilitate state IBR or other NIBRS-compliant reporting
Additional hardware for data storage
Training or education on how to collect state IBR or NIBRS-compliant incident-based crime data
Funding or grants to hire or train personnel in the effective reporting and analysis of IBR data
Demonstrations and/or training on how to effectively use IBR or NIBRS-compliant data
Relax some of the data reporting requirements in the current state IBR or NIBRS reporting standards to help agencies achieve compliance (e.g., allow agencies to report incident-based crime data even if they capture data on only 3 offenses, offenders, victims in an incident; etc.)
An education or training program explaining the merits of the state IBR or NIBRS to department leadership
Assistance and cooperation at the state level
Training and/or technical assistance in the development and use of analytic models that demonstrate direct operational and tactical value of state IBR or NIBRS-compliant incident-based analysis to local law enforcement agencies
Research that demonstrates the value of state IBR or NIBRS-compliant incident-based data for broader integrated justice information sharing initiatives at regional, statewide, and national levels (e.g., state or regional integrated justice program, N-DEx)
Marketing materials and/or talking points for chiefs and law enforcement executives addressing potential changes in crime reporting levels as the agency implements an IBR system
Development of analytic models and free/low-cost tools for state UCR/NIBRS reporting programs that support regional and statewide analyses of incident-based data to give local agencies a broader perspective of crime reporting figures beyond their jurisdiction
Training programs for educating crime analysts in the new techniques of big data and predictive analytics
Provide a service to convert local IBR data into UCR data for the purposes of publically releasing crime statistics
Provide an online set of high-powered analysis tools that agencies could use for correlating crimes with suspects and other crime analysis purposes
Use state IBR or NIBRS-compliant data to make program funding decisions at state and federal levels
Other (please specify):

23a. Using the list of factors that could make it easier for agencies to begin contributing to their state’s IBR system or directly to NIBRS (from Q23 above), please select the 3 factors that are most important to your agency.

1._______________________________________

2. _______________________________________

3. _______________________________________

24. Do you envision any additional resources -- beyond those described in question 23 -- that would be needed by your agency for it to begin contributing to your state’s IBR system or directly to NIBRS?

__ Yes

__ No

If YES, please explain your resource needs.

25. Below are some advantages that have been attributed to regional, state, or federal IBR systems. Please indicate whether you expect your agency might gain one or more of these advantages from reporting to your state incident-based reporting (IBR) system, or directly to NIBRS. Mark all that apply.

__ Improved comparisons to other agencies

__ Better understanding of crime trends and patterns

__ Improved tactical crime analysis

__ Improved strategic crime analysis

__ Improved crime strategy meetings (e.g., CompStat)

__ Improved quality control of crime data

__ Improved regional crime analysis

__ Other (please specify): ________________________________________________________

26. As stated earlier, the purpose of this survey is to discover how the U.S. Department of Justice can facilitate increased reporting by local law enforcement agencies of their crime incident data to state IBR systems or directly to NIBRS. Please provide any comments you’d like to share with us about your agency’s experiences, or problems or concerns that arose when your agency has considered or was asked to consider reporting your crime incident data to state, regional, or federal IBR systems.

27. Is there anything that was not addressed in previous questions that would help us in our efforts to assist agencies as we work toward a goal of being able to generate a useful and informative set of incident-based national crime statistics using NIBRS data that can serve to shed light on policy and program issues of importance to law enforcement and society?

28. The Bureau of Justice Statistics will have resources available to distribute to agencies that can provide assistance by pilot-testing and implementing incident-based data reporting to their state IBR system or directly to NIBRS. Would your agency be interested in participating in the pilot implementation study?

__ Yes

__ No

Describe:

1 The National Data Exchange (N-DEx) provides criminal justice agencies with a mechanism for sharing, searching, linking, and analyzing information across jurisdictional boundaries. It is a national repository of criminal justice records submitted by agencies from around the country, N-DEx uses those records to “connect the dots” between data on people, places, and things that may seem unrelated in order to link investigations and investigators. N-DEx supplies free, secure, and immediate access to relevant information, enhances the criminal justice community’s ability to share that information in a timely manner, and provides analysis and collaboration tools to assist investigators working cases cooperatively with other agencies.

2 An exceptional clearance has 4 elements: 1) The offender has been identified. 2.) Enough evidence has been gathered to support an arrest, make a charge, and turn over the offender to the court for prosecution. 3) The offender’s exact location has been identified so that the suspect could be taken into custody immediately. 4) But, a circumstance outside the control of law enforcement has been encountered which prevents the agency from arresting, charging, and prosecuting the offender.