Form 1110-0057 Pilot Study Interviews – Police-Public Contact (Telephon

Consent Script for Pilot Study Interviews – Police-Public Contact

Thank you for participating in this interview. Your feedback will help the FBI’s Uniform
Crime Reporting (UCR) Program refine the data collected regarding police-public
contacts within its National Use-of-Force Data Collection. The purpose of this interview
is to gain insight into your experiences obtaining and entering information about your
agency contacts with the public.
Your participation in this interview is voluntary, and you may choose to discontinue your
participation at any time. This interview is a requirement of this pilot. If you choose not
to complete the interview or voluntarily choose to discontinue the interview, you will no
longer be responsible for further participation in the pilot study.
This interview will take approximately 30 minutes and will not be recorded. I (the
interviewer) will be taking notes of your observations of the pilot study. Your name will
not be associated with any information provided and will only be known to the
individuals at the FBI working on this project. The FBI UCR Program staff may publish
reports or present data at meetings based on information obtained through these
interviews, but your identity will be kept confidential. No known risks are associated
with this interview; however, should any risks be identified, the FBI’s UCR Program has
processes in place to manage or mitigate them.
If you have any unanswered questions about your rights as a participant, please contact
Unit Chief Amy C. Blasher at [email protected].
Do you have any questions about me, the project, or this interview before we begin?

Email to Participants – Police-Public Contact
Hello,
The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program has begun efforts
to establish a new data collection to allow agencies to report the number of contacts their officers have
with the public. The Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Advisory Policy Board (APB)
recommended adding the collection of police-public contact data, which will reside within the National
Use-of-Force Data Collection, to provide context for use of force and other law enforcement statistics
already collected by the FBI.
If you are receiving this e-mail, the FBI UCR Program invites your agency to participate in the pilot
program for the police-public contact data collection. The FBI UCR Program is extending invitations to a
number of agencies that are already using the National Use-of-Force Data Collection portal to directly
submit their use-of-force incidents or zero reports each month.
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This pilot will take place from April 1 through May 31, 2020.
Pilot agencies will be requested to enter data for 2019 on three categories of police-public
contacts that were identified by the CJIS APB:
o Citizen calls for service
o Unit/officer initiated contact
o Court/bailiff activities
Agencies participating in this pilot should identify an individual within their agency to take part
in a voluntary post-pilot interview via telephone. We anticipate the interview lasting no more
than 30 minutes.

Additional details about the pilot program
To participate, pilot agencies will complete a new fillable form located within the National Use-of-Force
Data Collection portal. Agencies will report police-public contacts that occurred from January 1 –
December 31, 2019.
Law enforcement agencies are not expected to create a data system to allow for the reporting of policepublic contacts. Instead, agencies are encouraged to use their computer-aided dispatch systems or other
existing systems to obtain counts for police contacts with the public that fit into listed categories.
Participating agencies will have the option to submit an actual count, an estimated count, or note that the
number of contacts with the public are not applicable or are unavailable.
To assist pilot participants in determining the category in which the contacts should be reported, a list of
terminology along with examples will be added to the use-of-force portal’s Frequently Asked Questions
section. The pilot program is using several definitions already in use by the Law Enforcement Officers
Killed and Assaulted Data Collection to promote consistency. As previously mentioned, at the
conclusion of the pilot, agencies will be asked to participate in a post-pilot, follow-up call.
The FBI UCR Program thanks you in advance for your participation in this pilot. If you have any
questions, please e-mail [email protected].

Police-Public Contact Pilot Questionnaire
Data Collection:
1. Please review the screenshot provided of the Police-Public Contact web application.
a. Walk me through how you determined which scenarios fell under ‘citizen calls for
service.’
b. What does the term ‘citizen’ in ‘citizen calls for service’ mean to you?
c. How did you determine which scenarios fell under ‘officer initiated contacts?’
d. How did you determine which scenarios fell under ‘court/bailiff contacts?’
e. If not identified, ask if there were any scenarios identified that did not fit under one of
these three options.
f. If not identified, ask if there were additional scenarios that need to be added to the
three categories.
2. Think back through the process of gathering this information. (Interviewers will be provided
with the number of actual and estimated calls for service for each category). Your agency
submitted an actual count for [insert category(s)] and an estimated number for [insert
category(s)]. Can you provide some information on obtaining these reported numbers?
a. Approximately how long did it take to obtain the actual number for each category?
b. Approximately how long did it take to obtain the estimated number for each
category?
c. Walk me through the steps of determining the actual number of contacts.
i. If not identified, ask the following question: Within your agency, is
generating officer calls for service reports a normal procedure, or was this an
added task?
d. Walk me through the steps of determining the estimated number of contacts.
Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and Records Management System (RMS)
3. Explain the type of CAD system and RMS your agency uses to compile this information.
4. Is your agency’s CAD system connected to multiple agencies’ systems?
5. Explain how your agency’s CAD system transfers the call information to your agency’s
RMS.
6. How long does it take to run the Police-Public Contact reports?
7. Please explain who is responsible for entering CAD information and why these entities are
responsible for entering this data.
a. If not identified, ask if dispatch, call center personnel, or officers in the field enter the
CAD information.

i. If officers are responsible, ask the following question: Do your officers enter
information into the CAD system using Mobile Data Terminals (terminals
located in a patrol vehicle)?
8. Think about the call and nature codes programmed within your agency’s CAD system.
a. Do these codes easily map to one of the three categories collected?
b. Do more codes or categories need to be added?
Law Enforcement Enterprise Portal (LEEP) Use
9. Think back through the process of entering the data into LEEP for this pilot. Talk me
through this process from entering LEEP, to completing the form, and exiting the application.
a. Possible Probing Questions
i. Was the location of the police-public contact form easy to locate?
ii. Was the form easy to complete?
b. Do you have any suggestions for improving the form’s layout?
10. Did you use the Police-Public Contact Frequently Asked Questions?
a. Please explain how you used the Police-Public Contact Frequently Asked Questions
document when submitting data for the pilot.
b. Were there any questions that could not be answered?
11. If you contacted the FBI UCR Program’s staff for additional assistance please describe the
interaction.

Police-Public Contact Frequently Asked Questions
1.

How is police-public contact defined?
A police contact is considered an incident or occurrence where a law enforcement
officer is called to respond to a scene by a citizen or initiates an activity which
results in contact with a citizen.
Note: ‘Citizen’ refers to any member of the general public.

2.

Does the number of police-public contacts reported include the total number of
individuals encountered?
No. The reported number of police-public contacts does not include the total number of
individuals encountered during the incident. However, they do include the total
number of interactions that fall within the three specified categories.

3.

How often will data on police-public contacts be collected?
Police-public contact data will be collected on an annual basis. All counts will include
contacts with the public occurring between January 1 and December 31, of a calendar
year.

4.

What information is being collected?
The collection focuses on three categories of public contact:
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Citizen calls for service
Unit/officer initiated contacts
Court/bailiff activities

These numbers can be actual or estimated numbers.
5.

Are law enforcement agencies expected to create systems to capture police-public
contact?
No. Law enforcement agencies are not expected to create data systems to report policepublic contact. The FBI Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program has developed a
mechanism to capture this information within the National Use-of-Force Data
Collection portal.

6.

How is “citizen calls for service” defined?
Citizen calls for service are assignments typically distributed to law enforcement
officers that require their presence to resolve, correct, or assist a particular situation. In
this type of situation, someone from the public has requested law enforcement
intervention.
Examples of a call for service include:

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Citizen complaints
Response to a crime in progress
Response to a report of a crime
Disturbance calls
Domestic disturbances
Handling of persons with mental illnesses
Arrest situations
Encounters or assistance with an emotionally disturbed person
Service of a warrant

How is unit/officer initiated contact defined?
Unit/officer initiated contacts are activities in which a law enforcement officer initiates
contact with members of the public to resolve, correct, or assist a particular situation.
Examples of unit/officer initiated contacts include but are not limited to:
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Investigation of suspicious persons or circumstances
Investigation of possible DWI/DUI
Investigation of a motor vehicle crash
Wanted persons
Tactical situations – active shooter
Tactical situations – barricaded/hostage situations
Undercover situations
Drug-related matters
Traffic stops
Assisting other law enforcement officers
Response to an alarm
Pursuit
Traffic control
Assisting a motorist
Other administrative assignments (including the service of writs, notices,
summonses, subpoenas, hearing notices, notifications, and other civil processes)
Routine patrol other than a traffic stop
Follow-up investigations
Interviews with witnesses, subjects of investigations, and/or other persons of
interest

How is “Court/bailiff activities” defined?
The Criminal Justice Information Services Advisory Policy Board defines court/bailiff
activities as any activity that takes place within a courtroom.

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How did the FBI UCR Program determine what definitions to use for this data
collection?
The FBI UCR Program is using pre-established definitions created for use within the
Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted data collection for consistency.

10.

What happens if my agency does not have the information on a given category to
provide to the FBI UCR Program?
Agencies submitting police-public contact information will have the option to note if
the data for one of the three captured categories is not available or not applicable.

11.

Are law enforcement agencies expected to collect police-public contact data using
actual numbers, estimated numbers, or both?
Law enforcement agencies are expected to collect police-public contact data using
either actual numbers or estimated numbers, but not both.

12. What is the difference between actual or estimated numbers to be collected for each
type of police-public contact?
An actual number is defined as the known number based on reports generated using a
computer-aided dispatch (CAD) system, records management system, or other source,
i.e., docket sheets, call logs, etc.
An estimated number is defined as the number of police-public contacts that were not
reported in a CAD; however, a general number is known based on knowledge of
officers workload, i.e., citation counts, street/foot patrol, traffic duty, public outreach,
etc.
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What is the difference between “not available” and “not applicable”
Not available is defined as information that has not been gathered, or information that
is unattainable due to a number of factors, such as system issues.
Not applicable is used to indicate the requested information is not being provided
because it does not apply to the participating agency, i.e., the agency does not
participate in the activities outlined in the requested category.

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