1110-0004 Supporting Statement A

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

1110-0004

NUMBER OF LAW ENFORCEMENT EMPLOYEES AS OF OCTOBER 31

An extension of this approved collection for three years is requested.

History

In December 2015, the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Advisory Policy Board (APB) approved a series of recommendations which created a new national data collection on law enforcement use of force (UoF). Part of the process of identifying the scope and content of the new data collection was the input from a UoF Task Force. This task force was comprised of representatives from major law enforcement organizations and federal, state, local, tribal, and college/university law enforcement agencies. A key theme to the discussions from both the CJIS APB and the UoF Task Force was the need to provide sufficient context around the data collected on use of force in order for the general public to understand the reported figures. As a result, the UoF Task Force recommended the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) pursue the additional information on agency workforce and to detail it within the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) police employee collection.

The police employee collection is an annual compilation, which includes details on the sworn or civilian status and gender of the law enforcement agency (LEA) staff as of October 31 for the collection year. The information was originally included in an early version of the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) form when both collections were annual. However, by the mid-1970s the two collections separated as the LEOKA data changed to a monthly report, while the police employee collection remained an annual compilation.

Over the past few years, new developments have led to changes in the details collected by the police employee collection. This includes the addition of part-time and auxiliary officers and employees. Due to this change, the formal name of the collection (Number of Full-time Law Enforcement Employees as of October 31) no longer reflects an accurate representation of the data being collected. In 2021, the FBI UCR Program is requesting a name change for this collection along with the normal changes and renewal of authorization. The proposed change is to remove the “Full-time” verbiage from the title and change the official name to “Number of Law Enforcement Employees as of October 31.” This change has been made in the title portion of all supporting Information Collection Review documentation for review and approval.

There are two primary areas where the police employee counts are published by the FBI UCR Program. They appear in their own section of Crime in the United States (CIUS) where both aggregate and agency-level information is provided on counts of law enforcement officers (LEOs) and civilians in total, and by gender, as well as aggregate law enforcement rates per 1,000 in population. In addition, these counts are used as a denominator to calculate the rates of law enforcement assaults in the LEOKA publication.

Part A. Justification

1. Necessity of Information Collection

Under the provisions of the Uniform Federal Crime Reporting Act of 1988, Title 34, United States Code (U.S.C.), Section (§) 41303 (2012) (reorganizing and reclassifying this title from the notes of 28 U.S.C. § 534) and the FBI’s authority to acquire, preserve, and exchange identification records, 28 U.S.C. § 534, the FBI UCR Program requests data annually about police employee counts from federal, state, local, and tribal LEAs throughout the country in order to generate reliable information on police employee counts.

Form 1-711, Number of Full-Time Law Enforcement Employees as of October 31, provides the FBI UCR Program with a yearly total count of full-time, part-time, and reserve/auxiliary/other sworn male and female LEOs and full-time, part-time and reserve/auxiliary/other male and female civilian employees by race and ethnicity, as of October 31 of the reporting year. This information collection is a necessity in order for the FBI to maintain a database and serve as the national clearinghouse for the collection and dissemination of this information.

In the fall of 2020, the FBI UCR Program took additional changes through the CJIS Advisory Process. These changes included adding an unknown/unreported category to the race options and adding a “nonbinary” selection option to the available gender expression codes for all race options. These changes were approved by the Director of the FBI on April 15, 2021. Development of these changes are in progress for implementation.

2. Needs and Uses

The Extensible Markup Language (XML), the Police Employee Flat File Technical Specification, and the Microsoft Excel Summary Workbook are necessary to provide the LEAs a mechanism to report the total number of police employee counts to the FBI UCR Program. The FBI is able to generate reliable information annually for use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management, nationwide. The information released is viewed as a guide or an indicator of police strengths, to establish manpower needs, in both number and makeup, and to provide enforcement and protection. Examples of other agencies’ uses are:

• Federal, state, local, tribal, and military agencies, domestic and foreign, have used the data for selected city population groupings to determine standard police strengths.

• The Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance, utilizes the FBI UCR Program data in awarding local law enforcement formula grants, such as the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grant funding.

• The Community Oriented Policing Services Program receives the UCR data for the purpose of awarding grant money to LEAs.

• Annually, the FBI UCR Program data are provided to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). This central repository serves as a single facility from which colleges/universities can obtain social science data. The ICPSR website houses 36 years of the UCR police employee data.

• Criminal justice coordinators use the data in the form of percentage of cities employing female officers.

• City and county police agencies use the data to request assistance from other departments.

• City councils, legislators, citizens, organizations, and social scientists request police employee data.

3. Use of Information Technology (IT)

All FBI UCR Program participants submit this data electronically. The FBI currently provides three options for states, UCR programs, and individual LEA participants to submit police employee data: XML, Flat File Data Specification, and the re-branded Collection of Law Enforcement and Crime Tool (COLECT), formerly known as the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) Collection Application (NCA).

The XML interface specification complies with the National Information Exchange Model and Logical Entity Exchange Specifications, which are both data standards for information exchange used by law enforcement. The Flat File Data Specification is submitted as an American Standard Code for Information Interchange text file. Finally, COLECT allows agencies to access a new online portal to submit employee data directly to the FBI UCR Program. State UCR programs and individual LEAs have the option to submit these electronic submissions via email at [email protected]. However, as the usage of COLECT is messaged out for new and current data collections, [email protected] will become an obsolete reporting method.

The FBI UCR Program crime data collection begins at the local agency level when the LEOs submit administrative and operational data to their record management personnel from hardcopy or electronic incident reports. The local agency record managers then compile the crime data and submit it to their state UCR programs. Many state UCR programs have a centralized repository and have established electronic communications with the LEAs throughout their state, as well as the FBI UCR Program. This link allows for IT interaction within the required electronic data submission formats.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

This information collection was authorized by a 1988 amendment to 28 U.S.C § 534, Acquisition, Preservation, and Exchange of Identification Records; Appointment of Officials.

There are two additional entities which have collected law enforcement employee statistics:

• The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) published “Census of State and Local Law Enforcement Agencies (CSLLEA)” every four years through 2008.

• The Bureau of Census (BOC) also publishes the “Annual Survey of Public Employment and Payroll (ASPEP).”

The BJS, the BOC, and the FBI UCR Program have different purposes for collecting this data, respondent universes, and data collection procedures. Each entity provides data about the number of sworn and nonsworn officers on a voluntary basis, but differs in the type of information provided about police employees as well as in the number and size of the participating agencies.

• The BJS – CSLLEA

• Respondent Universe

  • All state and local LEAs in the United States to include primary state police, sheriffs’ offices, local police departments, tribal police, special jurisdiction agencies, and other agencies (such as courts and jails).

• Data Collection

  • The survey measures the number of sworn and nonsworn employees within state, local, and special jurisdiction agencies in the United States.

  • The data is disaggregated by full-time or part-time status, population, and patrol assignments.

• Frequency

  • Every four years.

• Imputation

  • The CSLLEA imputes missing data due to unit and item nonresponse.

• The BOC – ASPEP

• Respondent Universe

  • The ASPEP includes data for full-time LEOs from local police departments, sheriffs’ offices, state police, federal agencies, coroners’ offices, police training academies, investigation bureaus, and temporary holding or lockup facilities.

  • ASPEP excludes sworn officers employed by transit police or school police agencies.

• Data Collection

  • The BOC collects employment data for the federal, state, and local governments as well as their gross monthly salary for March of the survey year.

  • Employee information is captured from the payroll records on an annual basis.

• Frequency

  • Annually.

• Imputation

  • The BOC imputes missing data due to agency nonresponse.

• The FBI UCR Program – Number of Full-Time Law Enforcement Employees as of October 31

• Respondent Universe

  • Participants from federal, state, local, and tribal LEAs.

• Data Collection

  • The FBI UCR Program collects data on the number of full-time sworn officers and civilian personnel; part-time sworn officers and civilian personnel; and reserve/auxiliary/other by gender, race, and ethnicity.

  • Sworn officers and reserve/auxiliary/other personnel must have full arrest powers and must be paid from government funds set aside for sworn LEOs.

  • Civilian personnel must be paid from police funds and includes clerks, radio dispatchers, meter attendants, stenographers, jailers, correctional officers, and mechanics.

  • Excluded from these counts are officers not paid from police funds as well as employees who serve court- and jail-related functions.

  • This data collection also provides the population for each reporting agency.

• Frequency

  • Annually.

• Imputation

  • Data is not imputed for missing agency data.

The police employee data are critical for officer and reserve/auxiliary/other personnel assault rates produced in CIUS and LEOKA publications. Police employee data files are one of the most requested data files within the user community. The FBI UCR Program has successfully collected and published police employee data since the program’s inception in 1930. In December 1944, a conference was held with the then, Division of Statistical Standards, the BOC, the Department of Labor, and the FBI UCR Program to discuss collection duplication. The outcome of that conference was to allow the FBI UCR Program to continue the data collection as requested by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP).

5. Minimizing Burden on Small Businesses

This information will have no significant impact on small LEAs. The burden on the LEAs is minimized as this is an annual collection.

6. Consequences of Not Conducting or Less Frequent Collection

The police employee counts are collected annually from participating FBI UCR Program contributors as UCR crime data is distributed on an annual basis. The LEAs use this UCR data to justify staffing levels and officer counts compared to other LEAs in order to receive additional staffing levels, equipment, or funding. In addition, the FBI UCR Program is using the police employee information to calculate coverage rates for the National Use-of-Force Data Collection.

7. Special Circumstances

All police employee data are collected/received from the FBI UCR Program participants on an annual basis. Participation in the FBI UCR Program is voluntary.

8. Public Comments and Consultations

The Federal Register 60- and 30-day notices were submitted and published in the Federal Register with no public comments received.

9. Provision of Payments or Gifts to Respondents

The FBI UCR Program does not provide any payment of gift to respondents.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality

The FBI UCR Program does not assure confidentiality. However, this information collection does not contain personally identifiable information which may reveal the identity of an individual. The data obtained is considered to be in the public domain. However, UCR collections are all voluntary, therefore, if any LEA believes this information is sensitive, the agency can opt out of this collection.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

The information collection does not seek information of a sensitive nature.

12. Estimate of Respondent’s Burden

The estimated hour burden on the respondent for this data collection is as follows:

Number of respondents: 14,993

Number of non-respondents: 3,626

Frequency of responses: Annually

Total annual responses: 14,993

Minutes per response: 8 minutes

Annual hour burden: 1,999 hours

Total annual responses 14,993 x 1 = 14,993

Total annual hour burden 14,993 x 8 / 60 = 1,999.06 hours

The FBI UCR Program frequently has operational and administrative questions for the state program managers and local LEAs. In order for the FBI to conduct this outreach with a larger universe of contributors, the FBI UCR Program is including an additional 300 annual burden hours to this information collection request.

State Program and Local LEA Outreach:

Number of respondents: 100

Frequency of responses: Varies

Minutes per response: 180

Additional burden hours: 300 hours

Total Annual Burden: 1,999 + 300 = 2,299 hours

The FBI UCR Program frequently has operational and administrative questions for the state UCR program managers and local LEAs. In order for the FBI to conduct this outreach with a larger universe of contributors, the FBI UCR Program is including an additional 300 annual hours to this information collection request.

13. Estimate of Cost Burden

There are no direct costs to law enforcement to participate in the FBI UCR Program other than their time to respond. The FBI UCR Program disseminates the electronic version of the police employee form via the XML, Police Employee Technical Specification, and the Microsoft Excel Workbook tool. For many reasons, costs to agency records management systems are very difficult to obtain. Vendors do not divulge costs due to the fact that vendors charge differently from agency to agency. Many costs are built into the vendors contracts. Changes mandated by law could be included within the original contract with no other additional costs. However, an estimate has been projected that agencies pay a $107,000 maintenance fee every year for system maintenance costs.

The FBI UCR Program completed its transition from the Summary Reporting System (SRS) to the NIBRS on January 1, 2021. To assist agencies with this transition, select LEAs and state UCR programs received funding through the National Crime Statistics Exchange from 2015 through 2018. With the transition completed, the FBI will be reevaluating maintenance fees moving forward from 2021.

14. Cost to Federal Government

According to the cost module provided by the FBI CJIS Division, Resources Management Section, Fee Programs Unit, the following are projections based upon prior collection activity, as well as activities anticipated over the next three years for NIBRS. The cost module does not separate the costs between SRS and NIBRS for prior collection activities the UCR data.

Data Collection and Processing Costs

Activity	FY2020 Annualized Cost	FY2020 Annualized Full-Time Equivalent (FTE)
Conduct Assessment / Perform Analysis	$ 91,640.91	0.45
Conduct Liaison, Education, and Promotion	$ 460,753.01	3.56
Conduct UCR Audits	$ 473,855.85	3.74
Define and Oversee Compliance within IT Infrastructure	$ 40,363.87	0.30
Deliver Curriculum - External Customer	$ 167,469.21	1.17
Deliver Curriculum - External Customers	$ 226,131.47	0.91
Develop and Manage Policy	$ 357,738.77	2.86
Develop Curriculum - External Customer	$ 167,469.21	1.17
Develop Curriculum - External Customers	$ 233,860.67	1.13
Manage Projects	$ 136,428.30	0.76
Perform Administrative and Human Resource Tasks	$ 812,853.40	6.57
Perform APB Tasks.	$ 206,528.50	1.53
Perform and Oversee IT Service Management Activities	$ 94,125.20	0.66
Perform Budget, Strategic Planning, and Program Control	$ 273,102.44	1.77
Perform Duties as the Agile Product Owner	$ 424,564.99	3.31
Perform IT Finance Functions	$ 35,267.21	0.17
Perform Organization IT Management and Strategic Planning	$ 30,617.56	0.18
Perform Other Agile Duties	$ 258,005.53	1.72
Perform Research and Analysis	$ 248,981.39	1.44
Perform the Client Management Function	$ 103,171.04	0.65
Produce Publications	$ 101,532.52	0.70
Provide and Administer Databases and Database Services	$ 163,856.22	1.01
Provide and Administer Middleware Services	$ 120,329.50	0.94
Provide and Maintain Servers	$ 54,086.46	0.41
Provide and Maintain UNIX Operating Systems	$ 27,370.28	0.23
Provide Application Development Services	$ 687,257.21	4.79
Provide Application Support and Operations Services	$ 111,365.30	0.84
Provide Editing Services/Support	$ 201,792.18	1.20
Provide Supervisory Review/Oversight	$ 35,091.60	0.18
Provide Writing Services/Support	$ 179,656.15	1.07
Select and Oversee Vendors via the IT Vendor Management Process	$ 35,267.21	0.17
Support and Manage IT Programs, Product Initiatives	$ 344,140.46	2.45
Support CJIS APB	$ 26,661.76	0.20
Support the Crime in the United States (CIUS) Publication	$ 1,051,706.87	9.04
Support the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer	$ 92,448.35	0.61

15. Reason for Change in Burden

There is no increase in burden for the individual respondents; however, the overall annual burden hours have increased. This is an adjustment, an increase from 1,766 to 1,999, which is an overall increase of 233. During this revision, the annual respondent figure was calculated by the actual number of agencies which submitted police employee data (14,993), rather than by the universe of agencies (18,619).

16. Anticipated Publication Plan and Schedule

Published data are derived from data submissions furnished to the FBI UCR Program from federal, state, local, and tribal LEAs throughout the country. Data will be published on an annual basis in the CIUS for 2019 and 2020 data.

Initial Request for Police Employee Data: October, current year

Second Request for Police Employee Data: December, current year

Deadline to submit data: Late December, current year

Data Processing/Analysis: November (current year) - February (following year)

Publication date: September, following year

17. Display of Expiration Date

The FBI does not want to display the expiration date for OMB approval of the information collection due to the mode of data collection. This collection will be collected via Web form available on the restricted-access COLECT, formerly known as the NCA. To keep an expiration date current would require programming changes on the Web form.

18. Exception to the Certification Statement

The FBI CJIS Division does not request an exception to the certification of this information collection.

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