1110-0004 Supporting Statement B

Part B. Statistical Methods

1. Response Universe

The potential respondent universe of the form Number of Full-Time Law Enforcement Employees as of October 31 (OMB No. 1110-0004) includes all United States LEAs submitting police employee data to the FBI UCR Program. During 2020, 14,993 LEAs voluntarily participated in the police employee collection. The LEAs consist of federal, state, local, and tribal agencies that correlate to all population group sizes and have many diverse attributes. These agencies include: a mix of population density and degrees of urbanization; various compositions of population, particularly youth concentration; population mobility with respect to residents’ mobility, commuting patterns, and transient factors; different cultural factors and educational, recreational, and religious characteristics; family conditions with respect to divorce and family cohesiveness; climate; effective strength of law enforcement; policies of other components of the criminal justice system; citizens’ attitudes toward crime; and crime reporting practices of the citizenry.

The table below provides the total number of the UCR agencies who provide police employee data in 2020.

Police Employee Agencies, 2019
	Population Group	Number of Agencies	Population Covered
Cities	Group I (250,000 inhabitants and more)	86	63,000,994
	Group II (100,000 to 249,999 inhabitants)	223	32,392,723
	Group III (50,000 to 99,999 inhabitants)	463	32,330,541
	Group IV (25,000 to 49,999 inhabitants)	825	28,503,295
	Group V (10,000 to 24,999 inhabitants)	1,718	27,340,125
	Group VI (Less than 10,000 inhabitants) 1,2	7,586	21,459,402
Counties	Group VIII (nonmetropolitan County)2	2,313	23,536,131
	Group IX (Metropolitan County)2	1,779	73,254,972
	Total	14,993	301,818,183

¹ Includes universities and colleges to which no population is attributed.

² Includes state police to which no population is attributed.

Of the 18,619 UCR LEAs, 80.5 percent submitted police employee data.

2. Collection of Information Procedures

All police employee data are collected/received from state UCR program participants on an annual basis. The FBI UCR Program has established timeframes and deadlines for acquiring the annual data. Letters are disseminated via email in October to the state UCR program managers and the individual LEAs requesting the completion of information on the current year’s police employee counts as of October 31. The letter specifies the data submission deadline is December 14 of each reporting year. Prior to December 14, the FBI UCR Program will contact the state UCR program managers and the individual LEAs to inform them the FBI has not received the police employee counts, if necessary. Annual reports/submissions should be received at the FBI by December 14 of each reporting year. There are times when special circumstances may cause an agency to request an extension. The FBI UCR Program has the authority to grant these extensions.

3. Response Rates/Non-Response

Response rates are maximized through liaison with the state UCR programs. The universe of reported police employee counts are collected by contributing agencies and reported to the FBI. In 2020, 80.5 percent of the FBI UCR Program agencies reported Police Employee data. The FBI is working to help the absent 19.5 percent of LEAs participate in the police employee data collection through active liaisons. Communications encouraging data submissions occur frequently because of the relationship between the FBI UCR Program staff and LEAs. The FBI UCR Program staff regularly work to overcome non-response issues when such challenges occur. The mission of the FBI UCR Program is to acquire police employee data, establish guidelines for the collection of such data, and to publish data.

The CJIS Committees of the IACP and the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA) provide the FBI UCR Program with vital links to local law enforcement personnel. The IACP, as it has since the FBI UCR Program began, represents the thousands of police departments nationwide. The NSA encourages sheriffs throughout the country to fully participate in the FBI UCR Program. Both committees serve in advisory capacities concerning the FBI UCR Program’s operation. The Association of State Uniform Crime Reporting Programs focuses on the UCR issues within individual state law enforcement associations and also promotes interest in the FBI UCR Program. These organizations foster widespread and responsible use of uniform crime statistics and lend assistance to data contributors when needed.

4. Collection Development

The FBI has conducted the police employee data collection since 1930 with high rates of response. Today, the FBI UCR Program receives guidance for implementing or making changes to a data collection from the CJIS APB. The APB, which is organized and exists under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, was established to ensure a “shared management” concept with the nation’s law enforcement community for all criminal justice information systems managed by the CJIS Division. It ensures law enforcement has the opportunity to discuss and vote on any policy or procedural changes to CJIS systems affecting the FBI’s ability to collect, maintain, and share information with the nationwide criminal justice community. The APB reviews policy, technical, and operational issues related to the CJIS services and recommends appropriate changes to the Director. In addition to the APB, the CJIS Advisory Process includes five regional working groups, and ten subcommittees, including the UCR subcommittee. The CJIS Advisory Process is an effective way to discuss proposed concepts and develop the shared systems which support law enforcement and criminal justice agencies.

With the addition of the UoF data collection, the FBI UCR Program is adding the following data collection elements to the police employee data collection.

• The ability to capture part-time and reserve/auxiliary/other LEOs

• Race and ethnicity categories

These additions will create more comprehensive datasets for both collections.

5. Contact Information

Trudy Lou Ford

Global Law Enforcement Support Section (GLESS) Chief

[email protected]

304-625-3690

Amy C. Blasher

Crime and Law Enforcement Statistics Unit Chief

[email protected]

304-625-4840

Cynthia Barnett-Ryan

Statistician

[email protected]

304-625-3576

Bryan A. Sell

Statistician

[email protected]

304-625-8258

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