Video Transcript

Assistant Director (AD)Tim Ferguson: The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program, or UCR Program, is proud to release monthly crime data on the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer, also known as the CDE.

You will no longer have to wait one year to view updated data. The FBI’s UCR Program will publish data received from participating law enforcement agencies every month.  This includes data updates and revisions submitted by agencies. These changes allow you to view timely crime data and support law enforcement in data-driven decision making.

We want to address some common questions that surround this change.

Narrator: With monthly data being released on the CDE, will the FBI’s UCR Program continue to release its annual publication?

AD Ferguson: Yes, the FBI’s UCR Program will continue to release its annual publication. The consistent snapshot in time allows for a controlled comparison over the years. But you don’t have to wait for that release to see trends for violent and property crimes. On the CDE homepage, you will see a preliminary trend generated by data from all law enforcement agencies that submitted at least six common months of reported data from the most recent two years. This two-year period is offset by three months to allow the data to stabilize, meaning there will be fewer data updates from agencies for these months. Once stabilized, the data can be used to create and display reliable comparisons or trends.

On the other hand, the annual publication uses reported data and standard estimation procedures to provide a view of all agencies across the country.

Narrator: How does the annual publication estimate crime data?

AD Ferguson: Because not all law enforcement agencies submit a complete 12 months of data, the FBI includes reported data and standard estimated data for a national presentation of crime in the annual report.

It uses the reported data from agencies that submit 12 months of data and then estimates the amount of crime for any agency that does not submit 12 complete months of data. Agencies that submit three to 11 months of crime data have their missing months estimated based on the data they have provided. Agencies submitting less than three months of data are estimated by using the data from agencies in the state that are similar in population size and geographic location and are covered by the same type of police agency – such as a local police department or sheriff’s office. Thus, estimates look at 12 months of data for all agencies across the country.

Narrator: If the CDE and the annual publication provide two different trends, which one is correct?

AD Ferguson: They are both correct but provide different views of the data. The crime trend on the CDE tells the story for agencies that meet data submission criteria and will update monthly. The crime trend in the annual publication tells the story for all agencies using estimation methodology and will update yearly. It is important to understand the trend on the CDE relies solely on reported data, while the annual publication uses estimations to account for the entire country.

As more agencies voluntarily submit their complete monthly data, any difference between the two trends will diminish.

The FBI’s UCR Program is grateful to all agencies that voluntarily provide their data to us. Their participation allows our annual report to cover more than 94 percent of the population of the United States. We are dedicated to assisting our law enforcement partners through the process so we can provide you with timely and reliable crime data.