NIBRS Tips
In January 2021, the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) became the national standard for law enforcement crime data reporting in the United States. With this new reporting standard came many challenges for law enforcement officers who had not had to write reports to satisfy the UCR requirements previously. We have come up with a few basic rules to help you avoid NIBRS errors in the future:
NIBRS Tips
1. Every crime must have an offender
2. Every crime must have a victim
3. The offender must be connected to the offense
4. The victim must be connected to the offense
5. The offender and victim must be connected
6. If it is a Crime Against Property, the report must contain property
7. If the crime is kidnapping, it is a crime against property and must contain property. The value of the property is the amount of the Ransom. Suggestions for titling property are Ransom – Victim’s Name.
8. Drugs have no value
9. Drug paraphernalia has a value.
10. If you receive a mutually exclusive error message, all Part I crimes must be labeled with the highest Part I NIBRS Code on the report. For example, if there is a rape and a murder, change the NIBRS code for the rape to match the NIBRS code for murder. *See chart below
11. NIBRS Definitions:
a. Suspect is not recognized by NIBRS
b. Offender: there are two types per NIBRS guidelines
i. The first has no demographics; it could be a group or a singular person. Use the “Cloke and Dagger” icon under “Persons” to complete the person information for this type.
ii. Second, you know the demographics but do not have a name
iii. If you have a suspect but are not ready to label them the offender, add them as a suspect and then add an Unknown Offender.
Our general rule is if you spend more than 30 minutes working on NIBRS errors, contact our Support Team. Our Support Team has the expertise to assist you with NIBRS errors and make reporting easier.
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