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Is the Shift to NIBRS Slowing Down Public Access to Crime Data?

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In recent years, the transition from the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) system to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) has been hailed as a major upgrade in crime data collection. NIBRS offers more granular, detailed reporting compared to UCR’s summary-based approach. But while the benefits sound promising on paper, in practice we’re seeing a troubling side effect: timely, block level incident crime data is slowing down—or disappearing entirely—from public view and access. Is NIBRS to Blame? The NIBRS transition is not the only factor, but it's a significant one. Unlike UCR, which focused on counting major offenses, NIBRS demands more detail and structure. That means departments must invest in costly software upgrades, retrain staff, and restructure internal workflows. These changes introduce delays—and in some cases, departments decide it's easier to stop releasing data altogether rather than deal with the complexity. Adding to the issue is that many of th...
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SpotCrime Weekly Reads: Transparency, police reform, ghost guns

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Police chief transparency, the future of police reform, police profiling, officer training, five years after Breonna Taylor's death, fight against gun violence showing promise, ghost gun bans, navigating predictive policing challenges, drone policies, body cams, future proofing justice, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Their police chiefs were forced out. Now these residents want transparency  (Las Vegas Review Journal) Trump Is Backing Away From Police Reform. Here’s What That Means for 12 Places.  (The Marshall Project) Assaults on NYPD officers have skyrocketed in subways, MTA says  (Gothamist) N.J. police chief accused of turning department into 'Animal House'  (NBC News) Akron residents concerned about safety, police profiling. Here's how we can fix it | Opinion  (Akron Beacon Journal) Eye On Safety: Moore Police Chief addresses officer training after stunning body cam footage  (News on 6) Five Years After Breonna Taylor’s Death, What’s Changed?  (Essen...
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SpotCrime Weekly Reads: Police chief conduct, crime rate, police cameras

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Henderson police chief fired, Columbus underreported crime, smart policing, holistic approach to crime, high risk violent offenders, body cam footage fees, predictive analytics, crime data in social media, automated license plate readers, asset forfeiture, trust in community police interactions, prison, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Henderson police chief fired after ultimatum  (8 News Now) Maui police chief named in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs lawsuit as alleged co-conspirator  (Hawaii News Now) Columbus police’s underreported crime data taking longer to fix than expected  (NBC4) The Smart Policing Initiative: 15 Years of Evidence-Based Innovation in Policing Practice  (Taylor and Francis Online) CRIME RATE A Holistic Approach to Explaining Crime  (Taylor and Francis Online) 'This narrative that Austin is dangerous is not accurate' | Police chief pushes back against bill to extend DPS enforcement downtown  (KVUE) Policing High-Risk Violent Offenders: Smart Policing in...
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SpotCrime Weekly Reads: Gun violence, robot dogs, transparency

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Kansas police gun sales, public libraries crime mitigation, violence alters human genomes, gun violence and gun data, red flag laws, police robot dogs, automated report writing, license plate cameras, body cam market shift, police misconduct files transparency, prison, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Kansas police could sell, give away guns seized without criminal convictions under Senate bill  (Kansas Reflector) Former Detroit Police Chief James Craig explores running for Detroit mayor  (The Detroit News) CRIME RATE Do public libraries help mitigate crime? Evidence from Kansas City, MO  (Ideas.repec.org) Violence alters human genomes for generations, researchers discover  (University of Florida) Georgia Crime Victims Oppose Governor’s Bill to Limit Lawsuit Damages  (Governing) Can Enhanced Street Lighting Improve Public Safety at Scale?  (SSRN) State, county officials meet to discuss gun violence and ways to make communities safer  (WFMZ) What the data say...
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LAPD’s Open Crime Data Crisis: A Step Backward for Transparency

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Los Angeles, one of the largest cities in the U.S., has long provided public access to crime data through its open data portal. However, a troubling shift has been unfolding, raising serious concerns about transparency, public safety awareness, and accountability. The LAPD’s transition to a new Records Management System (RMS) and the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) has resulted in significant gaps in crime data reporting, with updates becoming increasingly sporadic or ceasing altogether. The Problem: Crime Data No Longer Updating Regularly Historically, LAPD updated its crime data feed on a weekly basis but changed to biweekly updates in early 2024 . However, as of early 2025, the department appears to have stopped updating its primary dataset entirely. The most recent available crime data from the “Crime Data from 2020 to Present” dataset stopped at December 30, 2024 , but has since resumed biweekly updates. However, these updates now contain only a few incidents p...
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SpotCrime Weekly Reads: Citizen feedback, police misconduct, police cameras

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Citizen feedback for police, police chases, police misconduct and disciplinary records, police staffing levels, body cam policies, cyber attacks, gun locks. license plate readers, police surveillance, convictions transparency, LAPD crime data transparency, asset forfeiture, jail population dashboard, juvenile prison, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Milwaukee residents were surveyed on the city's police. Here's the main takeaways  (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel) see also:  'Together We Ball:' Milwaukee police, community build connections  (Fox 6 Milwuakee) Police chases can be deadly — but most states including Texas don't even track them  (KERA News) National database tracking federal police misconduct 'no longer active' after Trump revokes Biden order  (WHAS 11) see also:  RPD must publicly release misconduct, disciplinary records, N.Y. Court of Appeals says  (Spectrum News) Alabama cities would have to disclose police staffing levels under bill that passes H...
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SpotCrime Weekly Reads: Police chief searches, crime rate, prison

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Data driven policing, police chief departure, police transparency, nonviolence work, crime stats, youth-related crime, mask wearing defendants, sanctuary cities and crime, murder rate, police cameras, AI and policing, police chief search, privatizing prison food service, women in prison, and more... POLICE CONDUCT Urbana Police Chief lays out ‘data driven policing’  (WCIA) OIG pens letter to New Orleans Police Department publicizing inaccurate crime stats reporting  (WGNO) CRIME RATE The Untold Impact of Nonviolence Work: How Success Gets Measured in Chicago’s Hardest-Hit Neighborhoods  (WTTW) Youth-related crime continues to be an issue for Cincinnati, CPD report says  (Fox19) US Justice Dept demands data on criminal cases involving mask-wearing defendants  (Reuters) UNM research shows no correlation between sanctuary cities and crime  (UNM News) Jackson State experts weigh in on Jackson murder rate the past 5 years. See the numbers  (Clarion Ledger) ...
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