A transition to a more accurate version of the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program is what the Kyle Police Department officials believe can help increase law enforcement transparency.
Kyle Police previously used the Summary Reporting System (SRS) and will now be transitioning to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), which has expanded crime categories and collects more comprehensive data on crimes than the previous method.
Kyle Police Department Records Supervisor Stephanie Robinson has been spearheading the system change and is in charge of training officers in the new system.
“This is really a better way to evaluate the accuracy of our reporting,” Robinson says. “The new system provides better opportunity of evaluating data and using that data to better allocate resources.”
The previous reporting system used a hierarchy rule for reporting offenses and only recorded crimes at the top of the hierarchy for incidents.
For example, if a rape and a murder occurred in the same incident, only the murder was recorded in the SRS. Up to 10 offenses per incident can be reported in the NIBRS.
The NIBRS also has a more descriptive standard for reporting offenses and uses 49 different criteria for Grade A offenses, and ten different criteria for Grade B arrest reports. The SRS only had ten offense categories.
Because of the limited reporting capacity of the SRS, the FBI expects there to be a slight increase in recorded crimes lower in the hierarchy.
There will be no difference in the number of murder offenses as it is at the top of the hierarchy. However, the FBI has seen slight increases in other crimes when transitioning to NIBRS.
“Especially for our agency, our community in particular, we’re probably not going to see that much,” Robinson said on the possible increase in numbers. “The biggest impact will be to motor vehicle theft or larceny, just because they fall on the lowest tier. But an average of two percent is not anything that’s going to be shocking numbers for us.”
The transition to this new form of crime reporting is both a state and nation-wide initiative.
Former FBI Director James B. Comey signed a recommendation in 2016 to phase out SRS by January 1, 2021.
Additionally, during the Texas Legislative session last year, House Bill 11 introduced the requirement for law enforcement agencies to start transitioning to NIBRS by 2019.
Grant money for the transition was made available through the Governor’s office, of which the Kyle Police Department is a recipient.
The department received a $25,200 grant to recreate the backend of the program so that officers can more easily fill out the forms.
Officers will undergo a 12-hour training session to learn how to fill out forms in the new system and learn the federal offense codes for each crime.
“As much data has to come in, we want to make sure it’s easy for the officer. We are doing our due diligence to make sure this process is seamless for the officer to come in, write the report and get back on the street and in the community,” Robinson said. “So you can imagine it’s a little overwhelming for them, but it’ll just be a process to get used to the new requirements.”
