National Incident-Based Reporting System Focus Group and Interviews: Key Themes

Federal support for the transition to NIBRS has played a key role in helping state and local law enforcement agencies transition to NIBRS, but it has not been large enough to encourage the biggest agencies to move more quickly. [...] State and local law enforcement agencies that have completed the transition to NIBRS said the approximately $120 million in federal grants provided by BJS and the FBI to 120 state Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) programs and local law enforcement agencies played an important role in their transition processes. [...] Many police chiefs see few tangible and immediate benefits in reporting to NIBRS or believe that the costs of transitioning to the new system outweigh the benefits. [...] The cost and potential complications of procuring and moving to a new RMS are high; yet, the benefits of reporting to NIBRS are often unclear. [...] The FBI has sought to document the extent to which the transition to NIBRS increases crime rates for specific types of crime trends.