1997 Uniform Crime Report Uniform Crime Reporting System

Michigan participates in a voluntary national program to collect crime statistics. The program is administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The state’s Uniform Crime Reporting system was instituted in 1959 when the State Police requested all law enforcement agencies voluntarily submit crime data to them for the purpose of compiling a uniform crime report. The Michigan Uniform Crime Reporting program (UCR) is designed to meet federal reporting requirements as well as to provide detailed information for state law enforcement agencies.

The number of participating agencies was small in the beginning. The larger agencies made up the majority of the contributors. The enactment of Michigan Public Act 319 in 1968, making submission of crime data mandatory, greatly spurred the growth of the program. Smaller agencies began to participate as well as campus police departments and airport security police.

Initially, only summary data was collected. Since the introduction of incident based reporting in 1976, the Michigan UCR program has operated dual systems. The main difference between the summary and incident based system is the degree of detail in reporting. Agencies submitting SUMMARY DATA report aggregate counts of offense and arrest information for both index and non-index crimes. The types of data collected include the number of offenses, clearances, types, and values of stolen and recovered property, and the age, race, and sex of persons who are arrested. Under the INCIDENT SYSTEM, agencies collect more detailed information regarding individual crime incidents and arrests. This information is submitted by incident using prescribed data elements and data values to describe each incident and arrest.

Due to the great variation in definitions of criminal offenses, standardized definitions were adopted for all offenses to provide nationwide uniformity. Reporting agencies are required to submit data in accordance with these national definitions. Offenses were divided into Index and Non-Index categories. Because of their seriousness and frequency of occurrence, eight offenses (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson) comprise the crime index and serve as indicators of our nation’s crime experience. Unfounded complaints are not included in the crime tables. Sub-categories are added for the index offenses of robbery, assault, burglary, and larceny to provide a more detailed look at these offenses. Agencies also provide statistics on domestic assaults and bias crime. When reporting incidents where law enforcement officers are killed or assaulted, a separate paper report is required by all law enforcement agencies.

Michigan’s old UCR program supports various levels of submission ranging from manually processed forms, automated tapes, to on-line data collection. The majority of contributors participate in the incident based system, reporting three-fourths of the state’s crime statistics. The remaining agencies report on the summary system. Information submitted through both these systems provides a comprehensive database to define the type and extent of crime in Michigan. Data is extracted monthly and submitted to the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting program summary system. Each contributing agency reports offenses or arrests for offenses committed within its jurisdiction. These offenses represent violations of Michigan statutes and local ordinances. Crime figures presented in this report are law enforcement statistics submitted to the federal program and are not to be confused with judicial or penal statistics.

Following several years of extensive study requested by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and the National Sheriffs Association, BLUEPRINT FOR THE FUTURE OF THE UNIFORM CRIME REPORTING PROGRAM, published in 1985, provided the guidelines and specifications used to develop the National Incident Based Reporting System (NIBRS). In 1988, this incident based system was unanimously endorsed by the nation’s law enforcement community. Implementation began in 1989. In 1989, the Michigan UCR Program, with the endorsement of the MACP and MSA, applied for a federal grant to redesign the state program. The grant was approved in 1990 and ended June 30, 1995. Eventually, all agencies will be on one incident system, called Michigan Incident Crime Reporting (MICR) and when fully implemented, summary collection of data will cease. MICR began implementation in 1994. 457 agencies were submitting MICR data for all or a portion of 1997. The new system retains two calendar years of data on the on-line database, providing less chance of error, access to current year and previous year data, along with the ability to provide comparison reports. The redesigned system provides the descriptive characteristics and tools necessary for managing resources, policy analysis, program development and research.

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