Missingness in the Uniform Crime Reports

• In Event: Using the UCR and NCVS to Enhance Understanding of Crime Trends and Offender Behavior

Abstract

Monthly crime data for most of the police agencies in the United States has been available since 1960, and most agencies report crime data to the FBI most of the time. While most police departments are fairly diligent in reporting, and have various quality checks, others see reporting as a less important priority. That is one of the frustrations with a voluntary reporting system like the UCR. When agencies do not report, for one month or for several months, there is a question as to whether it was: because there was no crime that month; a purely random occurrence (missing completely at random, or MCAR); or affected by changes within the agency’s reporting procedures. This presentation describes the nature and extent of UCR crime data missingness and various ways it can be handled.

Author

• Michael D. Maltz, Ohio State University / University of Illinois at Chicago