FBI’s national crime stats routinely miss a fifth of local, state agencies

For the first time in 20 years, the national law enforcement reporting rate fell below 70% in 2021, primarily due to the FBI's transition to the National Incident-Based Reporting System. As 2022 rolled around, many law enforcement agencies across the country were not NIBRS-certified in time to submit their 2021 crime data. In 2022, the national reporting rate increased by 11 percentage points.

The national reporting rate includes local law enforcement agencies that reported their data through either NIBRS or the FBI's previous data collection system. In 2021, the FBI exclusively accepted crime data through NIBRS.
Chart: Amanda Hernández/StatelineSource: Stateline analysis of FBI Uniform Crime Reporting program participation dataGet the dataEmbedCreated with Datawrapper