Table of Contents
General Overview
Overview of the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) Data
Acquiring NIBRS’s Data
Technical Assistance
DDRC Data Dictionary for NIBRS’s Data
General Oveview
The DDRC has acquired all incident crime reports for 17 states from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), spanning the years 2018 to 2022. This dataset features variables including year, state, agency, offense types, property damage, demographics (when applicable), and weapons used. The following document outlines the acquired data and provides a comprehensive data dictionary to assist with data interpretation. This dataset is intended to support research and analysis efforts aimed at examining the drug and opioid crisis across the region.
The data provided is based on information available from NIBRS at the time of download. Please note that this data may be updated or corrected without notice as new information becomes available.
Overview of the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS)
The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) became required in 2021 by the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) program within the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), aims to enhance the accuracy of crime statistics by collecting detailed data from local, state, and federal partners.
NIBRS focuses on incident-based reports that provide specific data with fuller context, replacing the Summary Reporting System (SRS), which collected more limited information. A major difference between the two systems is that NIBRS includes details regarding offense types, property damage, the demographics data when applicable, and weapons used. This enhancement allows NIBRS to offer more useful data on crime compared to the SRS program. More information the two UCR programs can be found the FBI’s page.
Despite its strengths, the transition from the SRS to NIBRS has presented several challenges. While all 50 states utilize the NIBRS program to some extent, some agencies nationwide have not yet begun submitting NIBRS data. Additionally, the variations in the timing of agencies' transitions from SRS to NIBRS—some of which began before 2021—have resulted in incomplete yearly datasets. This inconsistency complicates comparisons between data collected before and after 2021. These limitations should be considered when viewing and conducting analyses using this data.
Acquiring NIBRS’s Crime Data
The DDRC has acquired the NIBRS data in its entirety for the 17 DDRC states from 2018 to 2022 from the FBI’s Crime Data Explorer (CDE) website. The CDE includes interactive online data access tools for multiple datasets and downloadable public use data files.
Technical Assistance
Detailed information on the export, transform, and loading (ETL) processes, can be found on the corresponding Technical Assistance page.
DDRC Data Dictionary for NIBRS data
The DDRC created a data dictionary for NIBRS using the documentation and data dictionary provided by the FBI, along with insights gained during the ETL process. The goal of this document is to highlight how the dataset has evolved over time, including the addition and removal of variables, as well as changes to the codes.
We recommend that users still review and reference documentation provided by the FBI for NIBRS for the most detailed and up-to-date information.