The UCR Program's primary objective is to generate reliable information for use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management; over the years, however, the data have become one of the country’s leading social indicators. The program has been the starting place for law enforcement executives, students of criminal justice, researchers, members of the media, and the public at large seeking information on crime in the nation. The program was conceived in 1929 by the International Association of Chiefs of Police to meet the need for reliable uniform crime statistics for the nation. In 1930, the FBI was tasked with collecting, publishing, and archiving those statistics.
Today, four annual publications are produced from data received from more than 18,000 city, university and college, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies voluntarily participating in the program. The crime data are submitted either through a state UCR program or directly to the FBI's UCR Program.
Detailed, incident-based data is what the National Incident-Based Reporting System brings to the UCR table as it is set to become the UCR data standard by January 1, 2021. The NIBRS-only data collection will provide more detailed, richer data on more offenses than is currently available through summary data.
The UCR Program consists of four data collections: The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), the Summary Reporting System (SRS), the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Program, and the Hate Crime Statistics Program. The UCR Program publishes annual reports for each of these data collections and a preliminary semiannual report of summary data each winter, as well as special compilations such as Cargo Theft Report, Human Trafficking, and NIBRS topical studies. In addition to the four major data collections, the UCR Program will manage the new National Use-of-Force Data Collection. And the FBI's interactive Crime Data Explorer tool serves as the digital front door for UCR data, enabling law enforcement and the general public to more easily use and understand the massive amounts of UCR data currently collected.
National Incident-Based Reporting System
The National Incident-Based Reporting System, or NIBRS, implemented to improve the overall quality of crime data collected by law enforcement, captures details on each single crime incident—as well as on separate offenses within the same incident—including information on victims, known offenders, relationships between victims and offenders, arrestees, and property involved in the crimes.
NOTE: The historic Summary Reporting System (SRS) data collection, which collects more limited information than the more robust NIBRS, will be phased out to make UCR a NIBRS-only data collection by January 1, 2021.
Hate Crime Statistics
The Hate Crime Statistics Program provides information on crimes motivated by offenders’ bias against race, gender, gender identity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, and ethnicity. These data are also collected via NIBRS.
Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted
The Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) Program offers information about officers who were feloniously or accidentally killed or assaulted while performing their duties. The information is published and used to help agencies develop polices to improve officer safety.
The National Use-of-Force Data Collection
Transparency. Accountability. Trust.
The law enforcement community, in partnership with the FBI, is working to improve the way the nation collects, analyzes, and uses crime statistics about law enforcement’s use of force. The collection and reporting of use-of-force data will include any use of force that results in the death or serious bodily injury of a person, as well as when a law enforcement officer discharges a firearm at or in the direction of a person.
With the National Use-of-Force Data Collection, data users will be able to view use-of-force incidents involving law enforcement from a nationwide perspective. The goal of the resulting statistics is not to offer insight into single use-of-force incidents but to provide an aggregate view of the incidents reported and the circumstances, subjects, and officers involved.
Crime Data Explorer
Explore UCR
The FBI’s Crime Data Explorer (CDE) is the digital front door for UCR data. The interactive online tool enables law enforcement and the general public to more easily use and understand the massive amounts of UCR data currently collected. With it, users can view charts and graphs that break down data in a variety of ways. As the CDE expands to provide greater access to crime trends, bulk datasets, and agency-level data, the UCR Program plans to increase the frequency of data releases with the tool.
NOTE: UCR data is now released quarterly on the CDE.
Latest Releases
Note: View quarterly releases on the FBI's Crime Data Explorer.
The FBI released detailed data on nearly 7.7 million criminal offenses reported via the National Incident-Based Reporting System in 2019.
The number of hate crime incidents reported in 2019 was slightly higher than those reported in 2018.
The latest edition of the Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted report provides national statistics on lives lost in the line of duty in 2019.
Both violent crime and property crime declined between 2018 and 2019, according to the Crime in the United States report.
More Information
UCR Publications
View all UCR publications, including Crime in the United States, NIBRS, LEOKA, and Hate Crime Statistics reports, as well as topical reports on cargo theft, human trafficking, federal crime data, and more.
Data Documentation
Technical specifications, user manuals, and data tools that provide instructions to assist law enforcement agencies in submitting UCR data either through state UCR programs or directly to the FBI.
Additional Resources
General information and resources including recent program updates, the UCR Program Quarterly, contact information, partner agencies and related sites, and more.