Crime in the United States 2011

Since 1996, editions of Crime in the United States have been available on the FBI’s Web site www.fbi.gov. First released in Portable Document Format (PDF) files, more recent editions have been published in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) files. The FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program staff are committed to improving their annual publications so that the data they collect can better meet the needs of law enforcement, criminologists, sociologists, legislators, municipal planners, the media, and other students of criminal justice who use the statistics for varied administrative, research, and planning purposes. For more information about how the UCR Program collects data, see About the Uniform Crime Reporting Program.

Data provided

Crime in the United States, 2011, presents data tables containing information on the topics listed below. Data users can download Microsoft Excel spreadsheets of the data tables and Adobe PDFs of most of the text shown.

Offenses Known to Law Enforcement—Includes information about violent crime offenses (murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, forcible rape, robbery, and aggravated assault) and property crime offenses (burglary, larceny-theft, motor vehicle theft, and arson).

Expanded offense data—Provides additional data that the program collects on the eight offenses. Depending on the offense, these details may include the type of weapon and the type and value of items stolen. For the offense of murder, expanded homicide data include information about murder victims, offenders, and circumstances that are collected as supplemental homicide data.

Clearances—Furnishes information about crimes “solved” either by arrest or exceptional means.

Persons Arrested—Provides the number of arrests made by law enforcement and the age, gender, and race of arrestees for the 28 offenses (see Offense Definitions) for which the UCR Program publishes arrest data.

Police Employee Data—Supplies information regarding sworn officers and civilian law enforcement personnel.

Agencies contributing data

The table below shows the number of law enforcement agencies contributing data to the UCR Program within each population group for 2011. Information published in Crime in the United States, 2011, reflects data from these agencies.

Population Group	Number of Agencies	Population Covered
I (250,000 inhabitants and more)	75	56,398,148
II (100,000 to 249,999 inhabitants)	209	31,323,512
III (50,000 to 99,999 inhabitants)	473	32,816,692
IV (25,000 to 49,999 inhabitants)	888	30,762,527
V (10,000 to 24,999 inhabitants)	1,929	30,586,844
VI (Less than 10,000 inhabitants) 1, 2	9,499	26,669,678
VIII (Nonmetropolitan County)2	3,049	30,821,138
IX (Metropolitan County)2	2,111	72,213,378
Total	18,233	311,591,917

¹Includes universities and colleges to which no population is attributed.

²Includes state police to which no population is attributed.

National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) participation

In 2011, 29.4 percent of state programs and the District of Columbia reported all of their crime statistics via the NIBRS. This represented 28 percent of the U.S. population covered by UCR participants and accounted for 27 percent of all crime reported to the UCR Program. Thirty-six states are currently certified to report via the NIBRS. Among agencies within those states, more than 40 percent reported all of their statistics via the NIBRS.

What do you think?

The E-Government Act of 2002 (E-Gov), enacted by Congress, promotes more efficient uses of information technology by the federal government. This Web publication is a result of the UCR Program’s response to that Act. We welcome your feedback via our short evaluation form. Your comments will help us improve the presentation of future releases of Crime in the United States.

What you won’t find in this publication

Rankings by crime levels—Any comparisons of crime among different locales should take into consideration numerous other factors besides the areas’ crime statistics. Therefore, the UCR Program does not provide rankings of localities by crime levels. Cautions Against Ranking provides more details concerning the proper use of UCR statistics.

Information about unreported crime—Crime in the United States features data collected from law enforcement agencies regarding only those offenses known to police. However, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), another agency within the Department of Justice, administers the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). Using data from the NCVS, the BJS publishes information regarding crimes not reported to the police. For more information about the NCVS and how its data differ from information presented in Crime in the United States, see The Nation’s Two Crime Measures.

County crime totals and “raw data”—Crime in the United States offers crime data from local and county law enforcement agencies in separate tables. These data, which are also presented individually within a county (Crime by County), and other 2011 “raw data” from the UCR Program’s master files will be available sometime after the release of the 2011 publication. For more information, contact the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services Division via e-mail at cjis_comm@leo.gov.

Special studies—In previous years, Crime in the United States included special studies analyzing UCR data. Such studies are now released separately from the publication as monographs on www.fbi.gov.

Crime data for 2012—Preliminary statistics for January through June 2012 will be available on the Web in the fall of 2012 and replaced with preliminary data for all of 2012 in the spring of 2013. Crime in the United States, 2012, will be published on the Web in the fall of 2013.

Gadget Gives Cops Quick Access to Cell Phone Data

By Bob Sullivan

The "Universal Forensic Extraction Device" sounds like the perfect cell phone snooping gadget.

Its maker, Israel-based Cellbrite, says it can copy all the content in a cell phone -- including contacts, text messages, call history, and pictures -- within a few minutes. Even deleted texts and other data can be restored by UFED 2.0, the latest version of the product, it says.

And it really is a universal tool. The firm says UFED works with 3,000 cell phone models, representing 95 percent of the handset market. Coming soon, the firm says UFED works with 3,000 cell phone models, representing 95 percent of the handset market. Coming soon, the firm says on its website: "Additional major breakthroughs, including comprehensive iPhone physical solution; Android physical support – allowing bypassing of user lock code, (Windows Phone) support, and much more." For good measure, UFEC can extract information from GPS units in most cars.

The gadget isn't a stalker's dream; it's an evidence-gathering tool for law enforcement. Cellbrite claims it’s already in use in 60 countries.

That apparently includes the U.S. The American Civil Liberties Union in Michigan says it has learned that state police there have purchased some of the gadgets. What is it doing with them? So far, Michigan authorities aren't telling. A public records request for information by the ACLU was met with a prohibitive $500,000 bill to cover the supposed cost of making the documents available.

"They did produce documents which confirmed that they have them," said Mark Fancher, a staff attorney at the ACLU office. "We have no idea what they are doing with them."

Technology and the Fourth Amendment have had a rocky relationship. When The Founding Fathers created protections against unlimited search and seizure, they never imagined the kind of tools that would be available to 21st century police officers.

Cell phone data is an indispensible tool in both investigations and prosecutions. A drug dealer's contact list is an obvious treasure trove. Location information stored in the phone can prove (or disprove) an alibi. Texts are at least as valuable as emails. Increasingly, smartphone s are used as mini-laptops, placing even more ready-made evidence in one small package -- as long as law enforcement can get to it before it's destroyed.

Because handsets are nearly always with suspects, it's easy for a would-be criminal to delete information during a traffic stop. Remote wiping programs exist that mean critical evidence could be destroyed even after a police officer takes possession of a suspect's phone. That means law enforcement official s have great interest in slurping up all the secrets that a handset might contain as quickly as possible. Enter Cellbrite.

But how fast is too fast? Fancher and the ACLU argue that most cell phone searches are an invasion of privacy that requires law enforcement officials to get a court order before rummaging through a suspect's handset data. While UFED could be used after an order is obtained, its obvious focus is on time-critical searches -- those that would occur, for example, right after a "routine traffic stop."

Full article can be found here.

New FBI Chief Search Continues

From Ticklethewire

The FBI Agents Association’s endorsement Tuesday of ex-FBI agent Mike Mason to head the FBI in September offers no guarantees, but it could raise his profile as a candidate. He would be the first African-American to head the agency.

Mason, who served in the FBI for 23 years, and currently heads security as Verizon, was a popular figure at the FBI among the troops. He headed the field offices in Sacramento and Washington and retired from the agency in 2007 as executive assistant director in charge of the Criminal Division at headquarters. Mason is native of Chicago, which can’t hurt in the Obama administration.

It comes as no surprise that the Agents Association endorsed a former agent. It has often expressed a feeling that a former federal agent should have the job. The job has never gone to a current agent.

Director Robert S. Mueller III will retire in September after serving out his 10-year appointment that began in September 2001. His tenure has been met with mixed results inside the bureau, particularly among some who were considered loyalists of his predecessor Louis Freeh, who had been a former agent.

GPS Tracking Podcast and Other Resources

We have blogged about law enforcement use of GPS tracking (search collected here) and, in doing some research on the topic recently, discovered some interesting resources of note when working on GPS tracking cases. The Department of Homeland Security has a podcast collection which includes this interesting transcript on GPS tracking and its use in federal law enforcement. Rockwell International, the pioneer of GPS, has some interesting resources that include information on the products that they sell to law enforcement for tracking. Finally, Wikipedia has some remarkably cool articles for the novice in need of background into GPS technology and its various uses.

FBI Facts and Figures

The FBI has released its 2010-2011 "Facts and Figures", a downloadable PDF that includes information on a wide variety of topics including: intelligence, investigative programs, law enforcement training, working with the private sector, and ensuring accountability and compliance. It has many statistics including the make-up of agents, the budget, and a list of field offices as well as lab facilities. It is worth perusing if for no other reason than to see what the FBI has for training as well as the priority for investigation.

2009 National Institute of Justice Report to Congress

With some remarkably honest statistical analysis, DOJ's National Institute of Justice 2009 Annual Report to Congress has a wealth of information for the criminal investigator and practitioner. With study results from Sex Offender Registration (studies show doesn't curb recidivism and researchers question cost of implementation (!)); forensic science in the U.S. (could be better); using DNA to clear the wrongly convicted (200 + freed and counting); improving reentry programs; and improving law enforcement technology. The report is worth a perusal as it gives a sense of what has been and will be funded for law enforcement as well as some helpful information that can be used in sentencing issues with information on courts and recidivism.

Tight Budgets Lead to More Civilians Used for Policing

By Kevin Johnson, USA TODAY

Police agencies across the country are recruiting thousands of civilians for a growing number of duties previously performed by uniformed cops, in an unusual concession to local budget cuts.

The positions — some paid and others volunteer — are transforming every-day citizens into crime-scene investigators, evidence gatherers and photographers in what some analysts suggest is a striking new trend in American policing.

"It's all being driven by the economy and we should expect to see more of it," says University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris, who analyzes law enforcement practices. "As budgets are squeezed, an increasing number of duties are going to be moved off officers' plates."

The chief opponents of the movement are police union leaders who believe cash-strapped agencies are lowering standards and undermining professionalism in the ranks. In some cases, the civilian positions circumvent pay and benefit obligations outlined in hard-fought labor contracts, says Bill Johnson, executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations (NAPO).

"The economy ought not to be pushing this," Johnson says. "You want the real deal when you call 911."

Among the agencies expanding civilians' roles:

• San Francisco. Police officials plan to hire 16 civilians to investigate burglaries and other property crimes. The $1 million pilot program and others like it are being designed to allow dwindling numbers of uniform officers to focus on more serious violent crime.

San Francisco Assistant Chief Thomas Shawyer says the civilians will save up to $40,000 per person in training, equipment and benefit costs required to hire an officer.

• Mesa, Ariz. Eight civilian investigators hit the streets in June 2009 when the department could not afford to hire uniformed police. The unit's members— some drawn from the customer service ranks of Southwest Airlines, Costco and Barnes & Noble, where they are accustomed to dealing with the public — respond to property-related offenses, including burglary, fraud and vehicle theft.

All eight, says Sgt. Stephanie Derivan, have been trained to lift fingerprints, photograph crime scenes, interview witnesses and victims. They do not carry guns.

Derivan says the department is saving an estimated $15,000 per investigator in salary.

"It's an efficient way to do business," Derivan says.

• Durham, N.C.: Teams of civilian volunteers help police canvass neighborhoods immediately after murders and other violent crimes to aid responding units and put potential witnesses at ease.

Durham Chief Jose Lopez says other volunteers in city-issued cars patrol shopping centers during the busy holiday seasons and conduct property checks for residents who are away from home.

"They are additional eyes and ears for us," Lopez says. "It effectively puts more people on the street."

Not everyone is so enthusiastic.

"For most people, the only contact they have with local government is the police department," says NAPO's Johnson. "At that point of contact, we want a full-fledged police officer dealing with the public."