Improving Crime Data

The Improving Crime Data project, directed by researchers from the Great Cities Universities (GCU) coalition, studied state and local needs for data sharing and integration and for their application to policy research, planning, and development. The goals of the project are to improve statistical indicators in criminal justice and to develop a uniform records management system to promote common data collection, distribution, and use in program and policy planning in law enforcement and other criminal justice agencies. JRSA's role in this project was to conduct surveys and focus groups with practitioners including Uniform Crime Report specialists, crime analysts, and SAC Directors. These practitioners identified current needs and problems with implementing data-driven policy and programming in state and local criminal justice agencies as well as data sharing/integration issues among the agencies. Based on their responses, JRSA developed a survey that was sent to police chiefs and crime analysts in police departments around the country.

Use of Data in Police Departments: A Survey of Police Chiefs and Data Analysts
Full Report (1185 KB)

The second phase of this project enhanced the initial project by providing information on current state and local law enforcement information sharing initiatives. This phase ended in September 2006.

Documents from this project include:

Information Sharing Systems: A Survey of Law Enforcement (75 KB)