Course: Introduction
Incident-based reporting (IBR) is a system used by law enforcement agencies to collect and report detailed information on criminal incidents, including the offender, victim, and specific crime details.
IBR differs from traditional summary reporting, which only provides a total count of the number of crimes committed in a particular jurisdiction. With IBR, law enforcement agencies collect detailed information on each crime, including the type of offense, the date and time of the incident, the location of the crime, the victim’s demographic information, and the offender’s demographic information.
The primary goal of IBR is to provide law enforcement agencies with more accurate and detailed information about crime in their jurisdictions, which can be used to identify patterns, allocate resources, and develop effective crime prevention strategies. Additionally, IBR can provide researchers and policymakers with valuable information on crime trends and can be used to inform public policy and criminal justice reform efforts.
IBR has become increasingly popular in recent years, and many jurisdictions have adopted it as their primary system for collecting crime data. The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), developed by the FBI, is one example of a standardized IBR system used across the United States.