offense known to police | Definition

In the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) context, an offense known to police refers to a crime that has been reported to or discovered by law enforcement agencies and recorded in their official records.

The UCR is a nationwide system used by law enforcement agencies to report crime statistics to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The UCR program collects data on crimes known to police, including both violent crimes such as murder, rape, and assault, and property crimes such as burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft.

Offenses known to police are important in assessing crime trends and developing effective law enforcement strategies. However, not all crimes are reported to the police, so the UCR data may not provide a complete picture of crime rates in a given area. For example, many victims of domestic violence may be reluctant to report the crime to the police, leading to an undercounting of these offenses in the UCR data.