Pennsylvania earns $10M federal grant to improve crime statistics reporting

In order to move the state closer to federal standards and allow reporting of local crime statistics to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) recently netted a $10 million federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) grant. 

Those funds will back system upgrades for local law enforcement, meant to help them align with the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), the national standard for law enforcement crime data reporting since 2021. NIBRS uses submitted data to compile details on crimes, such as victims, known offenders, relationships between victims and the accused, involved property and more. However, only 42 percent of Pennsylvania’s population is currently covered by police departments using the system, and a mere 10 percent of local law enforcement agencies report statistics to the FBI through NIBRS.

“At PCCD, we have seen firsthand how challenging it is in Pennsylvania to perform real-time analysis on criminal justice trends,” PCCD Executive Director Mike Pennington said. “The robust information captured in NIBRS will allow for better accuracy in crime-related data reporting and real-time trend analysis, enabling our agency to provide a more in-depth look at the issues Pennsylvania communities face and provide recommendations on where resources are needed.”

By the state’s own assessment, Pennsylvania is well behind other states for using NIBRS. That comes with its own challenges, making it more difficult for state agencies and local law enforcement to accurately assess statewide and more jurisdiction-specific crime trends. 

Therefore, the federal funds allotted to the state will go toward a variety of local applicants, including local law enforcement agencies, campus or university police, railroad or street railway police, airport authority police and county park police. Priority will be given to those agencies in areas with the highest level of violent crimes and lowest clearance rates. 

“Our 2024-25 state budget incorporates a comprehensive strategy to deal with gun violence, including funding for a statewide office of gun violence prevention, a firearm injury prevention program, and more Pennsylvania State Police personnel to focus on combating gun violence,” Lt. Gov. Austin Davis, who also serves as PCCD chair, said. “Those strategies all rely on data – but unfortunately, we don’t have access to real-time analysis of data for many communities because a low percentage of our local law enforcement agencies have adopted NIBRS reporting. We’re hopeful that these grants will entice more agencies to make the switch and increase the percentage of our population that is covered by NIBRS-compliant police departments.”

Funding should back approximately 50 grants with budgets of up to $200,000 over the two years of the project. PCCD added, however, that eligible activities and expenses are limited to:

• Software, hardware and labor needed to install NIBRS-compliant record management systems;
• Agency training on the collection and submission of NIBRS data;
• Technical assistance for personnel responsible for data collection and submission.