Feb 2019 AST Magazine Feb 2019 AST Final Magazine | Page 8

Ultimately,
NIBRS will improve the de-
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tail and overall quality of crime data,
which will help law enforcement
and communities around the country
use resources more strategically and
effectively. Below are the
top 2019
five - Edition
reasons
February
32
agencies should begin the process
sooner rather than later:
While the deadline to make the switch may
seem like a long way off, agencies must be
proactive in transitioning their systems to
NIBRS now. Perhaps the most important and most per-
suasive reason to transition to NIBRS: com-
pliance is mandatory come January 1,
2021.
They should not wait to begin the
NIBRS compliance process, because
even under the best of circumstances,
the transition will take between three
and six months. The FBI’s current UCR Summary Report-
ing System (SRS) will be fully retired on
that same day, so the only method you will
be able to utilize for submitting data is NI-
BRS.
1. It’s mandatory and UCR will no
longer be available
(Learn More. The transition to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) will improve the accuracy and
timeliness of our nation’s crime statistics, help identify crime patterns and trends, and aid in crime prevention.)
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