Poughkeepsie, N.Y., police officers are joining a state incident-based reporting system that provides a more in-depth way of analyzing crime statistics, the Poughkeepsie Journal reports. The system will replace the Uniform Crime Report system developed during the Prohibition era to standardize crime reporting. “Incident-based reporting provides info about multiple offender and victims, the type of weapons used and whether drugs or alcohol was involved,” town police Sgt. Kent Linderholm said. “You take all of that feedback, and what it does is it gives you a solid foundation of tactical information and crime mapping.”
Andrew Karmen of John Jay College of Criminal Justice said he wished every police department would convert to new system. The data submitted under the new system is tougher to manipulate because the report takes in more details, he said. National Incident Based Reporting, upon which the new system is based, was developed in the mid-1980s as a way to improve the Uniform Crime Report. To date, 29 states – excluding New York – have been certified to participate in the new program. So far, 157 agencies, or about 25 percent of the law enforcement agencies in the state, participate in the new system.
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