Alternative Data Base for the Determination of Crime Trends in American Cities: A Research Note

• NCJ Number: 127096
• Author(s): R J Bursik Jr; H G Grasmick
• Date Published: 1990
• Length: 12 pages
• Grant Number(s): 86-IJ-CX-0076
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)

Annotation

Data collected over nearly two years of calls for service to the Oklahoma City Police Department are used to present an alternative data base for estimating crime trends in American cities.

Abstract

The findings show that the calls-for-service data were limited because it was not known to what degree offenses were not reported by citizens to the emergency 911 system. However, the data do provide a broad picture of the extent of crime in an urban area because they bypass all of the recording and categorizing practices of metropolitan police systems. The most interesting implications lie in the observation that the calls-for-service data and Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) data tracked similar patterns for only one offense, aggravated assault, while in all other areas the trends were depicted quite differently. The data also provide an opportunity to incorporate multiple indicators of crime rates into trend analyses which will expand as more areas acquire computerized calls-for-service systems. 3 tables and 11 references