Curious about NIBRS? This article will answer some common questions about it.


Table of contents



What is NIBRS?


NIBRS, or the National Incident-Based Reporting System, is the successor to the UCR Summary Reporting System (often shortened to just "UCR") that has been used to collect national crime statistics since the 1930's. NIBRS was introduced in 1989 as the eventual replacement for UCR SRS. In 2016, the FBI announced that it would phase out national UCR SRS data collection and switch to NIBRS in 2021, but due to a lack of sufficient adoption, this transition remains incomplete.


More recently, the FBI announced that agencies must fully transition to NIBRS before 2028, with 2027 being the final year that the FBI will accept UCR crime data. With this new deadline, it's more important than ever to plan your agency's transition to NIBRS.


Fortunately, Informant's RMS is NIBRS-ready.


Can I do NIBRS reporting in Informant?


Yes. We have several agencies already doing monthly crime reporting with NIBRS, as well as others that are in transition. Our NIBRS reporting feature is available in the Elite, Enhanced, and Enterprise editions of Informant and can be activated in any of those editions. If you are on a different edition of Informant and want to transition to NIBRS reporting, we'll work with you to explore upgrade options.


if you aren't sure what edition you have, it's easy to check: What edition of Informant do I have? 


Several states have developed their own state-specific incident-based reporting systems that then report crime data to the FBI's NIBRS system. This means that while NIBRS itself is standardized by the FBI, many states don't accept NIBRS data in the standard federal format and instead require departments to submit data using their particular state's incident-reporting format.


Informant currently supports Pennsylvania's incident-based reporting standard ("PA NIBRS"), the Massachusetts Incident-Based Reporting System ("MA NIBRS"), and the Florida Incident-Based Reporting System ("FIBRS").


Is NIBRS reporting mandatory?


The FBI plans to phase out UCR SRS reporting in 2028, and 2027 will be the last year that the FBI will accept UCR SRS crime reporting data.


Transitioning to NIBRS now is strongly encouraged, and we can assist you with the process. In the future, certain federal and state grant programs may only be open to agencies that report crime data using NIBRS, so transitioning also helps your agency remain eligible for grant funding.


Is there funding available to help me transition to NIBRS?


Federal and state agencies regularly make grant funding available for the transition to NIBRS. This funding can help pay for additional NIBRS training for your users and can assist with upgrading your Informant software, if necessary. Additionally, some federal funding may require that your department report crime data using NIBRS or require your department to allocate a percentage of federally awarded money toward your department's transition to NIBRS.


Can I use UCR and NIBRS at the same time?


Yes. There are two situations where this might occur:


  • If you are a higher education institution and need to do Clery reporting, you can still use the UCR reporting features in Informant to generate your UCR offenses return for inclusion in your annual Clery report.
  • If you are currently in the process of being certified for NIBRS, your state may require you to continue to report UCR/SRS crime statistics to the state until your agency is certified to submit NIBRS crime data.


As far as monthly crime reporting, once you transition to NIBRS, you will no longer need to submit UCR data.


How does NIBRS work in Informant?


Although NIBRS works very differently from UCR SRS under the hood and collects more data for each incident than SRS, Informant is designed to make NIBRS reporting as seamless as possible.


The Crime Reporting Assistant in Informant (the "UCR" icon) will flag any NIBRS-specific errors that need to be fixed prior to submission, making it easy to correct issues before you submit your data and helping ensure your crime reporting data is accurate and complete. If you use Informant for your UCR reporting, this will be a familiar workflow.


There are also no extra "NIBRS forms" to fill out in Informant when completing an Incident record. Informant will derive what it needs from the data you enter in the Incident record and will only ask you for something when it's needed for NIBRS. Informant takes the complexity out of NIBRS reporting, significantly reducing the learning curve for you and your officers.


Since NIBRS collects additional data not collected in UCR, you may have to fill in some fields you haven't previously filled in, depending on how much detail you currently enter in your Incident records; however, the system will notify you of any required fields or missing data, making the process straightforward.


Note: For a list of the key differences between NIBRS and UCR reporting in Informant, see Moving from UCR to NIBRS reporting in Informant


Similar to UCR, before the submission deadline each month, a designated person at your agency will extract the NIBRS data and upload it to your state's NIBRS web portal using the built-in NIBRS export feature in Informant.


How do I activate NIBRS in Informant?


Get in touch with our support team via email or through our website's contact form and let us know that you'd like to activate NIBRS in Informant. Our team can activate the feature remotely and will provide additional information on how to configure Informant for NIBRS.


NIBRS is already available in and can be activated in the Enhanced, Elite, or Enterprise edition of Informant. If you are on a different edition of Informant, our team can discuss upgrade options with you. To check which edition you are running, see What edition of Informant do I have?


After NIBRS is activated for your department, we encourage you to update to the most current version of Informant to ensure you are running a version that complies with the latest NIBRS specification. See Updating Informant for more information on updating Informant.


What is involved in the NIBRS certification process in Pennsylvania?


In Pennsylvania, NIBRS is administered by the Pennsylvania State Police, and agencies that want to submit NIBRS data are required to go through a state-mandated certification process before they can fully transition to NIBRS reporting.


See PA NIBRS certification process for details on the NIBRS certification process in PA.


What is involved in the NIBRS certification process in other states?


Check with the department or agency that runs your state's incident-based reporting system.