1110-0048 Supporting Statement PART B v3

1110-0048 Supporting Statement PART B v3.doc

Cargo Theft Incident Report

OMB: 1110-0048

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PART B. Statistical Methods

The Cargo Theft Incident Report (OMB No. 1110-0048) includes respondents from United States (U.S.) law enforcement agencies who voluntarily report crimes to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program. Approximately 18,000 law enforcement agencies participate in the FBI UCR Program. In the first year of collecting cargo theft data, approximately 143 law enforcement agencies reported cargo theft Incident data. Law enforcement agencies consist of local, county, state, tribal and federal agencies that correlate to all population group sizes and have many diverse attributes. These agencies include a mix of population density and degrees of urbanization; various compositions of population particularly youth concentration; population mobility with respect to residents’ mobility, commuting patterns, and transient factors; different economic conditions including median income, poverty level, and job availability; areas with different modes of transportation and highway systems; different cultural factors and educational, recreational, and religious characteristics; family conditions with respect to divorce and family cohesiveness; climate; effective strength of law enforcement; policies of other components of the criminal justice system; citizens’ attitudes toward crime; and crime reporting practices of the citizenry.

Response rates are expected to increase with the use of updated training modules, reference materials, and by active liaison with national and federal law enforcement agencies to encourage participation in the UCR cargo theft data collection.

All data are collected/received from state UCR Program participants on a monthly basis. The FBI’s UCR Program has established various time frames and deadlines for acquiring the monthly data. Monthly reports/submissions should be received at the FBI by the seventh day after the close of each month. Annual deadlines are also designated in order to collect/assess receipt of monthly submissions. There are times when special circumstances may cause an agency to request an extension. The FBI’s UCR Program has the authority to grant these extensions. Although monthly reports are preferred by agencies, the FBI’s UCR Program has agencies that submit data quarterly, twice a year, and even once a year. Upon approval, the FBI UCR Program agencies can submit their data at intervals that minimizes the burdens to the agency.

Law enforcement agencies submit cargo theft data to the FBI UCR Program through either the Summary Reporting System (SRS) or the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). The SRS is referred to as the “traditional” FBI UCR Program because it began in 1930, and has had few modifications through the years. Participating agencies can submit their data via electronic files or using the web based interactive cargo theft form. The NIBRS is used by participating law enforcement agencies to report offenses and relevant details by incident, using up to 59 data elements to collect details about offenses, offenders, victims, property, and arrestees reported to police. Developed in the late 1980's, the NIBRS was designed as an automated system to modernize UCR, and includes automated checks to ensure data quality.

As the UCR cargo theft data collection is intended to collect all reported cargo thefts from law enforcement agencies in the U.S., sampling methodologies are not used. Being a new data collection, beginning in 2010, and having a low response rate the first year, presenting samples too small for applying valid and reliable statistical inferences to larger populations, the FBI UCR Program does not apply estimation procedures in the cargo theft collection. The law enforcement agencies that do not send in cargo theft data are not estimated to compensate for the missing jurisdictions. The FBI UCR Program has not presented cargo theft data in any table tabulations because it is a new data collection with low data representation. The FBI relies on the integrity of data contributors reporting data, however, Quality Assurance Reviews are conducted by the Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Audit Unit on a triennial basis. The results of the audits are not used to adjust crime data, but are used to educate reporting agencies on compliance with national UCR guidelines, thus increasing quality submissions.

Response rates are maximized through liaison with State UCR programs. Communications encouraging data submissions occur frequently because of the relationship between FBI UCR staff and law enforcement agencies. FBI UCR staff have a strong understanding of contextual challenges agencies face in reporting valid and reliable data and regularly work to overcome nonresponse issues when such challenges occur. The mission of the cargo theft collection in UCR is to acquire cargo theft data, establish guidelines for the collection of such data, and publish cargo theft data. Although the FBI makes every effort through its editing procedures, training practices, and correspondence to ensure the validity of the data it receives, the accuracy of the statistics depends primarily on the adherence of each contributor to the established standards of reporting. The FBI is working to help law enforcement agencies participate in the cargo theft data collection with the FBI CJIS Division’s creation of the UCR Redevelopment Project (UCRRP). The UCRRP will manage the acquisition, development, and integration of a new information systems solution which affects UCR participating local, state, tribal and federal law enforcement agencies. The UCRRP's goal is to improve UCR efficiency, usability, and maintainability while increasing the value to users of UCR products. The UCRRP will reduce the exchange of printed materials between submitting agencies and the FBI and replace those with electronic submissions. The FBI UCR Program has begun the process of reducing the exchange of paper for crime reporting purposes. Beginning July 2013, the FBI UCR Program will begin moving submitting agencies away from paper submissions. After a period of transition, the expectation is to have all data interfaces electronically managed. The goal is to have minimal paper burden on the public. The UCRRP has developed four options for paperless submissions, they are: Extensible Markup Language, Flat File Formats, Online Data Entry, and an FBI provided Excel Workbook and Tally Book.

The FBI has trainers who provide on-site training for any law enforcement agency that participates in the FBI UCR Program. The trainers furnish introductory, intermediate, or advanced courses in data collection procedures and guidelines. In addition, the trainers are available by telephone or e-mail to provide law enforcement agencies with answers to specific questions about classification or scoring or other questions about the FBI UCR Program. The FBI’s UCR Program proactively incorporated cargo theft training into the standard instructional curriculum in 2010.

Providing vital links between local law enforcement and the FBI in the conduct of the FBI UCR Program are the Criminal Justice Information Systems Committees of the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the National Sheriffs’ Association (NSA). The IACP, as it has since the FBI UCR Program began, represents the thousands of police departments nationwide. The NSA encourages sheriffs throughout the country to participate fully in the FBI UCR Program. Both committees serve in advisory capacities concerning the FBI UCR Program’s operation. The Association of State Uniform Crime Reporting Programs (ASUCRP) focuses on UCR issues within individual state law enforcement associations and also promotes interest in the FBI UCR Program. These organizations foster widespread and responsible use of uniform crime statistics and lend assistance to data contributors when needed.

At the forefront of including cargo theft within the FBI UCR system are the National Trade Association and the National Trade Organization which supplies insurance coverage to the maritime industry, its vessels and the cargo they carry. For a decade plus long effort these insurers and reinsurers had been working with both law enforcement officials and members of Congress, including testifying before Congress, to have cargo theft data collection come to fruition under the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act of 2005, section 307 (e), March 9, 2006. The Patriot Act states “The Attorney General shall take the steps necessary to ensure that reports of cargo theft collected by federal, state, and local officials are reflected as a separate category in the Uniform Crime Reporting System, or any successor system, by no later than December 31, 2006.” This is a mandate for the FBI’s UCR Program to collect cargo theft data, not a mandate on UCR participating law enforcement agencies. Participation in UCR is voluntary. When the FBI has been tasked to develop new unfunded information collections, the cost associated with the implementation of those changes is the responsibility of law enforcement. Historically, this resource issue has hampered the FBI’s ability to collect new data from its contributors. To deal with non responsive agencies the FBI UCR Program provides training, liaison, and reference material to law enforcement agencies in order to submit data.

It is very important for the data to be accurate and reliable. Law enforcement agencies use UCR data to track crime, task force placement, staffing levels, and officer placement. The UCR data is also used for administration, operational, and management within law enforcement agencies. Agencies will justify task forces, staffing levels, and officer counts compared to other law enforcement agencies in order to get more staffing levels or equipment. The agencies use other agencies’ crime statistics and staffing levels to justify their own crime statistics and staffing levels in order to obtain funding. Cargo theft data is used by law enforcement to identify areas of vulnerability in the transportation of cargo goods, identifying patterns of cargo theft, and forecasting high risk areas for cargo transporters. The data is also used to study the impact cargo theft has on commerce and the economy.

During implementation of the cargo theft information collection, extensive research regarding the offense of cargo theft was conducted. Members of the CJIS Division’s, Law Enforcement Support Section, FBI UCR Program; CJIS Division’s Information Technology Management Section; and the Criminal Investigative Division (CID), Americas Criminal Enterprise Section, Major Theft Unit (MTU) discussed the steps necessary to begin the collection of cargo theft information within the scope of the FBI’s UCR Program as mandated. The MTU took the lead to develop cargo theft into an information collection. The MTU coordinated with federal, state, and local law enforcement officials and industry experts for input and feedback. Agencies involved were the Los Angeles Police Department, Burglary Auto Theft Division; International Cargo Security Council; National Retail Federation; Miami-Dade Police Department; FBI Division, Cargo Theft Task Force; Miami Division, Cargo Theft Task Force; American Trucking Association; Memphis Division, Cargo Theft Task Force; Assistant United States Attorney, Miami, Florida; and the United States Department of Justice.

The primary emphasis in developing an approach for collecting national cargo theft statistics was to meet the requirements of the Patriot Act, and to avoid placing major new reporting burdens on law enforcement agencies contributing data to the FBI UCR Program. To accomplish this goal, a data collection was developed based on the program’s existing reporting systems, the NIBRS and the SRS. Furthermore, the method by which cargo theft is collected by the FBI UCR Program was fully vetted and approved by the FBI’s CJIS Advisory Policy Board (APB) process.

The APB is chartered under the provisions of the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 and is responsible for reviewing appropriate policy, technical, and operational issues related to CJIS Division programs and for providing appropriate guidance and recommendations to the Director of the FBI. The Advisory Process is conducted twice each calendar year equating to two “rounds.” Each round is comprised of Working Group meetings, Subcommittee meetings, and the Board.

The Working Groups review topic papers on operational, policy, and technical issues related to CJIS Division programs and policies and make recommendations to the APB or one of its Subcommittees. All fifty states, as well as U.S. territories, federal agencies, tribal representatives, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are organized into five Working Groups. Working Group meetings take place once each round and are conducted as closed meetings.

The UCR Subcommittee is composed of APB members and other UCR subject-matter specialists. The UCR Subcommittee was established to thoroughly review controversial UCR policies, issues, and program changes, and then formulate alternatives and recommendations for the consideration of the entire APB. The Chair of the APB, in consultation with the Designated Federal Officer (DFO), may invite any governmental or quasi-governmental entity who is involved in CJIS activities to attend any meeting of the CJIS Subcommittees for the purpose of consultation or providing information. Subcommittee meetings take place at least once each round.

The APB meets at the end of each round or twice during each calendar year. A notice of these meetings is published in the Federal Register, and the meetings are conducted in open session unless determined otherwise by the DFO. The APB is composed of 34 executive representatives from criminal justice agencies and national security agencies throughout the U.S. The FBI established the CJIS Advisory Process to obtain the user community’s advice and guidance on the development and operation of all CJIS Programs. The philosophy underlying the advisory process is one of shared management; that is, the FBI along with local, state, tribal, and federal data providers and system users share responsibility for the operation and management of all systems administered by the FBI for the benefit of the criminal justice community. It ensures law enforcement has the opportunity to discuss and vote on any policy or procedural changes to CJIS systems affecting law enforcement’s ability to share information to the nation.

At the 2009 ASUCRP conference, sessions were conducted to field test the Cargo Theft Incident Report and the Cargo Theft Instructions. State UCR Program Managers were given cargo theft test scenarios and were tasked with reading the instructions and filling out the Cargo Theft Incident Report. From this, the FBI’s UCR Program staff reviewed all the commits, suggestions, and ideas and reviewed the cargo theft form to incorporate the suggested changes. During implementation, the FBI received feedback to include on the form offense and location codes, which would assist contributors when reporting cargo theft and also reduce data processing errors. In addition, grammatical errors were identified and verbiage on the original form was not consistent with other FBI UCR information collections. Instructions were rewritten to be more easily understood. The cargo theft data collection has been refined by the FBI’s UCR staff along with law enforcement involvement, and other entities associated with cargo theft to cause the least impact burden on the law enforcement agencies.