SHR.SupportingStatement.A (Submitted2)

SUPPORTING STATEMENT

1110-0002

Supplementary Homicide Report

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program requests a three-year extension of this currently-approved collection.

1. Justification

1. Necessity of Information Collection

Under the authority of Title 28, United States Code (U.S.C.), Section (§) 534, Acquisition, Preservation, and Exchange of Identification Records and Information; Appointment of Officials and the Uniform Federal Crime Reporting Act (UFCRA) of 1988, 34 U.S.C. § 41303, the FBI was designated by the Attorney General to acquire, collect, classify, and preserve national homicide data from federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies (LEAs) throughout the country as part of the FBI UCR Program in order to generate reliable information.

The two-sided Form 1-704, Supplementary Homicide Report (SHR), provides the FBI UCR Program with details about all offenses of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, negligent manslaughter, and justifiable homicide. The details include the reporting agency; month and year; situation; age, sex, race, and ethnicity of the victim(s) and offender(s); weapon type used; relationship of the victim(s) to the offender(s); and circumstance(s) surrounding the incident (e.g., argument, robbery, gang-related), if known.

This information collection is required for the FBI to maintain a database and serve as the national clearinghouse for the collection and dissemination of homicide data and to ensure publication of the information in Crime in the United States (CIUS).

2. Needs and Uses

The Microsoft Excel Summary Workbook and SHR Flat File Data Specification are needed to provide LEAs with a mechanism to report additional information regarding criminal homicide, manslaughter by negligence, and justifiable homicide offenses. Dissemination of the information occurs via the annual publication of CIUS and when requested. Homicide data serve as a valuable resource to federal, state, local, and tribal LEAs. The statistics can be used for tracking crime; administration, operation, and management purposes (e.g., budget formulation and resource allocation); assessment of police operations; effectively positioning task forces and officers; and determining the effectiveness of various law enforcement programs to address the crime problem at various levels. Agencies can justify staffing levels and officer counts based on the data. Although cautioned, some agencies may compare their crime statistics with those of other LEAs to justify an increase in funding for additional staff or equipment.

Chambers of commerce and tourism agencies examine the data to determine the impact of the crimes occurring within a particular geographic jurisdiction. Criminal justice researchers and statistical analysts study the nature, cause, and movement of crime over time. Legislators draft anti-crime measures using research findings along with recommendations from law enforcement administrators, planners, and others concerned with the problem of crime. The news media use crime statistics provided by the FBI UCR Program to inform the public about the state of crime.

Specific examples of how various entities use FBI UCR Program data are shown below.

1. The FBI serves as the national clearinghouse for the storage of all homicide statistics and the data are available to any requester. In 2019, the FBI UCR Program received 79 requests for SHR data, all of which were fulfilled.

2. The Department of Justice (DOJ), Bureau of Justice Assistance, utilizes the FBI UCR Program’s violent crime data, which includes homicide, in awarding local law enforcement formula grants.

3. The DOJ, Bureau of Justice Statistics, uses the FBI UCR Program’s homicide data to compile and publish 10 years of homicide trends for the nation.

4. Annual FBI UCR Program data are provided to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR). This central repository serves as a single facility from which colleges and universities can obtain social science data. The ICPSR website currently stores 43 years (1976-2018) of SHR data.

5. The National Center for Juvenile Justice obtains yearly FBI UCR Program SHR data files to incorporate in the agency’s database.

6. The FBI UCR Program’s Crime Data Explorer web application provides SHR data to users nationwide.

3. Use of Information Technology

Participation in the FBI UCR Program is voluntary. Crime data collection begins at the local agency level when law enforcement officers submit administrative and operational data to their record management personnel from hard copy or electronic incident reports. The local agency record managers then compile the crime data and submit the information to their state UCR programs (if applicable). Many state UCR programs have a centralized repository and have established electronic communications with LEAs throughout their state, as well as the FBI UCR Program. This allows for information technology interaction within the required electronic data submission formats.

All FBI UCR Program participants submit their crime data electronically. The FBI provides three different electronic options for state UCR program and individual LEA participants to submit SHR data—Extensible Markup Language (XML), Flat File Data Specification, and the FBI-provided Microsoft Excel Summary Workbook. The XML interface specification complies with the National Information Exchange Model and Logical Entity Exchange Specifications which are both data standards for information exchange used by law enforcement. The Flat File Data Specification is submitted as an American Standard Code for Information Interchange text files. The FBI-provided Microsoft Excel Summary Workbook allows agencies to submit data via an Excel Workbook which is translated into a standard format for processing of data into the UCR Technical Refresh System. These electronic submissions are currently received from state UCR programs and individual LEAs via e-mail at ucrstat@leo.gov.

4. Efforts to Identify Duplication

This information collection was authorized in direct response to the enactment of 28 U.S.C. § 534, Acquisition, Preservation, and Exchange of Identification Records and Information; Appointment of Officials and the UFCRA of 1988, 34 U.S.C. § 41303. Only the FBI collects extensive homicide data for the nation.

5. Minimizing Burden on Small LEAs

This information will have no significant impact on small LEAs. The law enforcement community requests a monthly collection of forms since police records are run by calendar month. However, the FBI minimizes the burden on small LEAs by allowing them to submit data quarterly, semiannually, or annually. Although monthly data submissions are recommended, agencies can submit data at intervals that minimize their burden upon approval by the FBI UCR Program.

6. Consequences of Not Conducting, or Less Frequent, Collection

In order to serve as the national repository for crime reporting and produce a reliable dataset, the FBI collects monthly statistics reported by participating FBI UCR Program contributors. Although monthly reports are preferred, the FBI UCR Program has agencies submitting data quarterly, semiannually, or annually. Upon approval by the FBI UCR Program, agencies can submit data at intervals that minimize their burden.

SHR provides the FBI UCR Program with details about all offenses of murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, negligent manslaughter, and justifiable homicide. The details include the reporting agency; month and year; situation; age, sex, race, and ethnicity of the victim(s) and offender(s); weapon type used; relationship of the victim(s) to the offender(s); and circumstance(s) surrounding the incident (e.g., argument, robbery, gang-related), if known. The FBI is the only agency collecting these data; therefore, users would lose the ability to analyze this supplemental data if the information was not collected. The FBI UCR Program’s data can be used for tracking crime; administration, operation, and management purposes (e.g., budget formulation and resource allocation); assessment of police operations; effectively positioning task forces and officers; and determining the effectiveness of various law enforcement programs to address the crime problem at various levels. Agencies can justify staffing levels and officer counts based on the data. Although cautioned, some agencies may compare their crime statistics with those of other LEAs to justify an increase in funding for additional staff or equipment.

7. Special Circumstances

Although some agencies have permission to submit data quarterly, semiannually, or annually, most submissions are received from FBI UCR Program participants on a monthly basis. Monthly submissions should be received by the FBI no later than the seventh day of each month. Annual deadlines are designated in order to assess receipt of monthly submissions. Special circumstances may cause an agency to request an extension which the FBI UCR Program has the authority to grant.

8. Public Comments and Consultations

No public comments were received after the 60- and 30-Day Notices were submitted to, and published in, the Federal Register.

9. Provision of Payments or Gifts to Respondents

The FBI UCR Program does not provide any payment or gifts to respondents.

10. Assurance of Confidentiality

The FBI UCR Program does not assure confidentiality. However, SHR data does not contain personally identifiable information which may reveal the identity of an individual. In addition, SHR data are obtained from public agencies and are, therefore, in the public domain.

11. Justification for Sensitive Questions

Information collected via SHR is not sensitive in nature.

12. Estimate of Respondents’ Burden

Summary Reporting System (SRS)
Data Submitted	Number of Agencies	Number of Responses	Burden (Minutes)	Burden (Hours)
(A)	(B)	(C)	(D)	(E)
1 month	68	68	612	10.2
2 months	54	108	972	16.2
3 months	54	162	1,458	24.3
4 months	78	312	2,808	46.8
5 months	102	510	4,590	76.5
6 months	140	840	7,560	126.0
7 months	175	1,225	11,025	183.8
8 months	336	2,688	24,192	403.2
9 months	172	1,548	13,932	232.2
10 months	240	2,400	21,600	360.0
11 months	844	9,284	83,556	1,392.6
12 months	5,791	69,492	625,428	10,423.8
Total	8,054	88,637	797,733	13,295.6
Total Number of Non-Responding Agencies: 1,400 agencies Total Number of Responding Agencies: 8,054 agencies Total Number of SRS Agencies: 9,454 agencies (Non-Responding Agencies + Responding Agencies) Total Number of Annual Responses: 88,637 responses (Column C = Column A x Column B) Total Form Completion Burden (Minutes): 797,733 minutes (Column D = Column C x 9 minutes per response) Total Form Completion Burden (Hours): 13,296 hours (Column E = Column D/60 minutes per hour)

The estimated burden on the respondents for this data collection are shown below.

Number of respondents: 8,054 agencies

Number of non-respondents: 1,400 agencies

Total annual responses: 88,637 responses

Time per response: 9 minutes

Annual burden: 13,296 hours

13. Estimate of Cost Burden

Currently, LEAs incur no direct costs by participating in the FBI UCR Program. With the renewal of this collection, respondents are not expected to incur any capital, start-up, or system maintenance costs. Costs to agency records management systems are very difficult to obtain. Vendors do not divulge costs because charges differ from agency to agency and many costs are built into vendors’ contracts. Depending on the contract, charges mandated by law may be included with no other additional costs. However, an estimate has been projected that agencies pay a $107,000 maintenance fee every year for system maintenance costs.

14. Cost to Federal Government

The information presented in the following table is a fiscal year (FY) 2019 cost model provided by the FBI Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) Division, Resource Management Section, Fee Programs Unit, for the entire FBI UCR Program. The FY2019 annualized cost and full-time equivalent (FTE) are included. These are projections based on prior collection activity, as well as activities anticipated over the next three years for the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and SRS. This cost model does not separate the costs between the two systems used to collect FBI UCR Program data.

Data Collection and Processing Costs
Activity	FY2019 Annualized Cost	FY2019 Annualized FTE
Administrative	$39,044.92	0.20
Administrative and Human Resource	$416,793.71	3.46
Assessments/Analysis – External Customers	$63,363.71	0.40
Budget Activities, Strategic Planning, and Program Control	$557,140.57	3.76
Conduct Audits	$106,545.90	2.00
Conduct Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Audits	$80,268.18	1.04
Curriculum Design – External Customers	$166,386.43	1.11
Direct and Interpret Statistical Methodologies	$46,984.00	0.60
Editing	$120,701.94	1.70
Graphics	$37,986.43	0.50
Liaison, Education, and Promotion	$982,682.24	7.21
New UCR and Crime Data Explorer (CDE) Operations and Maintenance (O&M)	$62,865.06	0.31
New UCR and CDE O&M	$320,556.22	1.97
New UCR Metrics and Reporting	$20,955.02	0.10
New UCR O&M	$1,039,673.00	6.22
NIBRS Transition Support to States/Secured File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) and Web Services	$15,914.12	0.10
Police Use of Force (UoF)	$9,267.53	0.06
Policy, Development, and Management	$407,638.57	2.77
Program Management	$17,381.31	0.15
Project and Program Management	$84,213.69	1.05
Provide Training Instruction – External Customers	$229,750.16	1.52
Publication	$24,056.71	0.30
Research and Analysis	$68,743.57	0.95
Research and Analysis	$138,102.45	0.75
Temporary Duty Crime Data Program	$92,004.08	1.00
UCR Business Management Support	$298,661.67	1.80
UCR Data Collection and Public Distribution	$1,038,030.43	9.55
UCR Data Requests and Analysis	$691,632.75	6.16

Data Collection and Processing Costs—continued
Activity	FY2019 Annualized Cost	FY2019 Annualized FTE
UCR Development/Operations (UCR-Technical Refresh, CDE, UoF)	$801,010.71	6.05
UCR Life Cycle Support	$70,139.67	0.40
UCR Security	$9,869.80	0.05
UoF	$193,430.33	1.04
Video Production	$9,050.94	0.12
Writing Services/Support	$85,237.45	1.20
Total	$8,346,083.27	65.60

15. Reason for Change in Burden

For this extension, the respondents’ annual burden was calculated using the actual number of months (1-12) for which the respondents submitted data. (See the table under 12. Estimate of Respondents’ Burden for specific calculations.)

Total annual responses:	8,054 respondents x 1-12 months of data submitted = 88,637
Time per response:	9 minutes
Annual Burden:	13,296 hours

The annual burden hours show an increase over those presented in the previous extension based on the calculation procedure. However, since the information on the SHR form is included in NIBRS, the burden hours are expected to decrease over this three-year extension as agencies currently reporting under SRS transition to NIBRS.

16. Anticipated Publication Plan and Schedule

Published data are derived from those submitted to the FBI UCR Program by federal, state, local, and tribal LEAs throughout the country. Historically, data have been published annually. However, the transition to NIBRS and quarterly publication of statistics have begun and may require modifications to the schedule shown below.

Publication Plan and Schedule
Activity	Time Period
Request missing data from agencies	February-March, following year
Deadline to submit data	End of March
Data Processing/Analysis	July (current year)-April (following year)
Publication data	September, following year

17. Display of Expiration Date

The FBI UCR Program will display the expiration date and Office of Management and Budget Clearance Number on the Microsoft Excel Summary Workbook.

18. Exception to the Certification Statement

The FBI CJIS Division is not requesting an exception to the certification of this information collection.