U.S. Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Criminal Justice Information Services Division

Uniform Crime Reporting

National Incident-Based

 Reporting System

Volume 2:

Data Submission Specifications

November 2001
NATIONAL INCIDENT-BASED

REPORTING SYSTEM

VOLUME 2: DATA SUBMISSION SPECIFICATIONS

Prepared by

U.S. Department of Justice

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Criminal Justice Information Services Division

Uniform Crime Reporting Program

November 2001

iii

FOREWORD

Information about the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) is contained

in the four documents described below:

Volume 1: Data Collection Guidelines

Written for local, state, and federal UCR Program personnel (i.e., administrators, training

instructors, report analysts, coders, data entry clerks, etc.), Volume 1 provides a system overview

to those responsible for collecting and recording NIBRS crime data. It contains descriptions of

Group A and Group B offenses, offense codes, and reports; and definitions and descriptions of

the 53 data elements and the data values used in the system. 

Volume 2: Data Submission Specifications

This publication contains the data submission instructions and record layouts that must be

followed in submitting magnetic media for NIBRS reporting purposes. Local, state, and federal

systems personnel (i.e., computer programmers, analysts, etc.) responsible for submitting data to

the FBI are provided explanations of record linkages, guidelines for determining which records

to submit, software logic for submitting complete versus partial incident reports, and errorhandling procedures.

Volume 3: Approaches to Implementing an Incident-Based Reporting (IBR) System

Directed at systems personnel (i.e., computer programmers, analysts, etc.), this manual

contains suggested approaches to developing and implementing an IBR system that will meet

NIBRS’s reporting requirements. It includes a model incident report, standard data entry guide,

data entry screen formats, and software design suggestions. Since numerous IBR systems have

been developed and are widely available, this manual is being phased out. Copies will be

available until the supply is depleted.

Volume 4: Error Message Manual

Volume 4 contains designations of mandatory, optional, common, and additional data

elements as well as their requirements for entry. In addition, data element edits detail all the

software edits performed on submitted data, and error numbers produced as a result of FBI error

detection are provided with their corresponding messages.

Copies of the above-listed documents can be obtained by writing to the:

Communications Unit

Criminal Justice Information Services Division

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Module D3

1000 Custer Hollow Road

Clarksburg, West Virginia 26306-0154

facsimile 304-625-5394

v

PURPOSE

These specifications have been prepared for the use of local, state, and federal systems

personnel (i.e., computer programmers and analysts) who are responsible for preparing magnetic

media for submission to the FBI. Included are the data submission instructions for magnetic

media, record layouts, and error-handling procedures that must be followed to meet NIBRS’

reporting requirements.

Data entry approaches for NIBRS data elements are discussed in Volume 3: Approaches

to Implementing an Incident-Based Reporting (IBR) System. Designations of mandatory and

optional data elements, data element edits, and error messages are discussed in Volume 4: Error

Message Manual. 

Whenever tape is specified within this document, it refers to the magnetic media that is

written upon by the participant when submitting data to the FBI. Section I, “Magnetic Data

Submission Specifications,” explains the various types of magnetic media that the FBI will

accept.

The functional data requirements, as discussed in this document, will cover the flow of

data and necessary data linkages, as well as detailed instructions for submitting Zero-Reporting

data and Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted data.

Section I contains the detailed data element descriptions for each field within the record

layouts. Such things as (1) record linkages, (2) how to determine what records to submit, and (3)

software logic for determining whether complete incident report data or partial incident report

data should be submitted are also explained.

Section II, “Record Layouts,” shows condensed diagrams of the format requirements for

magnetic media submission to the FBI.

Section III, “Error Handling,” discusses the processes that the FBI uses to address errors

discovered in data submission and the correction procedures that must be considered when

participants address FBI-detected errors found on the magnetic media submissions. 

vii

CONTENTS

I. Magnetic Data Submission Specifications 1

A. Magnetic Media Specifications 1

B. Segment Submission 4

C. Linkages and Sequence of Segments 7

D. Creation of Monthly Magnetic Media 9

E. Current Year Cut-Off 13

F. Determining Amount of Data to Be Submitted 14

G. Software Logic Rules 21

H. Group “B” Arrest Report 24

I. Zero-Reporting 24

J. Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA) 25

K. Segment Action Type 30

L. Segment Levels 35

Level 1 -- Administrative Segment 35

Level 2 -- Offense Segment 39

Level 3 -- Property Segment 43

Level 4 -- Victim Segment 51

Level 5 -- Offender Segment 57

Level 6 -- Arrestee Segment 60

Level 7 -- Group “B” Arrest Report Segment 66

Level 0 -- Zero-Reporting Segment 70

Level L -- LEOKA Segment 72

M. Federal Department Considerations 75

II. Record Layouts 77

III. Error Handling 87

A. General Information 87

B. How the FBI Handles Detected Errors 88

C. Method for Sending Back FBI-Detected Errors 92

D. Participant’s Resubmission of Rejected Data 93

E. Use of Segment Action Type Codes in Error Handling 94

F. Error Data Set (EDS) 101
1

I. SUBMISSION SPECIFICATIONS

A. Data Media 

Data may be submitted to the FBI on any of the following magnetic media: round-reel

tapes, 3480/3490 cartridges, and other FBI-approved personal computer media including disks

such as the Iomega ZipTM 100 disk. Due to the large volume of data expected received,

round-reel tapes and 3480/3490 cartridges are preferred because of.

2. Personal Computer (PC) Disks/Other Media

(a) Permission -- Prior to submitting data on PC disks/other media, the

participant must receive permission from the FBI’s UCR Data Processing Department.

(b) General Requirements -- PC disks/other media should be formatted

fixed-field, ASCII format, using an IBM compatible PC with DOS version 3.3 or greater. Each

record must end with a carriage return. Field delimiters between fields are not allowed.

(c) Disk Size -- Disks may be 3.5 inch or 5.25 inch. They must be double-sided

and double-density or double-sided and high-density.

(d) Format -- Disks which are 3.5 inch may be formatted with 720 kilobytes or

1.44 megabytes, and 5.25-inch disks may be formatted with 360 kilobytes or 1.2 megabytes.

(e) File Name -- The file should be titled NIBRS.UCR

(f) PC Disk/Other Media Usage -- The FBI anticipates that disk/other media

submittals would be used mainly by agencies (1) not having the computer resources required to

create magnetic tapes or cartridges, and (2) whose average monthly volume of data would not

exceed one disk/other media.

Submitting data on disk/other media in no way reduces the complexity of an

incident-based reporting system meeting NIBRS’ data submission requirements. The only

difference between tape and disk/other media records is in the field definition of the first four

bytes of each record, as is explained in section I, subsection L, “Segment Levels.”
Magnetic Media Specifications

2

3. Magnetic Round-reel Tapes or 3480/3490 Cartridges

The FBI’s Computer Center has tape drives that read magnetic round-reel tapes or 

3480/3490 cartridges in uncompressed or compressed format.

(a) General Requirements -- Data must be in EBCDIC format. ASCII is not

allowed. Records must be variable length. The magnetic media should be 9-track with a

recording density of 1600 or 6250 Bits Per Inch (BPI).

(b) Name -- The data set should be named UCR.NIBRS.INCIDENT.DATA

using IBM standard labels. Block size cannot exceed 32,760 characters.

If the participant is unable to create the tape or cartridge using the above specifications,

written notice must be received by the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) Program in Clarksburg,

West Virginia 26306-0154 indicating the characteristics used. Special Job Control Language

(JCL) and/or custom preprocessor software must be prepared by the FBI’s UCR Data Processing

Department to process the tapes or cartridges not meeting the above specifications. 

4. Variable-length Record Format

Each different Segment Level number represents a specific segment which has its own

fixed length but is written as a variable-length record using a four-byte Record Descriptor Word

(RDW) at the beginning of each record.

Example: Every Segment Level 1 written is 87 characters long and every Segment Level

3 is 307 characters long, etc. Although each segment is written as a variable-length record, all

records for a given segment are the same length. Therefore, each Segment Level must be written

with its appropriate fixed length as indicated in section I, subsection L, “Segment Levels.”

5. Record Descriptor Word (RDW)

(a) Specifications -- Records written to a magnetic round-reel tape or cartridge

must be variable-length. Accordingly, each of the segment levels contains a four-byte field that

reflects its specific record length.

Example: Segment Level 1 has a Record Descriptor Word (RDW) containing a binary

length of 87 which is the length of the actual data (positions 5 through 87) plus the beginning

four-byte RDW (00570000 in hexadecimal notation).

(b) COBOL Applications -- In COBOL and some other high-level languages,

the RDW is automatically generated by operating system software, not application software.
Magnetic Media Specifications

3

Example: If the output File Definition (FD) has combined field lengths of 83 and is

defined as variable length, the record written will contain a generated four-byte RDW as part of

the data record. 

Note: In subsection L, “Segment Levels,” the four-byte RDW is shown as part of the

record; in COBOL these four bytes would not be in the FD. When written to tape

or cartridge, the physical record will contain 87 bytes of data. However, if the

COBOL program reads the record, the RDW is not presented to the application

program. Even though the physical record is 87 characters long, only 83 bytes of

data are received by the program.

(c) ALC and PL/I Applications -- In these applications, the RDW must be built

by the application software when creating these records. When reading them, the RDW is

presented to the application program.

6. Block Descriptor Word (BDW)

The maximum block size that the FBI can process is 32,760 bytes for magnetic

round-reel tapes and cartridges. Within the physical block, there will be multiple Record 

Segments, with each Record Segment having an RDW. At the beginning of each block, a

four-byte Block Descriptor Word (BDW) must contain the lengths of all physical Record

Segments and the four-byte BDW.

7. Data Records Initialization

Each record written to magnetic media must first be initialized to blanks before data are

moved into the applicable fields. This will provide filler for those varying Data Elements which

do not have data because of the circumstances of the report.

8. Code Requirements

Codes must be right-justified with zero left-fill when there are data to be reported. For

example, if Data Element 15 (Property Description) code is 05 = Buses, value 05 would be

entered, not 5.

Fields containing numeric data codes must be EBCDIC zoned-decimal fields

(hexadecimal value “F0” = 0 through “F9” = 9), not packed-decimal fields (“0C” = 0 through

“9C” = 9). Floppy disks would contain ASCII representation of the data instead. The field

should be filled with blanks if no data are to be reported.
Magnetic Media Specifications

4

9. NCIC 2000

One future component of the redesigned NCIC addresses the submission of NIBRS data

over NCIC telecommunication lines. When this capability becomes available and is

implemented by a State UCR Program, the transmission of data by magnetic media would be

eliminated at the state level. Local agencies, of course, would continue to submit its data as

required by the state.

B. Segment Submission

Segment Level groupings provide the mechanism to report Incident-Based Reporting

(IBR) data to the FBI. The 53 data elements representing the NIBRS data structure have been

grouped into six distinct Segment Levels identified as Level 1, Level 2, etc. Segment Level 7 is

used for Group “B” Arrest Report data. Segment Level 0 is used for Zero Reporting for local

agencies. Segment Level L is used to report Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted

(LEOKA) using the traditional Summary-based record containing 600 characters of LEOKA

data. 

The following sections provide more detail as to what data are included within the

reports.

1. Group “A” Incident Report

(a) Multiple Segments -- Each Group “A” Incident Report is to be submitted to

the FBI using up to six distinct records, each of which is referred to as a segment.

An incident report may consist of many possible combinations of circumstances, ranging

from a simple one offense, victim, and offender situation to a complex set of multiple offenses,

property losses, victims, offenders, and arrestees. In addition, each of the victims may not be

involved in each of the offenses. In other words, one, some, or all of the victims may be

connected to each applicable offense.

(b) Segment Levels -- There are six Segment Levels within a Group “A”

Incident Report. Position 5 of each record (Segment) will contain one of the following Segment

Level codes (1 through 6) to indicate what kind of segment is being submitted. A brief

description of each Segment Level follows:
Magnetic Media Specifications

5

LEVEL DESCRIPTION

1 ADMINISTRATIVE SEGMENT

Provides administrative information regarding the overall incident.

2 OFFENSE SEGMENT

Provides information about the UCR offense(s) involved in the incident.

3 PROPERTY SEGMENT

Provides information about the various types of property losses, etc. that may

occur as a result of the incident.

4 VICTIM SEGMENT

Provides information about the victim(s) involved in the incident. 

5 OFFENDER SEGMENT

Provides information about the offender(s) involved in the incident.

Note: If the offender(s) had been arrested at the time the initial incident report

was entered into the computer system, an Offender Segment must be

generated if the participant does not maintain both offender and arrestee

segments when the same individual is involved. Care must be taken to

include within the Victim Segment the specific victim relationship code to

this offender as originally entered into Data Element 34 (Offender No. to

be Related) and 35 (Relationship of Victim to Offender). Victim to

offender relationships are required when any offense is a Crime Against

Person or is a Robbery Offense (120). 

6 ARRESTEE SEGMENT

Provides information about the arrestee(s) involved in the incident. 

Note: If the Arrestee Segment is being submitted as part of an incident report, a

corresponding Offender Segment must be created. Automated procedures

must be established to correctly generate the required segments as

mentioned within this document.
Magnetic Media Specifications

6

2. Group “B” Arrest Report Segment Level

This Segment Level is to be used for Group “B” offenses only. A Group “B” Arrest

Report is to be submitted for each arrestee for a Group “B” offense. Position 5 on this segment

will contain 7 as the Segment Level.

LEVEL DESCRIPTION

7 GROUP “B” ARREST REPORT

Provides data for arrests involving Group “B” offenses (e.g., Peeping Tom).

3. Zero-Reporting Segment Level

This is used when agencies report no crime occurring within their jurisdiction for the

reporting month. Position 5 on this segment will contain 0 as the Segment Level. 

0 ZERO-REPORTING FOR LOCAL AGENCY

The presence of this record shows that the agency had no crime. If no

zero-reporting record was submitted and the agency did not submit any Group

“A” Incident Reports or Group “B” Arrest Reports, UCR will follow-up to obtain

reports or will estimate crime totals.

Note: The above does not apply to federal departments.

4. Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA)

This Segment Level is to be used when reporting LEOKA data in the manner of the

traditional Summary-based UCR. Although the original record was 600 characters long, it will

be prefixed with a 37-character header as explained in section I, subsection L, “Segment

Levels.” Position 5 on this segment will contain L as the Segment Level.

L LEOKA REPORT

Provides data for LEOKA reporting.

Note: The above does not apply to federal departments.
Magnetic Media Specifications

7

C. Linkages and Sequence of Segments

1. Linkages

Each Group “A” Incident Report has one master segment which is called the

Administrative Segment. Connected to this segment are one or more Offense, Property (if

applicable), Victim, Offender, and Arrestee (if applicable) Segments.

Victim Segments contain pointers (i.e., links) to the applicable Offense Segment(s).

Example: If there are two offenses, three victims, and four offenders, and one of the

offenders was arrested, victim-001 could be linked to offense-02, victim-002 could be linked to

offense-01, and victim-003 might be linked to offense-01 and offense-02. In Crime Against

Person and Robbery offenses, each Victim Segment additionally contains relationship pointers to

each of the Offender Segments. 

2. Consecutive Entry of Segment Submissions

States currently submitting Summary data tapes or cartridges to the FBI enter their

incident records sequenced by ORI, and any detail records are arranged in order by month within

each ORI. This exact sequence will not be necessary for submission of NIBRS data. For

NIBRS, all crime incident data for a local agency’s ORI Number (Data Element 1) must appear

together, and the individual segments making up each Incident Number (Data Element 2) within

its ORI must be in sequence by Segment Level.

NIBRS will accept the data if the different ORIs themselves are not in sequence and if

the different Incident Numbers are not in sequence within the submitted ORI. However, the

FBI’s computer will not sort the record segments. Therefore, with the exception of LEOKA and

Zero-Reporting records, all data record submissions must be grouped together by ORI, and

all segments within each Incident Number must be in order by Segment Level.

LEOKA and Zero-Reporting records do not have to follow the order mentioned above. 

The order and position of these records would be written depending upon design considerations

within the state’s data processing department. Additional information is provided in section I,

subsection C, “Other Submissions.”
Magnetic Media Specifications

8

3. Sequence of Group “A” Incident Report Segments

When submitting Group “A” Incident Reports on magnetic media, the following

sequence of segments is required for each report. This sequence of segments reflects the

Linkage Example shown previously. The numbers 1 through 6 refer to Segment Levels.

LEVEL SEGMENT

1 ADMINISTRATIVE

2 OFFENSE-01

2 OFFENSE-02

3 PROPERTY, if applicable.

4 VICTIM-001 (pointer to Offense-02)

4 VICTIM-002 (pointer to Offense-01)

4 VICTIM-003 (pointers to Offenses 01-02)

5 OFFENDER-01

5 OFFENDER-02

5 OFFENDER-03

5 OFFENDER-04 

6 ARRESTEE-01

4. Other Submissions

Group “B” Arrest Reports as Segment Level 7 can be written in any order on the

magnetic media within their ORI but should not be interspersed between segments within a

Group “A” Incident Report. For example, Segment Level 7 should not fall between Levels 4 and

5 in the above example.

The same is true for submissions of subsequent arrests, exceptional clearances, and

recovered property that are submitted as Segment Action Type W = Time-Window Submission

as explained in section I, subsection F, “Determining Amount of Data to Be Submitted.”
Magnetic Media Specifications

9

As is the case for Group “B” Arrest Reports, LEOKA and Zero-Reporting records should

not be interspersed between segments within a Group “A” Incident Report. Other than that, they

may be positioned anywhere on the magnetic media.

D. Creation of Monthly Magnetic Media

All data entered into the participant’s database must periodically be submitted to the FBI

by magnetic media. To standardize these submittals, the FBI requests that monthly submissions

be sent to the FBI containing segment additions, modifications, or deletions within the database

not previously submitted to the FBI. Submitting data once a month will tend to evenly distribute

the amount of data over 12 months and make it easier to track submissions should the FBI not

receive one.

The method the participant uses to determine which data should be submitted and when it

should be submitted to the FBI is best determined by the data flow processes established within

the participant’s data processing department. Monthly submissions containing data not

previously submitted and not more than one or two months old should be made on a regular

basis. Three methods for regular submission follow.

1. Submission Based on the Activity Date

(a) This method assumes that data are entered on-line directly into the

participant’s database. Submissions would only be for data that were added or updated during a

calendar month. In order to provide this ability, it is suggested that an Activity Date be made a

part of each report on file in the database. The Activity Date would be the most recent date that

update action (add arrest, modify, etc.) was taken on the report.

(b) If an agency uses this method, the unload program would dump to magnetic

media all incidents that were initially entered or updated within the date range of a month.

Example: If the unload program was run at one minute past midnight on the 20th (e.g.,

July 20), all incidents that had an activity date within the day boundaries for the previous

complete month (e.g., June 1-30) would be unloaded. This unload process would be repeated

once each month. 

(c) Only those incidents updated during the previous complete month would be

included on the monthly submission as indicated by the internal Activity Date indicators. Using

this unload schema, there will never be any confusion as to what incidents were unloaded from
Magnetic Media Specifications

10

month to month. It does not matter that all incident reports that occurred during the month had

not been entered yet. Those would be entered during the following month, to be included in the

next month’s submission, etc. This unload process would act in concert with error correction

functions to be included within the computer system.

Note: The magnetic media for a specific month (e.g., June) must not include any

incidents that were entered into the computer system after the last day in

the month. This means that, when June’s activity was unloaded on July

20, for example, any activity for July 1-20 would not be unloaded onto the

June magnetic media. (July update activity would be submitted on a later

July submission, not the June submission.) The FBI will reject all such

data (e.g., July data found on the June submission).

(d) In the event a Group “A” Incident Report is a continuing case that could span

many months and is updated monthly, theoretically the incident could never be sent to the FBI if

the unload is based upon the Activity Date unload method. The Activity Date would change

monthly, which would delay reporting until the next month, ad infinitum. System designers

must address this event so that the incident would be submitted to the FBI on the next month’s

submission, thereby ensuring that no more than a 1-month delay occurs.

2. Submission Based on the Unload Date

(a) This method would unload all data not previously sent to the FBI and would

include data entered into the participant’s database up to the date the unload was performed.

Example: A participant could receive floppy disk data from a local agency on March 15

that was subsequently loaded into the participant’s database on the same date. If the unload was

done at 11:59 p.m. on March 15, the floppy disk data and all other data not previously submitted

to the FBI would be unloaded.

(b) This technique would require that the Month of Tape field be set to March

(03) in positions 7 and 8 on the record segment using the above example. In other words,

whenever the unload is done, the Month of Tape would reflect the month the data were

unloaded, not necessarily the month the data represents.

(c) Two unloads cannot be done within the same calendar month using this 

technique, since the FBI’s computer would assume that a procedural problem occurred. 

Automated procedures are in place that prevent the same magnetic media from being 

processed twice to avoid total rejection of duplicate data. 
Magnetic Media Specifications

11

3. Submission Based on the Group “A” Incident Date, or Group “B” Arrest Date

(a) This method would unload all Group “A” Incident Reports having an Incident

Date for the month of the unload and Group “B” Arrest Reports having an Arrest Date for the

month of the unload. Only data not previously sent to the FBI would be submitted.

Example: A participant may choose to wait until all incident data has been entered for,

say, the month of January. Because of delays in completing this, the unload may occur, say, in

March. It is possible, then, that arrests could have been posted to January incident that occurred

in February or March. If the Month of Tape does not reflect the latest arrest date, those records

would be rejected because the date was greater than the Month of Tape.

(b) This technique would require that the Month of Tape field be set to March

(03) in positions 7 and 8 on the record segment using the example above. In other words,

whenever the unload is done, the Month of Tape would reflect the month the data were

unloaded, not necessarily the month the data represents.

(c) If the participant performed this unloading process, for example, on the 20th

of each month instead of on the first for the previous month’s activity, the result would be

reduced resubmissions of incident report data. An initial incident report added to the computer

system near the end of the month may require updating within the first few weeks of the next

month. A delay in transmittal would reduce the need for resubmissions to the FBI, thus reducing

data traffic.

Example: An incident occurred on June 25 and was entered into the database on June 30. 

An arrest was made on July 3 that also resulted in an additional victim and other NIBRS data

elements being updated within the record of the incident. This supplemental report was added

the database on July 8.

Effect of Unloading June’s Data on July 1

In the above example, unloading the June data as soon as possible (e.g., July 1) will

produce the following data processing activity:

1) The initial incident report’s data would be unloaded on the June magnetic

media because of the June Activity Date.

2) These data would not, of course, include the new victim and arrest

because they were entered on July 8.
Magnetic Media Specifications

12

3) The FBI would add the original incident report data with an I = Incident

Report as entered on the June submittal. 

4) When the July data are subsequently unloaded in August, a complete 

resubmission of the incident report is required because of the addition of

another victim.

5) The incident report resubmission (I = Incident Report) would also require

that a D = Delete be submitted to remove the previous NIBRS incident

report.

6) The FBI would have to delete the original incident report and then add

back the updated report.

Example of Contrast in Delaying the Unload of June’s Data until July 20

By delaying this unload until the 20th, several significant events would occur, using the

example previously mentioned:

1) The June 25 incident would not have been submitted on the June

submission because the Activity Date changed from June 30 to July 8.

Advantage: Reduced computer processing, because the incident would

not be written on the June submission. The Incident Report

is submitted once rather than twice.

Disadvantage: Statistics will not be as current as they possibly could be

within NIBRS because certain incidents would be

submitted on the next month’s submission, thus a delay of

1 month. However, the benefit of reduced computer

processing outweighs this disadvantage.

2) The July submission would contain the complete initial incident report.

This incident would not also be on the June submission.

Some incident-based reporting systems enter the basic Group “A” Incident Report into

their system and then subsequently update it a few weeks later with supplemental data as

applicable. Once the supplemental data are added, the incident is most likely never updated
Magnetic Media Specifications

13

again if this resulted in closing the case. The intended benefit of delayed reporting, therefore, is

to reduce the instances of having to resubmit the same Group “A” Incident Report when updates

span two consecutive months for the incident. Delayed reporting will increase the efficiency

of both the FBI’s and the participant’s computer systems by reducing data traffic; as a

result, it is the preferred method.

E. Current Year Cut-Off

1. Crime in the United States Publication

The FBI’s UCR Program must prepare a yearly Uniform Crime Report showing crime

activity for the months of January through December. So that statistics will accurately include

all yearly activity, a 3-month lag time will permit crime data not entered into the participant’s

computer system as of December 31 to be entered during the first 3 months of the next year.

2. Preliminary Release Publications

In addition to the Crime in the United States publication, the UCR Program produces two

preliminary releases during the year. The first release covers January through June and the

second covers the entire year. These are published also allowing for a 3-month lag time, as

above.

3. Data Entry Backlog

Arrests, exceptional clearances, etc., occurring during the latter part of the previous year

need time to be entered into the participant’s computer system. The 3-month grace period will

allow personnel to enter such data for inclusion in the national UCR publications.

4. Incident Data Received after March

Any reports of past year incidents received after the March magnetic media submission

would not be included in the yearly report. These incidents should still, however, be 

submitted on the next month’s submission.
Magnetic Media Specifications

14

F. Determining Amount of Data to Be Submitted

In general, the following information regarding previously submitted initial incident

reports, subsequent arrests, recovered property, and exceptional clearances clarifies when and

how data are to be sent to the FBI. 

Specific guidelines for determining the amount and format of data to be submitted to the

FBI is addressed in section I, subsection G, “Software Logic Rules.”

1. Retention Period

(a) The FBI will maintain complete NIBRS data for incident reports for the

current year and one previous year. A year is considered to be January through December. 

Fiscal years are not used in the FBI’s database. 

(b) The two-year calendar was chosen for three reasons: (1) to keep the FBI’s online disk storage space within reasonable limits, (2) to assure that when backup tapes are made at

the end of the current year, the previous year backup will contain 12 months of updated

information, and (3) to give a reasonable amount of time to allow the closure of an incident.

2. Date Determination

(a) The current year date in reference to participant software is based on the

exact date the computer writes its data to magnetic media. This computer date is not linked

to which month’s data are included.

(b) The date the magnetic media is created will be used in determining the

beginning base date used in deciding which data submission format to use (i.e., incident report

resubmissions or specific segment submissions using Segment Action Type W = Time-Window

Submission).

3. Time-Window

Conceptually, the perfect database would allow for continual updating of every Group

“A” Incident Report and Group “B”Arrest Report submitted to the FBI which would require

enormous amounts of on-line disk storage. The Time-Window provides for accurate crime

statistics and accounts for resource constraints imposed by the large volume of NIBRS data. 
Magnetic Media Specifications

15

(a) Explanation -- The Time-Window is a date range within which the FBI will

accept complete submissions of Group “A” Incident Reports. Only incident dates within this

date boundary, as established per instructions for Time-Window Base Date Calculation below,

will be allowed. Incidents occurring outside this date range would be submitted using Segment

Action Type W = Time-Window Submission, as explained later within section I, subsection F,

“Determining Amount of Data to Be Submitted.”

The Time-Window concept was developed as a standard for transmitting data from the

participant to the FBI, not from the local agency to the state. This concept covers such issues as

keeping the participant’s and FBI’s databases in harmony, as well as performance issues

concerning the amount of data needed for transmission and storage. The Time-Window Rule

appears below, followed by the reasons behind the development of the Time-Window approach:

TIME-WINDOW RULE:

If the incident date is earlier than January 1 of the previous calendar year or

is earlier than the date the reporting agency converted to NIBRS, it falls outside the

Time-Window Date Range. Only exceptional clearances, recovered property, or arrestee

segments associated with the Group “A” Incident Report would be submitted. If the

incident date falls within the Time-Window, the complete Group “A” Incident Report

would be submitted.

(b) Justification -- The Time-Window concept supports or complements the

submission of stand-alone exceptional clearances, recovered property, and arrest segments in the

case where the Group “A” Incident Report is no longer maintained by the participant. These

types of submissions are necessary regardless of any Time-Window procedures. 

Implementing the Time-Window concept eliminates duplicate reporting between the

Summary-based and incident-based reporting systems. Group “A” Incident Reports included in

the Summary-based UCR must not be submitted as NIBRS data because duplicate reporting

would result. For example, assume an agency converted to NIBRS reporting on June 1, and later

that month an arrest is made for a murder that occurred in February. Since the murder had

already been reported to the Summary-based UCR, only the Arrestee Segment would be

submitted for NIBRS. Otherwise, the murder would be counted twice, once in the

Summary-based UCR and again in NIBRS.

Another advantage offered by the Time-Window concept is that both the participant and

FBI computers can be programmed in a uniform, standard manner. That way, each computer
Magnetic Media Specifications

16

will know what types of data can be submitted and how to process that data accordingly. There

would be no guesswork in determining whether to submit Group “A” Incident Reports or Time

Window segments, regardless of what was previously sent to the FBI. Both systems would be

programmed in the same manner when processing the data, thus eliminating possible timing

conflicts.

Further, the Time-Window provides a mechanism for submission of separate add arrests

to previously submitted Group “A” Incident Reports. This reduces the unnecessary

resubmission of complete Group “A” Incident Reports when the only change was the addition of

an Arrestee Segment.

Finally, retention periods established by the participant may be greater than the 2-year

database of the FBI, and probably will be, which is fine. Without Time-Window logic,

unnecessary data submissions would occur when Group “A” Incident Reports, which the FBI

does not require, are submitted. 

The FBI has established this mechanism to ensure that data conflicts are eliminated

through computer software logic. It is up to the participants to carry this, or their own automated

technique, forward into their computers in a manner best suited for them that addresses accepting

data from their reporting agencies.

(c) Time-Window Date Range Determination -- If a Group “A” Incident

Report has an incident date that is earlier than the date the agency converted to NIBRS or

January 1 of the previous year, it would become a Time-Window Submission. The date range is

measured from the date the magnetic media is created, back to the beginning (i.e., January 1) of

the previous calendar year or the date the agency converted to NIBRS (if that date is later). For

example, if the magnetic media was created on September 22, 1999, the range would be from

January 1, 1998, through September 22, 1999, assuming the agency converted to NIBRS on or

before January 1, 1998.

(d) Time-Window Base Date Calculation -- The base date is oriented from the

date the magnetic media is created, back to January 1 of the previous calendar year or the date

the agency converted to NIBRS (whichever is later).

(e) Participant Use of Base Date -- If arrests, property recoveries, and

exceptional clearances were entered into the database for crimes that happened before the base

date, the FBI will not accept the Group “A” Incident Report but will accept incident segments

only relating to arrests, property recoveries, and exceptional clearances. These are submitted
Magnetic Media Specifications

17

using Segment Action Type W = Time-Window Submission, as explained later within section I,

subsection F, “Determining Amount of Data to Be Submitted.”

This base date, calculated within the participant’s unload program, will be compared with

Data Element 3 (Incident Date/Hour) for incident resubmissions, in determining how to send

data to the FBI when the participant maintains the Group “A” Incident Report on its database. 

This is the basis for deciding which data submission format will be used to submit data to the

FBI.

Example: The following example shows a 5-year calendar. This will be used to assist

with understanding the current and previous calendar year retention concept that follows. 

Assume the FBI has been collecting data since January 1991.

YEAR MONTHS

1995 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

1996 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

1997 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

1998 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

1999 JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC

Assume the date the computer unloaded its segments was May 31, 1997, and the

submittal contains all database update, add arrest, and delete activity performed during the

month of May 1997.

If another victim had been added in May 1997 to a previously submitted incident that

occurred on or after January 1, 1996, the complete Group “A” Incident Report would be sent to

the FBI. If the incident occurred prior to this date, the report would not be written because the

update was outside of the Time-Window Base Date and it involved a victim, not an arrest,

exceptional clearance, or a property recovery.

Using the above example, if an arrest was also made for the same incident that had an

incident date on or after January 1, 1996, the complete incident report would still be sent to the

FBI. This would include the additional Victim Segment and the Arrestee Segment. If the

incident occurred prior to this date, only the Arrestee Segment would be written, not the Victim

Segment. Because the participant or the FBI no longer maintains the incident report, the

Arrestee Segment would also indicate if the arrest resulted in a clearance or is another arrest

relating to the previously cleared incident.
Magnetic Media Specifications

18

(f) Transfer of Old Data to Permanent Backup Tapes -- On or about February

1, incident data that occurred in the calendar year 2 years previous will be purged from the FBI’s

database. The purge process will consist of first creating a permanent backup tape for applicable

data in that calendar year. Once the backup is completed, the corresponding data on the FBI’s

database will be removed to make room for new data. The exact date the FBI actually removes

the data will not have any effect upon the participant’s submission of its incident data. Any

magnetic media that was unloaded by the participant’s computer before or during December and

in possession of the FBI will be processed prior to the February purge operation. This process

will maintain data consistency between the participant’s and FBI’s database before the FBI

begins its purge.

Controls are in place to prevent FBI updates from taking place during the purge process. 

Additionally, any magnetic media received having a Month of Tape of January or later for the

current year would not be processed until the purge is completed. As noted, the Time-Window

Base Date software to be incorporated into the participant’s software will determine whether

data are to be submitted according to the exact date the data are written onto the monthly

magnetic media.

The FBI’s software is designed using the Time-Window Base Date concept. Participant

software must also include the concept so that the submitting computer will know whether to

send a Group “A” Incident Report or only the exceptional clearance, recovered property, or

arrestee segment(s).

Using the 5-year calendar example previously shown, a backup tape is created during

February 1998 for all incident data occurring during 1996. This will be the final master tape for

that year, never to be updated again. Once this backup is taken, the corresponding data will be

removed from the database, except for exceptional clearances, recovered properties, and arrests

that relate to reports submitted for 1997 and/or 1998. These segments would remain so that

applicable segments could be counted in the FBI’s yearly Crime in the United States publication

for 1997.

This process will be repeated each year. Historical year-to-year comparisons (e.g., 5

consecutive years) will be accomplished using yearly backup tapes permanently kept by the FBI.

(g) Interim Backup Tapes -- Another backup is prepared after the first 3

months’ magnetic media data for the current year have been processed for all participants. This

is done so that end-of-year crime activity and participant-corrected segments (i.e., those

previously rejected by the FBI) can be included within the yearly crime publication. Therefore,
Magnetic Media Specifications

19

the backup tape created after all March 1998 magnetic media have been processed would contain

data from January 1 through December 31, 1997.

(h) Participant’s Database Retention Period -- Beyond the 2-year FBI

retention period, time constraints imposed to control data sizes are at the discretion of each

participant. Ideally, if computer resources can accommodate more than 2 years, then current

year arrests, exceptional clearances, and property recoveries submitted to the FBI for crimes that

occurred more than 2 years ago will contain additional data that otherwise would not have been

available. This is further explained in the details that follow.

If less than 2 years of data are maintained within the database, data can still be sent to the

FBI using the information in section I, subsection G, “Software Logic Rules.” Specific

guidelines for sending data to the FBI will be centered around the FBI’s 2-year database,

regardless of participant’s policy. The submitting computer software, regardless of retention

period used, would unload using the Time-Window Base Date rule that is used to determine

which way to submit data.

(i) Local Agency Submissions to the State and Federal Agency Submissions

to its Federal Department -- States and federal departments must establish control mechanisms

to eliminate conflicts in reporting agencies’ computers not knowing what the receiving computer

is expecting. For example, assume a reporting agency submits an add arrestee to a previously

submitted Group “A” Incident Report. But unknown to the reporting agency’s computer, the

state or federal department had to delete the entire incident because it was time to purge old

records. The add would reject because the Group “A” Incident Report was not on file. This

situation is eliminated by instituting strict procedures regarding how much data to submit using

computer software logic. The Time-Window concept is one way to provide that control.

The FBI has established a mechanism to ensure that data conflicts, such as those previously

mentioned, are eliminated through computer software logic. It is up to the participants to carry

this forward into their computers in the manner best suited for them.

(j) Possible Loss of Current-Year Updates by Periodic Purging -- System

designers should be aware of what could be a hidden data flow problem between the

participant’s and FBI’s databases concerning the purge process. As background information,

most computer systems will periodically have to purge old data within their databases in order to

free up disk storage for new data being entered. This purge process can create data problems,

however.

The Group “A” Incident Reports being purged would normally include all segments

connected to them. However, all segments cannot be purged in every instance. Care must be
Magnetic Media Specifications

20

taken to ensure the recent exceptional clearances, recovered properties, and arrests are not

purged before they are submitted to the FBI. 

Example: Assume the participant maintains a 3-year database and that an arrest on

December 2, 1997, was entered into its database on December 31, 1997. The original crime

incident resulting in the arrest occurred on January 5, 1995 (3 years previously). If a purge is

done in January 1998 before creating the December 1997 submittal, all 1995 incident data would

be deleted, including the arrest made on December 2, 1997; the arrest would not be submitted to

the FBI because it no longer exists within the database. Thus, the arrest could not be included in

the FBI’s 1997 yearly crime publication.

The purge process must be accomplished in a manner that ensures that current arrest data,

for example, be submitted to the FBI before it is removed from the database. This brings up an

additional consideration that must be addressed by the participant. Before purging the data, the

participant should wait to see if the FBI’s computer rejects the submission. In other words, do

not purge data immediately upon transmission to the FBI because the data could subsequently be

rejected because of FBI-detected errors.

(k) Time-Window Effect on Data Submissions -- Assume an agency has been

converted to NIBRS for at least 2 full years. The data range in which Group “A” Incident

Reports may be submitted to the FBI automatically narrows to 1 year and 1 day at the beginning

of the current year (January 1 of the current year, plus January 1 through December 31 of the

previous year). It expands to 2 years at the end of the current year (January 1 through December

31 of the current year, plus January 1 through December 31 of the previous year).

With the above in mind, if a Group “A” Incident Report occurred between January 1

through December 31, 1997, the complete incident might be submitted for applicable updates

through November 30, 1998, not necessarily through December 31, 1998. It all depends on how

and when the participant chooses to unload its data. If a subsequent database update occurred in

December 1998, and the unload of that data was done in January 1999, this would then cause

applicable updates to be submitted as a Segment Action Type of W= Time-Window Submission,

as described in section I, subsection K, “Segment Action Type.”

(l) Summary Statement -- The determining factor that decides what or how

much data to send to the FBI is a 2-year Time-Window calculated on the exact date the data are

transferred to computer tape, oriented backwards in time to a base date, previously defined as the

Time-Window Base Date. 
Magnetic Media Specifications

21

As agencies convert from Summary reporting to NIBRS, the conversion date must

always be effective on the first day of a month. When agencies convert to NIBRS, the concert

date becomes the Time-Window Base Date for that agency until such time that January 1 of the

previous calendar year becomes the base date.

G. Software Logic Rules

1. If the Participant Does Not Maintain an Automated Group “A” Incident Report

Relating to the Transaction, the FBI Will Accept Submissions for Arrests, Exceptional

Clearances, and Recovered Property Only.

a. For an arrest, an Arrestee Segment (Level 6) with a special Segment

Action Type of W = Time-Window Submission will be sent to the FBI

that includes:

1) All data elements within the Arrestee Segment;

2) A clearance indicator showing if this arrest cleared the incident or

it was previously cleared by another arrest, as described within

section I, subsection K, “Segment Action Type,” for W = TimeWindow Submission; and

3) Up to ten UCR Offense Code(s) associated with original incident

report. This will allow the FBI to associate the arrest with the

original incident offense(s), not just the arrest offense.

b. For an exceptional clearance, an Administrative Segment (Level 1) with a

special Segment Action Type of W = Time-Window Submission will be

sent to the FBI that includes:

1) All data elements within the Administrative Segment, including

Data Elements 4 (Cleared Exceptionally) and 5 (Exceptional

Clearance Date); and

2) Up to ten UCR Offense Code(s) associated with original incident

report. This will allow the FBI to associate the exceptional

clearance with the original incident offense(s), as described in

section I, subsection K, “Segment Action Type,” for W = TimeWindow Submission.
Magnetic Media Specifications

22

c. For recovered property, a Property Segment (Level 3) with a special

Segment Action Type of W = Time-Window Submission will be sent to

the FBI that includes:

1) All data elements within the Property Segment, including Data

Element 17 (Recovery Date); and

2) Only the UCR Offense code(s) for Kidnaping, Gambling, and

Crimes Against Property associated with the original incident

report. The FBI needs to be able to tell what offenses(s) were

associated with the recovered property, as described in section I,

subsection K, “Segment Action Type,” for W = Time-Window

Submission.

2. If the Participant Does Maintain an Automated Group “A” Incident Report

Relating to the Transaction, Then:

Before any processing is performed, a 2-year Time-Window Base Date calculation must

be done:

(a) Time-Window Base Date -- An automated date calculation must be done

using the formula specified below. The result will determine how to send data when arrest,

recovered property, or exceptional clearance instances occur, as well as determining if entire

Group “A” Incident Reports should be sent in lieu of specific segment submissions. At the exact

date the database unload program started running or executing, a subroutine in the program

would:

1) Back to current date up to January 1, unless the date is already January 1;

and

2) Subtract 1 year from this date.

3) If the date the agency converted to NIBRS is greater than (2) above, use

that date; otherwise, use (2) above.

The resulting date is the beginning base date.

Example: If the computer program that unloads the data happens to run on May 20,

1997, the base date would be January 1, 1996. The base date just calculated will be compared
Magnetic Media Specifications

23

with Data Element 3 (Incident Date/Hour) and appropriate logic will be done, as shown below.

(b) If The Incident Date Is Earlier than the Base Date -- Follow the rules

specified in section I, subsection G, part 1. The FBI no longer maintains the incident and does

not require the entire Group “A” Incident Report.

Rules pertaining to submission of specific segments, as shown below, or resubmitting the

entire incident report due to other changes is discussed in section I, subsection K, “Segment

Action Type.” What follows hereafter specifically pertains to situations where no changes other

than adding the specific segment to the incident report occurred, or as otherwise indicated.

(c) If The Incident Date Is on or after the Base Date -- For an arrest, an

Arrestee Segment (Level 6) with an Action Type of A = Add Arrest will be sent to the FBI

including all data elements within the Arrestee Segment.

Note: The FBI will be able to count clearances based upon the presence of

arrests associated with an incident. The first arrest automatically clears

the incident and subsequent arrests will not be counted as additional

clearances.

For an exceptional clearance, an Administrative Segment (Level 1) with a Segment

Action Type of M = Modify within the Administrative Segment, including Data Elements 4

(Cleared Exceptionally) and 5 (Exceptional Clearance Date).

If recovered property is involved, resubmit the entire Group “A” Incident Report.

In all other cases, the complete Group “A” Incident Report would be resubmitted.

Note: It should be understood, of course, that if an initial Group “A” Incident

Report contains an exceptional clearance, arrest(s), and/or recovered

property, then only the initial Group “A” Incident Report would be

submitted instead of taking the aforementioned actions. In other words, if

the incident report has not yet been submitted to the FBI, all segments for

the complete incident report would be submitted instead of submitting

only an Arrestee Segment.

(d) Special Attention Required When the FBI No Longer Maintains the 

Incident but the Participant Does -- In addition to updating as specified in section I, subsection

G, part 1, special software is required that addresses W = Time-Window Submissions. If
Magnetic Media Specifications

24

Segment Action Type of W = Time-Window Submission is being used and is immediately

preceded with a D = Delete on the Administrative Segment, all segments that involve

exceptional clearances, recovered property, and/or arrestees falling within the Time-Window

Date Range referenced in section I, subsection F, “Determining Amount of Data to Be

Submitted,” must accompany the segments that triggered the submittal to the FBI.

Section III, subsection D, “Participant’s Resubmission of Rejected Data,” and section I,

subsection K, “Segment Action Type,” contain additional instructions regarding the

resubmission of segments.

H. Group “B” Arrest Report

Group “A” Incident Reports are not to be submitted for Group “B” offenses. Only Group

“B” Arrest Report (Level 7) segments should be submitted for these offenses.

The following Segment Action Types must be used when submitting Group “B” Arrest

Reports:

A = ADD ARREST REPORT (Level 7):

Use this when initially submitting an arrest report.

M = MODIFY REPORT (Level 7):

Use this when adjusting previously submitted segments. All data elements within

this segment must reflect the corrected and current values; do not just complete

those that change.

D = DELETE REPORT (Level 7):

Use this when intending to delete an Arrest Report that was previously sent to the

FBI.

I. Zero-Reporting

Federal departments will not submit this record; it is only applicable to local agencies

submitting to the state or local agencies reporting directly to the FBI.
Magnetic Media Specifications

25

When a local agency reports that no NIBRS crime occurred in its jurisdiction for a

month, the participant must submit to the FBI a zero-reporting record for the applicable month(s)

for the agency. The participant may choose to send this indication monthly or whenever this

information is made available.

The following Segment Action Types must be used when submitting Zero-Reporting

records:

A = ADD (Level 0):

Use this when the local agency reports that no crime occurred for a particular

month.

D = DELETE (Level 0):

Use this when intending to delete a previously submitted zero-report submission. 

This would occur when the local agency subsequently discovered that a crime did

occur during the month.

Note: NIBRS needs to differentiate between (1) zero-reporting -- no crime occurred and

(2) no crime information was submitted. Do not automatically generate this

record just because the local agency did not send crime data for a particular

month. This record should only be submitted if the local agency communicates

the fact that no crime occurred for the reporting period; the absence of crime data

does not mean no crime occurred. The presence or absence of this record in

conjunction with other available data will provide the FBI with useful statistical

information.

J. Law Enforcement Officers Killed and Assaulted (LEOKA)

Federal departments will not submit this record; it is only applicable to state UCR

programs and authorized local agencies reporting directly to the FBI.

1. Background

LEOKA data cannot be completely obtained from existing NIBRS data of 53 data

elements because additional data are needed that are not contained on the Group “A” Incident
Magnetic Media Specifications

26

Report segments. The states must expand the NIBRS data requirements to include additional

data such as type of assignment, type of activity, whether the officer was injured or not, etc.

These instructions only apply when a state is no longer submitting UCR Summary-based

data to the FBI. States sending Summary-based data must continue submitting LEOKA data on

the Summary-based magnetic tape or cartridge as is currently done, even if the state is sending

both Summary-based and incident-based data on these magnetic media. Once a state no longer

submits Summary-based data and is officially submitting NIBRS data to the FBI, LEOKA data

would be included on the same magnetic media. This will eliminate having to submit two media

(one for NIBRS and one for LEOKA).

States submitting Summary-based data currently follow the guidelines specified within

FBI document, Technical Manual, ADP Programming Guidelines for State UCR Programs,

6/15/83. States needing copies of the manual should write to UCR. This document contains

technical information that states use to establish the criteria, objectives, and functions of

programs developed by the states’ data processing personnel.

Within this manual are also descriptions of two types of records that address LEOKA

data in the Summary-based UCR. The Return A record (Level 1) contains Police Officers Data

providing total counts on officers killed and assaulted. The Monthly Police Employees (known

as LEOKA) record (category 5) reflects the detail associated with the total counts reported in the

Return A.

Once a state has converted to NIBRS and is no longer submitting Summary-based data to

the FBI, the Return A record containing the above LEOKA data fields will no longer be

submitted by the participant as before. Therefore, the NIBRS monthly magnetic media will

include Monthly Police Employees data records (known as LEOKA) as specified within the

details below.

(a) LEOKA Data Content Does Not Change -- The Summary-based LEOKA

data record is 600 characters long as specified on pages 57 through 66 in the Technical Manual,

ADP Programming Guidelines for State UCR Programs, 6/15/83. The data content within the

600 characters remains the same.

(b) Type 14 Record Indicator Eliminated -- According to the Summary-based

specifications, “a type 14 should only be used for an agency that has reported law enforcement

officers killed and/or assaulted in the Return A record and has not submitted a Police Assault
Magnetic Media Specifications

27

report.” Since the Return A is no longer applicable in incident-based reporting, never submit

type 14 records for LEOKA.

2. LEOKA Submission Rules 

Under NIBRS, the states may program their systems to create LEOKA records only if

there are LEOKA data to submit, in keeping with the type 14 elimination guideline. This is

assuming the local agencies are submitting separate LEOKA reports, apart from Group “A”

Incident Report submittals. The following two rules apply:

Rule 1: If an agency has not submitted a Police Assault report, do not submit any

LEOKA record.

Rule 2: If an agency has submitted a Police Assault report, submit a type 00 or 13

record (as applicable), where the record will contain the actual counts

even if all reported counts are zero.

(a) Important Design Considerations -- When submitting LEOKA data, it is

important that the data accurately reflect the number of assaults and homicides committed

against police officers for months that had those offenses. The method used to ensure this

accurate reporting, of course, is left up to the developers, but it should address situations such as

the one that follows. Assume an assault occurred on June 1, 1995, that was submitted to the FBI as

LEOKA data. Then it was subsequently learned that the June 1, 1995, incident date should have

been March 1, 1995. The participant must be able to determine that there is one fewer assault

that occurred in June and one additional assault that occurred in March. This adjustment process

would also apply in situations when the assault is subsequently discovered to be unfounded after

being submitted to the FBI.

(b) Submitting LEOKA Data Which Are Extensions of IBR Records --

Under NIBRS, the state may design LEOKA processing using the rules below. This is under the

assumption that Group “A” Incident Reports also contain LEOKA data within the record

structure. But even if the LEOKA data are part of the Group “A” Incident Report data structure,

the participant may still choose to continue submitting LEOKA data as previously explained

under Rules 1 and 2. It is up to the participant to decide how best to submit its LEOKA data.

However, if the following rules are used, problems concerning how to keep track of

adjustments as shown above under Important Design Considerations will be eliminated. Section

I, subsection I, part 3, “Keeping Track of Adjustments,” contains additional information.
Magnetic Media Specifications

28

Rule 3: For each agency within the state, submit LEOKA monthly records for

current year and previous year statistics. Each monthly NIBRS

submission would contain LEOKA records for current and past months.

Rule 4: Submit type 13 adjustments records only. The record will contain the

actual counts, including counts of zero.

3. Keeping Track of Adjustments

(a) History -- Once a state converts to NIBRS reporting, its agencies will be able

to submit incident-based data to the state program. Assaults and homicides against police

officers would then be submitted as Group “A” Incident Reports and would probably include

additional data required by the state, such as whether the victim was a police officer, local

information pertinent to state’s needs, etc.

Once agency submissions have been processed by the state program, data must be sent to

the FBI in the format required for NIBRS magnetic media. The problem now is how to build

separate LEOKA segments from the incident-based data. The data processing logic below is a

suggestion offered to address submission requirements. The scenario where an officer is

assaulted in June but was entered inadvertently as a March assault requires that the March

LEOKA data record be subsequently adjusted to reflect one less assault, and the June LEOKA

record be adjusted to reflect one additional assault. By using the following logic, these

adjustments become automatic.

If the participant’s data processing department handles LEOKA as a separate entity (apart

from the Group “A” Incident Report database record structure), then the data processing logic set

forth below may not be applicable. Instead, Rules 1 and 2 under section I, subsection J, part 2,

“LEOKA Submission Rules,” may best apply. Again, it is based upon the specific database

design that was chosen.

(b) Data Processing Logic

1) Establish two tables, one for the current year and one for the previous

calendar year.

2) The tables should consist of all the valid UCR ORIs within the state. Each

row within the table is an ORI that has 12 months, where each month
Magnetic Media Specifications

29

consists of counters required by the traditional LEOKA. Initialize the

LEOKA counters to zero.

3) Pass the database, writing applicable NIBRS segment levels for Group

“A” Incident Reports, Group “B” Arrest Reports, etc. to the output NIBRS

magnetic media.

4) Pass the state database again but retrieve LEOKA incidents for current

and previous year. Update the tables with applicable counters. Your

Database Management System (DBMS) may provide for retrieving only

LEOKA records without having to read the entire database. Use a

technique that is the most efficient for your application.

5) At end of file, build LEOKA segments for each ORI and write them to the

NIBRS magnetic media. In doing this, care must be exercised to not write

NIBRS LEOKA month submissions that would replace Summary-based

LEOKA month submissions that were pre-NIBRS. Doing so would

destroy previously submitted LEOKA data. If pre-NIBRS LEOKA is to

be adjusted, this is fine as long as software handles adjustments

appropriately.

Example: If agency “X” converted to NIBRS in June 1995 and had 25 LEOKA assaults

in January 1995 that were previously reported, these would not be in the state’s database since

there are no Group “A” Incident Reports for the pre-NIBRS assaults. Therefore, when building

the table, the counts for January 1995 would be zero. Submitting a January 1995 LEOKA record

then would wipe out the 25 previously submitted assaults. Note that this potentially destructive

situation does not just apply to LEOKA but to all pre-NIBRS Summary-based data as well.

(c) Warning -- Do not write pre-NIBRS month LEOKA records for agencies,

unless the intent is to modify pre-NIBRS data submissions. Use whatever controls are

necessary to prevent the destruction of previously submitted LEOKA data.

Once a state has submitted NIBRS data for 2 years, this concern becomes a moot point

because of data retention policies as explained in the Time-Window discussion.

4. Submitting LEOKA Records to the FBI

Section I, subsection L, “Segment Levels,” contains instructions on magnetic media

record format for LEOKA data.
Magnetic Media Specifications

30

K. Segment Action Type

1. Participant Maintains an Automated Group “A” Incident Report Relating to the

Transaction

The following Segment Action Types must be used when submitting Group “A” Incident

Reports that are maintained within the participant’s database and within the Time-Window Date

Range described in section I, subsection F, part 3, “Time-Window.” Except where specified

below, if a previously submitted incident report is being adjusted, the complete incident report

would be resubmitted after first deleting the old incident. Both of these activities would be

accomplished on the same monthly magnetic media sent to the FBI.

Segment Action Type

I = INCIDENT REPORT (Levels 1 through 6) 

Submit all known data at the time the incident is initially reported, including the

appropriate Segment Levels within the Incident Report. Use this Segment Action

Type also to resubmit an entire Group “A” Incident Report previously reported to

the FBI, but which had to be deleted and resubmitted because individual types or

segments (Segment Levels) needed to be added, modified, or deleted.

Section III, “Error Handling,” contains a complete discussion relating to

resubmission of incidents or when the resubmission occurs because of FBIdetected errors. Also, refer to A = ADD ARREST (Arrestee Segment), M =

MODIFY, and D = DELETE segments below for further explanation and

clarification. The software must be designed so that the first Group “A” Incident

Report submission is never preceded by a D = Delete action.

A = ADD ARREST (Level 6) Arrestee Segment

Use A when adding an Arrestee Segment to a previously submitted Group “A”

Incident Report where no changes occurred in other segments.

In all other instances, to add individual types of segments, such as Offense,

Victim, Offender, etc., to an existing incident report previously submitted to the

FBI, first D = Delete the entire existing incident and then resubmit the entire

revised report as an initial transmittal.
Magnetic Media Specifications

31

Section III, “Error Handling,” contains a complete discussion relating to

resubmission of incidents when the resubmission occurs because of previous FBIdetected errors.

M = MODIFY (Level 1) Administrative Segment

Use M when modifying Data Elements 4 (Cleared Exceptionally) and/or 5

(Exceptional Clearance Date) in an existing Group “A” Incident Report

previously submitted to the FBI. These two data fields within this submitted

Segment Level 1 will replace the corresponding data on the FBI’s database. If a

field originally contained data but is now blank, the update will show the empty

data field.

To modify any other data fields in individual segments (Segment Levels) within a

previously submitted incident report, first D = Delete the entire existing incident

report and then resubmit it as a Segment Action Type I = Incident Report,

incorporating all changes.

D = DELETE

Group “A” Incident Report (entered on Level 1) and Time-Window Submission

(entered on Level 1).

Use D to delete all the segments associated with a previously submitted Group

“A” Incident Report or Segment Action Type W = Time-Window Submission. 

To do this, send the Administrative Segment as a D = Delete and all the

descendant or dependent segments of that linkage will be deleted for Segment

Levels 1 through 6.

Section III, “Error Handling,” explains software functions that should be designed

into the participant’s NIBRS system concerning when and when not to submit D

= Delete incident segments. Issues concerning resubmissions are explained

within that section.

Special Attention Required for D = DELETE Transaction

Special software is required that addresses the situation when the participant is

submitting D = Delete to remove all segments associated with a Group “A” Incident Report. If

Segment Action Type of W = Time-Window Submission is being used in conjunction with the D

= Delete,
Magnetic Media Specifications

32

all segments (i.e., Exceptional Clearance, Recovered Property, and Arrestee Segments[s]) that

fall within the Time-Window Date Range referenced in section I, subsection F, “Determining

Amount of Data to Be Submitted,” must accompany the segments that were rejected by the FBI.

Section III, subsection E, part 1, “Segment Action Types,” contains additional

instructions regarding the resubmission of segments.

2. Participant Does Not Maintain an Automated Group “A” Incident Report

Relating to the Transaction

The following Segment Action Types must be used when arrests, exceptional clearances,

or recovered property occurred for Group “A” Incident Reports that are no longer on file in the

database or in the FBI’s database as discussed under section I, subsection F, part 3, “TimeWindow.” No others may be used.

(a) Segment Action Type W To Be Used When Adding Segments -- The

participant will be able to add and subsequently modify or delete Segment Levels for arrests,

exceptional clearances, and recovered property segments if submitted as Time-Window

submissions. The FBI will, however, generate an error message if attempts to M = Modify these

segments are submitted without having first added them with a Segment Action Type of W =

Time-Window Submission.

(b) Special Attention Required For W Transaction -- Special software is

required that addresses the unique situation when submitting W = Time-Window Submission

segments when the FBI no longer maintains the incident report but the participant does. Be

aware that if the W action is preceded with a D = Delete on the Administrative Segment, all

segments involving exceptional clearances, recovered property, and/or arrestees falling within

the Time-Window Date Range referenced in section I, subsection F, “Determining Amount of

Data to Be Submitted,” must be submitted in addition to the database update triggering this

action.

The participant, if it chooses to, may submit the segments mentioned above without

having to precede them with a D = Delete. Section I, subsection F, “Determining Amount of

Data to Be Submitted,” explains that the FBI will still keep specific segments that fall within the

Time-Window Date Range. Section III, subsection E, part 1, “Segment Action Types,” also

contains additional instructions.

(c) Segment Action Type

W = TIME-WINDOW SUBMISSION
Magnetic Media Specifications

33

Administrative Segment (Level 1): Use W in the case of the exceptional clearance of a

Group “A” Incident Report that no longer exists on the database or where the FBI no longer

maintains the incident report. The original incident’s UCR Offense Code(s) must be included

within this Administrative Segment.

Property Segment (Level 3): Use W to add a Property Segment for property that has

been recovered when the Group “A” Incident Report no longer exists on the database or where

the FBI no longer maintains the incident report. The original incident’s UCR Offense Code(s)

relating to the property must also be included within this Property Segment.

Arrestee Segment (Level 6): Use W to add an Arrestee Segment when the incident

report no longer exists on the database or where the FBI no longer maintains the incident report. 

A special clearance indicator must also be entered that tells if this arrest resulted in a clearance

or if it was an additional arrest for this previously cleared incident. The original incident’s UCR

Offense Code(s) must also be included within this Arrestee Segment.

Administrative, Property, and Arrestee Segments: When a combination of two or

more of the different segments are submitted for the same Group “A” Incident Report, the FBI

will reject only the segment in error, keeping those that are error-free.

M = MODIFY

Administrative Segment (Level 1): All data fields within this submitted Segment Level

will replace the corresponding data on the FBI’s database. If the field originally contained data

but is now blank, the update will show the empty data field.

When submitting an Administrative Segment for modification, include all the data fields

within the Segment Level, not just the fields being modified. The FBI will replace the entire

Segment Level with the data in the submitted segment.

The original incident’s UCR Offense Code(s) must also be included within this

Administrative Segment. An Administrative Segment may be M = Modify only if it had

previously been submitted as a Segment Action Type of W = Time-Window Submission.

Property Segment (Level 3): Use M to modify a Property Segment (for property which

has been recovered). A Property Segment may be M = Modify only if it had previously been

submitted as a Segment Action Type W = Time-Window Submission segment.

All data fields within this submitted Segment Level will replace the corresponding data
Magnetic Media Specifications

34

on the FBI’s database. If the field originally contained data but is now blank, the update will

show the empty data field. When submitting a Property Segment for modification, include all

the data fields within the Segment Level, not just those being modified. The FBI will replace the

entire Segment Level with the data in the submitted segment.

The original incident’s UCR Offense Code(s) relating to the property must also be

included within this Property Segment.

Arrestee Segment (Level 6): Use M to modify an Arrestee Segment when the segment

had previously been submitted as a W = Time-Window Submission segment. A special

clearance indicator must also be entered that indicates if this arrest resulted in a clearance or was

an additional arrest for a previously cleared incident. The original incident’s UCR Offense

Code(s) must be included in this Arrestee Segment.

All data fields within this submitted Segment Level will replace the corresponding data

on the FBI’s database. If the field originally contained data but is now blank, the update will

show the empty data field. When submitting an Arrestee Segment for modification, include all

the data fields within the Segment Level, not just the fields being modified. The FBI will

replace the entire Segment Level with the data in the submitted segment.

D = DELETE

Administrative Segment (Level 1): All segments (Levels 1 through 6) connected to the

incident will be removed from the FBI’s database.

Property Segment (Level 3): A Property Segment may be D = Delete only if it had

previously been submitted as a W = Time-Window Submission segment.

Arrestee Segment (Level 6): An Arrestee Segment may be D = Delete only if it had

previously been submitted as a W = Time-Window Submission segment.

Special Attention is Required for D = DELETE Transaction

Special software is required that addresses the D = Delete submission to remove all

segments associated with an Incident Report. If Segment Action Type of W = Time-Window

Submission is being used in conjunction with the delete, all segments involving exceptional

clearances, recovered property , and arrestee falling within the Time-Window Date Range

referenced in section I, subsection F, “Determining Amount of Data to Be Submitted,” must

accompany the segments that were rejected by the FBI.
Magnetic Media Specifications

35

Section III, subsection E, part 1, “Segment Action Types,” contains additional

instructions regarding the resubmission of such segments.

L. Segment Levels

1. Level 1 -- Administrative Segment

This is the master segment. There is one Administrative Segment per Group “A”

Incident Report. All other incident data relating to offenses, property, victims, offenders, and

arrestees are contained in segments that are linked to the Administrative Segment by Data

Elements 1 (ORI Number) and 2 (Incident Number).

Code Values: Volume 1: Data Collection Guidelines, section VI, “Data Elements and Data

Values,” contains a complete listing of computer codes and what they represent

for each data element. Specific instructions about submitting data elements for

the incident are also provided in Data Collection Guidelines. In most cases, this

information is not repeated below.

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

1-4 4 B RECORD DESCRIPTOR WORD (RDW)

Must have a binary value of 87 in positions

1and 2 and binary zeros in positions 3 and 4. 

For floppy disks, enter numeric 0087.

5 1 A SEGMENT LEVEL

Designates this as an Administrative Segment.

Valid Code: 1.
Magnetic Media Specifications

36

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

6 1 A SEGMENT ACTION TYPE

Instructs the FBI as to what kind of database

activity is to be performed.

Valid Codes: I, M, D, and W.

7-8 2 A MONTH OF TAPE (01 through 12)

Depending on unload procedures, this is

either the month of the update activity or

the month the magnetic media was created. 

Section I, subsection D contains information

on the creation of monthly magnetic media.

9-12 4 A YEAR OF TAPE - e.g., 1995

Year in which the Month of Tape falls.

 13-16 4 A CITY INDICATOR

This field is used for cities submitting

directly to the FBI because the state does not

participate in NIBRS.

Valid Code: The FBI will assign a

participation indicator for those agencies

meeting the requirements for direct

submission to the FBI.

1 17-25 9 A ORI/FID NUMBER

Valid NCIC ORI number. For state/local

agency submissions, the last two positions

must be 00. Federal departments must use

their assigned two-character Federal

Identifier Code.
Magnetic Media Specifications

37

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

2 26-37 12 A INCIDENT NUMBER

Left-justified with blank right-fill.

Example: 89-13456

 89T123456789

3 38-45 8 A INCIDENT DATE

In the format of YYYYMMDD, e.g.,

19950328. If the Incident Date is unknown,

enter Report Date. Refer to Incident Hour,

below, for times occurring exactly at

midnight.

 46 1 A REPORT DATE INDICATOR

Must be R = Report, if entered. Enter only

if the Report Date was entered in the

Incident Date; otherwise, leave blank.

3 47-48 2 A INCIDENT HOUR

Enter time in military hours only; do not

enter minutes. If hour is unknown, leave

blank. If incident occurred on or between

midnight and 0059, enter 00; on or between

0100 and 0159, enter 01; on or between

2300 and 2359, enter 23; etc.

Note: If an incident occurred at exactly

midnight, this should be considered

the beginning of the next day. (i.e.,

as if the crime occurred at 1 minute

past midnight).
Magnetic Media Specifications

38

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

4 49 1 A CLEARED EXCEPTIONALLY

Valid Codes: A, B, C, D, E, and N.

5 50-57 8 A EXCEPTIONAL CLEARANCE DATE

In the format of YYYYMMDD, e.g.,

19950301.

The Data That Follow Are Applicable Only When a Segment Action Type W Segment Is

Being Submitted or Is Being Modified:

Note: Data Element 6 occurs ten times.

 6 58-60 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#1)

Valid Code: Volume 1, section IV contains

information on offense codes.

The original incident’s offense(s) must be

entered to enable identification of the

offense(s) being exceptionally cleared.

61-63 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#2)

64-66 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#3)

67-69 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#4)

70-72 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#5)

73-75 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#6)

76-78 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#7)
Magnetic Media Specifications

39

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

79-81 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#8)

82-84 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#9)

85-87 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#10)

2. Level 2 -- Offense Segment

There is one segment for each different UCR offense code (up to ten) associated with this

incident.

Code Values: Volume 1: Data Collection Guidelines, section VI, “Data Elements and Data

Values,” contains a complete listing of computer codes and what they represent

for each data element. Specific instructions about submitting data elements for

the incident are also provided in Data Collection Guidelines. In most cases, this

information is not repeated below.

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

1-4 4 B RECORD DESCRIPTOR WORD (RDW)

Must have a binary value of 63 in positions

1and 2 and binary zeros in positions 3 and 4

when Data Element 8A is included;

otherwise must be 61. For floppy disks,

enter numeric 0063 or 0061 accordingly.

5 1 A SEGMENT LEVEL

Designates this as an Offense Segment.

Valid Code: 2.
Magnetic Media Specifications

40

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

6 1 A SEGMENT ACTION TYPE

Valid Code: I.

7-8 2 A MONTH OF TAPE (01 through 12)

Depending on unload procedures, this is

either the month of the update activity, or

the month the magnetic media was created. 

Section I, subsection D contains information

on the creation of monthly magnetic media.

9-12 4 A YEAR OF TAPE - e.g., 1995

Year in which the Month of Tape falls.

13-16 4 A CITY INDICATOR

This field is used for cities submitting

directly to the FBI because the state does not

participate in NIBRS.

Valid Code: The FBI will assign a

participation indicator for those agencies

meeting the requirements for direct

submission to the FBI.

1 17-25 9 A ORI/FID NUMBER

Valid NCIC ORI number. For state/local

agency submissions, the last two positions

must be 00. Federal departments must use

their assigned two-character Federal

Identifier Code.
Magnetic Media Specifications

41

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

 2 26-37 12 A INCIDENT NUMBER

Left-justified with blank right-fill.

6 38-40 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE

Valid Code: Volume 1, section IV contains

information on offense codes.

7 41 1 A OFFENSE ATTEMPTED/COMPLETED

Valid Codes: A and C.

Note: Data Element 8 occurs three times.

8 42 1 A OFFENDER(S) SUSPECTED OF USING (#1) 

Valid Codes: A, C, D, and N.

8 43 1 A OFFENDER(S) SUSPECTED OF USING (#2)

Same as above.

8 44 1 A OFFENDER(S) SUSPECTED OF USING (#3)

Same as above.

9 45-46 2 A LOCATION TYPE

Valid Codes: 01 through 25.
Magnetic Media Specifications

42

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

10 47-48 2 A NUMBER OF PREMISES ENTERED

Valid Values: 01 through 99. Enter data

into this field only if UCR Offense Code is

220 (Burglary) and 9 (Location Type)

contains 14 = Hotel/Motel/Etc. or 19 =

Rental Storage Facility.

11 49 1 A METHOD OF ENTRY

Valid Codes: F and N. Enter data into this

field only if UCR Offense Code is 220

(Burglary).

Note: Data Element 12 occurs three times.

12 50 1 A TYPE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY (#1)

Valid Codes: B, C, D, E, O, P, T, and U.

12 51 1 A TYPE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY (#2)

Same as above.

12 52 1 A TYPE CRIMINAL ACTIVITY (#3)

Same as above.

Note: Data Element 13 occurs three times.

13 53-54 2 A TYPE WEAPON/FORCE INVOLVED (#1)

Valid Codes: 11 through 15, 20, 30, 35, 40,

50, 60, 65, 70, 85, 90, 95, and 99.
Magnetic Media Specifications

43

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

55 1 A AUTOMATIC WEAPON INDICATOR (#1)

Enter A if the weapon above is automatic.

13 56-57 2 A TYPE WEAPON/FORCE INVOLVED (#2)

58 1 A AUTOMATIC WEAPON INDICATOR (#2)

Same as above.

13 59-60 2 A TYPE WEAPON/FORCE INVOLVED (#3)

61 1 A AUTOMATIC WEAPON INDICATOR (#3)

Same as above.

8A 62-63 2 A BIAS MOTIVATION

Valid Codes: 11 through 15, 21 through 27,

31 through 33, 41 through 45, 88, and 99.

Databases that have not adopted 8A will not

be required to submit this data element. 

These two positions on the record can be

ignored by writing the record as 61 bytes

instead of 63. When 8A is included, one of

the above codes must be entered.

3. Level 3 -- Property Segment

Property Segment data should only be entered for offenses of gambling, kidnaping, and

crimes against property. Data Elements 14 through 22 should show the total losses, recoveries,

seizures, etc., for all the victims in each incident. If there is more than one type of property

loss/etc. (e.g., Burned and Stolen in Data Element 14 [Type Property Loss/Etc.]), submit one

Property Segment report for each type of loss/etc. This includes the situation when all stolen

property is recovered, and the value of the recovered property is the same. Two segments would

be submitted, one for Stolen and the other for Recovered.
Magnetic Media Specifications

44

The value of property entered into Data Element 16 must include the total dollar loss/etc.

for all of the victims. For example, if there were two victims and each had a bicycle stolen, one

costing $100 and the other $400, the value of the bicycles would be added together, showing

$500. Property Description Code 04 = Bicycles should be entered into Data Element 15 and

000000500 into Data Element 16. If the Type Property Loss/Etc. is 1 = None or 8 = Unknown,

leave Data Elements 15 through 22 blank.

Code Values: Volume 1: Data Collection Guidelines, section VI, “Data Elements and Data

Values,” contains a complete listing of computer codes and what they represent

for each data element. Specific instructions about submitting data elements for

the incident are also provided in Data Collection Guidelines. In most cases, this

information is not repeated below.

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

1-4 4 B RECORD DESCRIPTOR WORD (RDW)

Must have a binary value of 307 in positions

1 and 2 and binary zeros in positions 3 and

4. For floppy disks, enter numeric 0307.

5 1 A SEGMENT LEVEL

Designates this as a Property Segment.

Valid Code: 3.

6 1 A SEGMENT ACTION TYPE

Valid Codes: I, M, D, and W.
Magnetic Media Specifications

45

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

7-8 2 A MONTH OF TAPE (01 through 12)

Depending on unload procedures, this is

either the month of the update activity or the

month the magnetic media was created. 

Section I, subsection D contains information

on the creation of monthly magnetic media.

9-12 4 A YEAR OF TAPE - e.g., 1995

Year in which the Month of Tape falls.

13-16 4 A CITY INDICATOR

This field is used for cities submitting

directly to the FBI because the state does not

participate in NIBRS.

Valid Code: The FBI will assign a

participation indicator for those agencies

meeting the requirements for direct

submission to the FBI.

1 17-25 9 A ORI/FID NUMBER

Valid NCIC ORI number. For state/local

agency submissions, the last two positions

must be 00. Federal departments must use

their assigned two-character Federal

Identifier Code.

2 26-37 12 A INCIDENT NUMBER

Left-justified with blank right-fill.
Magnetic Media Specifications

46

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

14 38 1 A TYPE PROPERTY LOSS/ETC.

Valid Codes: 1 through 8.

Note: Data Elements 15, 16, and 17 are a group occurring ten times.

Up to ten different Property Description Codes can be entered for each type of loss/etc.

selected under 14 (Type Property Loss/Etc). Enter into 15 (Property Description), the numeric

codes which best describe the types of property involved.

If more than ten types of property are involved, enter the codes and values for the nine 

most valuable; next, enter 77 = Other for the remaining properties, along with their total value. 

If motor vehicles (codes 03, 05, 24, 28, or 37) were stolen and/or recovered, also complete Data

Elements 18 and/or 19, as applicable, to reflect the number of vehicles involved.

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

15 39-40 2 A PROPERTY DESCRIPTION (#1)

Valid Codes: 01 through 39, 77, 88, and 99.

Enter the value of each property in whole dollars into Data Element 16 (Value of

Property). If the value of the property is unknown, enter one (1) dollar. Do not enter property

value for 10 = Drugs/Narcotics for Drug/Narcotic Violations (UCR Offense Code 35A), but do

not enter the value for other offenses. This means that property value is not entered when drugs

or narcotics are seized in a drug/narcotic case but will be when the offense is another offense,

such as Arson, Burglary, etc.

Data Element 16 (Value of Property) is not completed when Drug/Narcotic Violations

(UCR Offense Code 35A), 6 = Seized for Data Element 14 (Type Property Loss/Etc.), and 

10 = Drug/Narcotics for Data Element 15 (Property Description) are all entered. Data Elements

20 through 22 would be filled in. However, a property value would be entered if 10 =

Drugs/Narcotics are stolen, etc., in connection with other offenses (e.g., Arson, Burglary, etc.),

but Data Elements 20 through 22 would then be blank.
Magnetic Media Specifications

47

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

16 41-49 9 A VALUE OF PROPERTY (#1)

Right-justified with zero left-fill (in whole

dollars). Do not enter cents, as this will

increase the value by a factor of 100.

17 50-57 8 A DATE RECOVERED (#1)

In the format of YYYYMMDD, e.g.,

19950301. Enter only if Data Element 14 is

5 = Recovered.

58-76 REPEAT 15-16-17 Occurrence #2

77-95 REPEAT 15-16-17 Occurrence #3

96-114 REPEAT 15-16-17 Occurrence #4

115-133 REPEAT 15-16-17 Occurrence #5

134-152 REPEAT 15-16-17 Occurrence #6

153-171 REPEAT 15-16-17 Occurrence #7

172-190 REPEAT 15-16-17 Occurrence #8

191-209 REPEAT 15-16-17 Occurrence #9

210-228 REPEAT 15-16-17 Occurrence #10
Magnetic Media Specifications

48

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

18 229-230 2 A NUMBER OF STOLEN MOTOR

VEHICLES

If Data Element 14 (Type Property

Loss/Etc.) is 7 = Stolen and Data Element

15 (Property Description) is 03, 05, 24, 28,

or 37, enter number of known stolen

vehicles. If number stolen is unknown,

enter 00.

Note: This number is a total of all

automobiles, buses, other motor

vehicles, recreational vehicles, and

trucks that were stolen.

19 231-232 2 A NUMBER OF RECOVERED MOTOR

VEHICLES

If Data Element 14 (Type Property

Loss/Etc.) is 5 = Recovered and Data

Element 15 (Property Description) is 03, 05,

24, 28, or 37, enter number of known

recovered vehicles. If number recovered is

unknown, enter 00.

Note: This number is a total of all

automobiles, buses, other motor

vehicles, recreational vehicles, and

trucks that were recovered.

Data Elements 18 and 19 are never both

entered on the same physical segment.
Magnetic Media Specifications

49

Note: Data Elements 20, 21, and 22 are a group occurring three times.

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

20 233 1 A SUSPECTED DRUG TYPE (#1)

Valid Codes: A through P, U, and X.

If Data Element 14 (Type Property

Loss/Etc.) is 1 = None and the UCR Offense

Code is 35A (Drug/Narcotic Violations),

only enter Data Element 20 from the group;

otherwise, enter only if one of the Data

Element 15 (Property Description) codes is

10 = Drugs/Narcotics, the UCR Offense

Code is 35A (Drug /Narcotic Violations),

and 6 = Seized was entered into Data

Element 14 (Type Property Loss/Etc.). If

there is a mixture of drugs that are split

between two offenses, only enter the drug

type(s) applicable to the Drug/Narcotic

Violation (35A).

21 234-242 9 A ESTIMATED DRUG QUANTITY (#1)

Right-justify with zero left-fill (number of

pounds, grams, etc. involved). 

e.g., 000002000 for 2,000 grams (GM).

21 243-245 3 A ESTIMATED DRUG QUANTITY

FRACTION (#1)

Fraction of pounds, grams, etc. entered into

Type Measurement below, represented in

thousandths. Must be three numeric digits.

If 1/2 ounce: 500

If 1/4 gram: 250
Magnetic Media Specifications

50

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

22 246-247 2 A TYPE DRUG MEASUREMENT (#1)

Valid Codes: GM, KG, OZ, LB, ML, LT,

FO, GL, DU, NP, and XX.

248-262 REPEAT 20-21-22 Occurrence #2

263-277 REPEAT 20-21-22 Occurrence #3

The Data That Follow Are Applicable Only When a Segment Action Type W Segment Is

Being Submitted or Is Being Modified:

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

Note: Data Element 6 occurs ten times.

6 278-280 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#1)

Valid Code: Volume 1, section VI contains

information on offense codes.

The original incident’s property offense(s)

must be entered to enable the FBI to identify

the offense(s) for which property was

recovered. Only UCR offense codes for

gambling, kidnaping, and crimes against

property may be entered.

281-283 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#2)

284-286 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#3)
Magnetic Media Specifications

51

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

287-289 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#4)

290-292 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#5)

293-295 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#6)

296-298 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#7)

299-301 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#8)

302-304 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#9)

305-307 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#10)

4. Level 4 -- Victim Segment

This segment is linked to the Offense Segment (s) applicable to this victim. There is one

segment per victim.

Code Values: Volume 1: Data Collection Guidelines, section VI, “Data Elements and Data

Values,” contains a complete listing of computer codes and what they represent

for each data element. Specific instructions about submitting data elements for

the incident are also provided in Data Collection Guidelines. In most cases, this

information is not repeated below.

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

1-4 4 B RECORD DESCRIPTOR WORD (RDW)

Must have a binary value of 129 in positions

1and 2 and binary zeros in positions 3 and 4. 

For floppy disks, enter numeric 0129.
Magnetic Media Specifications

52

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

5 1 A SEGMENT LEVEL

Designates this as a Victim Segment.

Valid Code: 4.

6 1 A SEGMENT ACTION TYPE

Valid Code: I.

7-8 2 A MONTH OF TAPE (01 through 12)

Depending on unload procedures, this is

either the month of the update activity or the

month the magnetic media was created. 

Section I, subsection D contains information

on creation of monthly magnetic media.

9-12 4 A YEAR OF TAPE - e.g., 1995

Year in which the Month of Tape falls.

13-16 4 A CITY INDICATOR

This field is used for cities submitting

directly to the FBI because the state does not

participate in NIBRS.

Valid Code: The FBI will assign a

participation indicator for those agencies

meeting the requirements for direct

submission to the FBI.
Magnetic Media Specifications

53

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

1 17-25 9 A ORI/FID NUMBER

Valid NCIC ORI number. For state/local

agency submissions, the last two positions

must be 00. Federal departments must use

their assigned two-character Federal

Identifier Code.

2 26-37 12 A INCIDENT NUMBER

Left-justified with blank right-fill.

23 38-40 3 A VICTIM (SEQUENCE) NUMBER

Valid Values: 001 through 999.

Note: Data Element 24 occurs ten times.

24 41-43 3 A VICTIM CONNECTED TO UCR

OFFENSE CODE (#1)

Valid Codes: Volume 1, section IV contains

information on offense codes.

If an offense did not affect this victim, do

not enter the offense within Data Element 

24. Every offense must have a victim or

victims, but every victim may not be

affected by each offense within the incident.

24 44-46 3 A VICTIM CONNECTED TO UCR

OFFENSE CODE (#2)

24 47-49 3 A VICTIM CONNECTED TO UCR

OFFENSE CODE (#3)
Magnetic Media Specifications

54

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

24 50-52 3 A VICTIM CONNECTED TO UCR

OFFENSE CODE (#4)

24 53-55 3 A VICTIM CONNECTED TO UCR

OFFENSE CODE (#5)

24 56-58 3 A VICTIM CONNECTED TO UCR

OFFENSE CODE (#6)

24 59-61 3 A VICTIM CONNECTED TO UCR

OFFENSE CODE (#7)

24 62-64 3 A VICTIM CONNECTED TO UCR

OFFENSE CODE (#8)

24 65-67 3 A VICTIM CONNECTED TO UCR

OFFENSE CODE (#9)

24 68-70 3 A VICTIM CONNECTED TO UCR

OFFENSE CODE (#10)

25 71 1 A TYPE OF VICTIM

Valid Codes: I, B, F, G, R, S, O, and U.

26 72-75 4 A AGE OF VICTIM

For an exact age use only positions 72 and

73 (leave 74 and 75 blank) and enter age in

years as 01 through 98, NN, NB, BB, 99, or

00; or use positions 72 through 75 for an age

range such as 25 to 30 years (2530).

27 76 1 A SEX OF VICTIM

Valid Codes: M, F, and U.

28 77 1 A RACE OF VICTIM

Valid Codes: W, B, I, A, and U.
Magnetic Media Specifications

55

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

 29 78 1 A ETHNICITY OF VICTIM

Valid Codes: H, N, and U.

30 79 1 A RESIDENT STATUS OF VICTIM

Valid Codes: R, N, and U.

Note: Data Element 31 occurs twice.

31 80-81 2 A AGGRAVATED ASSAULT/HOMICIDE

CIRCUMSTANCES (#1)

Valid Codes: 01 through 10, 20 and 21, and

30 through 34.

31 82-83 2 A AGGRAVATED ASSAULT/HOMICIDE

CIRCUMSTANCES (#2)

Same as above.

32 84 1 A ADDITIONAL JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE

CIRCUMSTANCES

Valid Codes: A through G.

Note: Data Element 33 occurs five times.

33 85 1 A TYPE INJURY (#1)

Valid Codes: N, B, I, L, M, O, T, and U.

33 86 1 A TYPE INJURY (#2)
Magnetic Media Specifications

56

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

33 87 1 A TYPE INJURY (#3)

33 88 1 A TYPE INJURY (#4)

33 89 1 A TYPE INJURY (#5)

Note: Enter Data Elements 34 and 35 only if one or more of the offenses entered

into Data Element 24 (Victim Connected to UCR Offense Code[s] ) is a crime

against person, i.e., an Assault Offense (UCR Offense Codes 13A-13C),

Homicide Offense (09A-09C), Kidnaping/Abduction (100), Forcible Sex

Offense (11A-11D), or Nonforcible Sex Offense (36A-36B). Robbery

Offenses (120) also require relationships. Enter the relationship(s) of the

victim with up to ten offenders involved in the incident. Enter each offender’s

36 (Offender Sequence Number) into 34 (Offender Numbers to be Related). 

Then enter the appropriate Relationship Code into 35 (Relationships of Victim

to Offenders).

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

Note: Data Elements 34 and 35 occur ten times.

34 90-91 2 A OFFENDER NUMBERS TO BE

RELATED (#1)

Enter the number (s) contained in Data

Element 36 (Offender Sequence Number).

Valid Values: 01 through 99; or 00 if the

only Offender Segment submitted was a

dummy segment. Data Element 36

(Offender Sequence Number) contains more

information on this dummy segment.
Magnetic Media Specifications

57

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

 35 92-93 2 A RELATIONSHIPS VICTIM TO

OFFENDERS (#1)

Valid Codes: SE, CS, PA, SB, CH, GP, GC,

IL, SP, SC, SS, OF, VO, AQ, FR, NE, BE,

BG, CF, HR, XS, EE, ER, OK, RU, and ST.

94-97 REPEAT 34-35 Occurrence #2

98-101 REPEAT 34-35 Occurrence #3

102-105 REPEAT 34-35 Occurrence #4

106-109 REPEAT 34-35 Occurrence #5

110-113 REPEAT 34-35 Occurrence #6

114-117 REPEAT 34-35 Occurrence #7

118-121 REPEAT 34-35 Occurrence #8

122-125 REPEAT 34-35 Occurrence #9

126-129 REPEAT 34-35 Occurrence #10 

5. Level 5 -- Offender Segment

There is one Offender Segment per offender.

Code Values: Volume 1: Data Collection Guidelines, section VI, “Data Elements and Data

Values,” contains a complete listing of computer codes and what they represent

for each data element. Specific instructions about submitting data elements for

the incident are also provided in Data Collection Guidelines. In most cases, this

information is not repeated below.
Magnetic Media Specifications

58

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

1-4 4 B RECORD DESCRIPTOR WORD (RDW)

Must have a binary value of 45 in positions

1 and 2 and binary zeros in positions 3 and

4. For floppy disks, enter numeric 0045.

5 1 A SEGMENT LEVEL

Designates this as an Offender Segment.

Valid Code: 5.

6 1 A SEGMENT ACTION TYPE

Valid Code: I.

7-8 2 A MONTH OF TAPE (01 through 12)

Depending on unload procedures, this is

either the month of the update activity or 

the month the magnetic media was created. 

Section I, subsection D contains information

on the creation of monthly magnetic media.

9-12 4 A YEAR OF TAPE - e.g., 1995

Year in which the Month of Tape falls.
Magnetic Media Specifications

59

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

13-16 4 A CITY INDICATOR

This field is used for cities submitting

directly to the FBI because the state does not

participate in NIBRS.

Valid Code: The FBI will assign a

participation indicator for those agencies

meeting the requirements for direct

submission to the FBI.

1 17-25 9 A ORI/FID NUMBER

Valid NCIC ORI number. For state/local

agency submissions, the last two positions

must be 00. Federal departments must use

their assigned two-character Federal

Identifier Code.

2 26-37 12 A INCIDENT NUMBER

Left-justified with blank right-fill.

36 38-39 2 A OFFENDER (SEQUENCE) NUMBER

Valid Values: 01 through 99; or 00 if

nothing is known about the offender. This

would be entered in the situation where

there were no suspects or witnesses. 00

would not be entered in the case where

someone was seen running from the crime

scene but age, sex, and race were all

unknown.

Volume 1, section VI contains information

on Data Elements and Data Values.
Magnetic Media Specifications

60

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

37 40-43 4 A AGE OF OFFENDER

For an exact age use only positions 40 and

41 (leave 42 and 43 blank) and enter age in

years as 01 through 98, 99, 00; or use

positions 40 through 43 for an age range

such as 25 to 30 years (2530).

38 44 1 A SEX OF OFFENDER

Valid Codes: M, F, and U.

39 45 1 A RACE OF OFFENDER

Valid Codes: W, B, I, A, and U.

6. Level 6 -- Arrestee Segment

There is one Arrestee Segment per arrestee.

If the apprehension of this arrestee will result in the submission of Arrestee Segments for

more than one incident within the jurisdiction served by the reporting agency, enter M =

Multiple into Data Element 44 (Multiple Arrestee Segments Indicator) on all Arrestee Segments

except one; enter C = Count Arrestee on the one not containing M = Multiple. If multiple

Arrestee Segments are not involved, enter N = Not Applicable.

Code Values: Volume 1: Data Collection Guidelines, section VI, “Data Elements and Data

Values,” contains a complete listing of computer codes and what they represent

for each data element. Specific instructions about submitting data elements for

the incident are also provided in Data Collection Guidelines. In most cases, this

information is not repeated below.
Magnetic Media Specifications

61

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

1-4 4 B RECORD DESCRIPTOR WORD (RDW)

Must have a binary value of 110 in positions

1 and 2 and binary zeros in positions 3 and

4. For floppy disks, enter numeric 0110.

5 1 A SEGMENT LEVEL

Designates this as an Arrestee Segment.

Valid Code: 6.

6 1 A SEGMENT ACTION TYPE

Valid Codes: I, A, M, D, and W.

7-8 2 A MONTH OF TAPE (01 through 12)

Depending on unload procedures, this is

either the month of the update activity or 

the month the magnetic media was created. 

Section I, subsection D contains information

on the creation of monthly magnetic media.

9-12 4 A YEAR OF TAPE - e.g., 1995

Year in which the Month of Tape falls.
Magnetic Media Specifications

62

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

13-16 4 A CITY INDICATOR

This field is used for cities submitting

directly to the FBI because the state does not

participate in NIBRS.

Valid Code: The FBI will assign a

participation indicator for those agencies

meeting the requirements for direct

submission to the FBI.

1 17-25 9 A ORI/FID NUMBER

Valid NCIC ORI number. For state/local

agency submissions, the last two positions

must be 00. Federal departments must use

their assigned two-character Federal

Identifier Code.

2 26-37 12 A INCIDENT NUMBER

Left-justified with blank right-fill.

 40 38-39 2 A ARRESTEE (SEQUENCE) NUMBER

Valid Values: 01 through 99.

41 40-51 12 A ARRESTEE (TRANSACTION) NUMBER

Left-justified with blank right-fill.

42 52-59 8 A ARREST DATE

In the format of YYYYMMDD, e.g.,

19950209.
Magnetic Media Specifications

63

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

43 60 1 A TYPE OF ARREST

Valid Codes: O, S, and T.

44 61 1 A MULTIPLE ARRESTEE SEGMENTS

INDICATOR

Valid Codes: M, C, and N.

45 62-64 3 A UCR ARREST OFFENSE CODE

Valid Code: Volume 1, section IV contains

additional information on offense codes.

Note: Data Element 46 occurs twice.

46 65-66 2 A ARRESTEE WAS ARMED WITH (#1)

Valid Codes: 01 and 11 through 17.

67 1 A AUTOMATIC WEAPON INDICATOR

(#1)

Enter A if the weapon entered above is

automatic.

46 68-69 2 A ARRESTEE WAS ARMED WITH (#2)

70 1 A AUTOMATIC WEAPON INDICATOR

(#2)

Same as above.
Magnetic Media Specifications

64

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

47 71-74 4 A AGE OF ARRESTEE

For an exact age use only positions 71 and

72 (leave 73 and 74 blank) and enter age in

years as 01 through 98, or 99, or 00; or use

positions 71 through 74 for an age range

such as 25 to 30 (2530).

If an age range is entered and the low age is

juvenile and the high range is adult and the

average age (rounded down) is juvenile, it

should be in agreement with Data Element

52 (Disposition of Arrestee Under 18).

48 75 1 A SEX OF ARRESTEE

Valid Codes: M and F.

49 76 1 A RACE OF ARRESTEE

Valid Codes: W, B, I, A, and U.

50 77 1 A ETHNICITY OF ARRESTEE

Valid Codes: H, N, and U.

51 78 1 A RESIDENT STATUS OF ARRESTEE

Valid Codes: R, N, and U.

52 79 1 A DISPOSITION OF ARRESTEE UNDER 18

Valid Codes: H and R.
Magnetic Media Specifications

65

The Data That Follow Are Applicable Only When a Segment Action Type W Segment Is

Being Submitted or Is Being Modified:

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

80 1 A CLEARANCE INDICATOR

Valid Code: Y = Yes (clears the case)

 N = No (already cleared)

The participant must indicate whether or not

this arrest produced a clearance or is an

additional arrest for the previously cleared

incident.

Note: Data Element 46 occurs twice.

6 81-83 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#1)

Valid Code: Volume 1, section IV contains

information on offense codes.

The original incident’s offense (s) must be

entered to enable the FBI to show what

offense (s) were associated with the original

incident.

84-86 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#2)

87-89 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#3)

90-92 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#4)

93-95 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#5)

96-98 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#6)

99-101 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#7)
Magnetic Media Specifications

66

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

102-104 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#8)

105-107 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#9)

108-110 3 A UCR OFFENSE CODE (#10)

7. Level 7 -- Group “B” Arrest Report Segment

One Group “B” Arrest Report is to be submitted for each person arrested for a Group “B”

offense.

Code Values: Volume 1: Data Collection Guidelines, section VI, “Data Elements and Data

Values,” contains a complete listing of computer codes and what they represent

for each data element. Specific instructions about submitting data elements for

the incident are also provided in Data Collection Guidelines. In most cases, this

information is not repeated below.

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

1-4 4 B RECORD DESCRIPTOR WORD (RDW)

Must have a binary value of 66 in positions

1 and 2 and binary zeros in positions 3 and

4. For floppy disks, enter numeric 0066.

5 1 A SEGMENT LEVEL

Designates this as a Group “B” Arrest

Segment.

Valid Code: 7.
Magnetic Media Specifications

67

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

6 1 A SEGMENT ACTION TYPE

Valid Codes: A, M, and D.

7-8 2 A MONTH OF TAPE (01 through 12)

Depending on unload procedures, this is

either the month of the update activity, or

the month the magnetic media was created. 

Section I, subsection D contains information

on the creation of monthly magnetic media.

9-12 4 A YEAR OF TAPE - e.g., 1995

Year in which the Month of Tape falls.

13-16 4 A CITY INDICATOR

This field is used for cities submitting

directly to the FBI because the state does not

participate in NIBRS.

Valid Code: The FBI will assign a

participation indicator for those agencies

meeting the requirements for direct

submission to the FBI.

1 17-25 9 A ORI/FID NUMBER

Valid NCIC ORI number. For state/local

agency submissions, the last two positions

must be 00. Federal departments must use

their assigned two-character Federal

Identifier Code. 
Magnetic Media Specifications

68

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

41 26-37 12 A ARREST (TRANSACTION) NUMBER

Left-justified with blank right-fill.

This value could also be the incident

number.

The ORI, Arrest Transaction Number, and

Arrestee Sequence Number combine to

uniquely identify a Group “B” Arrest

Report.

If there are two or more arrests for the same

incident and the agency uses the same Arrest

Number for these arrests, then the Arrestee

Sequence Number must be 01, 02, etc.

40 38-39 2 A ARRESTEE (SEQUENCE) NUMBER

Valid Values: 01 through 99.

Note: This data element follows 41 above

because the FBI requires that

positions 17 through 37 contain the

identifying keys for each Segment

Level.

42 40-47 8 A ARREST DATE

In the format of YYYYMMDD, e.g.,

19950229.

43 48 1 A TYPE OF ARREST

Valid Codes: O, S, and T.
Magnetic Media Specifications

69

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

 45 49-51 3 A UCR ARREST OFFENSE CODE

Valid Codes: Volume 1, section IV contains

information on offense codes.

Note: Data Element 46 occurs twice.

46 52-53 2 A ARRESTEE WAS ARMED WITH (#1)

Valid Codes: 01 and 11 through 17.

54 1 A AUTOMATIC WEAPON INDICATOR

(#1)

Enter A if the weapon entered above is

automatic.

46 55-56 2 A ARRESTEE WAS ARMED WITH (#2)

57 1 A AUTOMATIC WEAPON INDICATOR 

(#2)

Same as above.

47 58-61 4 A AGE OF ARRESTEE

For an exact age use only positions 58 and

59 (leave 60 and 61 blank) and enter age in

years as 01 through 98, 99, 00; or use

positions 58 through 61 for an age range

such as 25 to 30 years (2530).

If an age range is entered and the low age is

juvenile and the high range is adult and the

average age (rounded down) is juvenile, it

should be in agreement with Data Element

52 (Disposition of Arrestee Under 18).
Magnetic Media Specifications

70

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

48 62 1 A SEX OF ARRESTEE

Valid Codes: M and F.

49 63 1 A RACE OF ARRESTEE

Valid Codes: W, B, I, A, and U.

50 64 1 A ETHNICITY OF ARRESTEE

Valid Codes: H, N, and U.

51 65 1 A RESIDENT STATUS OF ARRESTEE

Valid Codes: R, N, and U.

52 66 1 A DISPOSITION OF ARRESTEE UNDER 18

Valid Codes: H and R.

8. Level 0 -- Zero-Reporting Segment

One record is to be submitted for each month that a reporting agency has responded that

no crime occurred within the local agency’s jurisdiction. Section I, subsection I, “ZeroReporting,” contains guidelines on submission of this data record.

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

1-4 4 B RECORD DESCRIPTOR WORD (RDW)

Must have a binary value of 43 in positions

1 and 2 and binary zeros in positions 3 and

4. For floppy disks, enter numeric 0043.
Magnetic Media Specifications

71

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

5 1 A SEGMENT LEVEL

Designates this as a Zero-Reporting

Segment.

Valid Code: 0.

6 1 A SEGMENT ACTION TYPE

Valid Codes: A and D.

7-8 2 A MONTH OF TAPE (01 through 12)

Depending on unload procedures, this is

either the month of the update activity or the

month the magnetic media was created. 

Section I, subsection D contains information

on the creation of monthly magnetic media.

9-12 4 A YEAR OF TAPE - e.g., 1995

Year in which the Month of Tape falls.

13-16 4 A CITY INDICATOR

This field is used for cities submitting

directly to the FBI because the state does not

participate in NIBRS.

Valid Code: The FBI will assign a

participation indicator for those agencies

meeting the requirements for direct

submission to the FBI.
Magnetic Media Specifications

72

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

1 17-25 9 A ORI NUMBER

Valid NCIC ORI number.

2 26-37 12 A INCIDENT NUMBER

All zeros, i.e., 000000000000

38-39 2 A ZERO-REPORT MONTH (01 through 12)

This is the month in which there was no

reported crime.

40-43 4 A ZERO-REPORT YEAR - e.g., 1995

This is the year in which there was no

reported crime.

9. Level L -- LEOKA Segment

Section I contains guidelines on submission of the Law Enforcement Killed and

Assaulted (LEOKA) data record.

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

1-4 4 B Must have a binary value of 637 in positions

1 and 2, and binary zeros in positions 3 and

4. For floppy disks, enter numeric 0637.

5 1 A SEGMENT LEVEL

Valid Code: L.
Magnetic Media Specifications

73

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

6 1 A FILLER

Must be blank.

7-8 2 A MONTH OF TAPE (01 through 12)

Depending on unload procedures, this is

either the month of the update activity, or

the month the magnetic media was created. 

Section I, subsection D contains information

on the creation of monthly magnetic media.

Note: Every segment, including LEOKA,

must have the same month value. 

Note, however, the month value

within the 600 character data can be

different.

9-12 4 A YEAR OF TAPE - e.g., 1995

Year in which the Month of Tape falls.

Note: Every segment on the tape, including

LEOKA, must have the same year

value. Note, however, the year value

within the 600 character data may be

different.
Magnetic Media Specifications

74

DATA

FIELD RECORD DATA

NUMBER POSITION LEN ATTR DESCRIPTION

13-16 4 A CITY INDICATOR

This field is used for cities submitting

directly to the FBI because the state does not

participate in NIBRS.

Valid Code: The FBI will assign a

participation indicator for those agencies

meeting the requirements for direct

submission to the FBI. If none, enter

blanks.

1 17-25 9 A ORI NUMBER

Valid NCIC ORI number. The first seven

positions must be the same as those within

the LEOKA data below, followed by two

zeros.

26-37 12 A FILLER

Must be blanks.

38-637 600 A LEOKA DATA

The FBI document, Technical Manual, ADP

Programming Guidelines for State UCR

Programs, 6/15/83, contains instructions for

reporting these data.
Magnetic Media Specifications

75

M. Federal Department Considerations

1. Determining the ORI for the Crime Incident or Arrest

The UCR Program will periodically provide updated city and county ORI numbers in

either computerized or hard-copy format, as requested by each federal participant. Also

available will be a magnetic tape or cartridge containing the names of all towns, cities, and

counties as extracted from three sources: (1) the U.S. Postal Service Zip Code Directory file; (2)

the U.S. Department of Commerce, National Bureau of Standards, FIPS-55 Location file which

identifies localities nationwide; and (3) the FBI’s UCR ORI file.

Each city and town will be associated with the appropriate UCR ORI number. These

data can be converted by the federal agency into a database, thereby providing an automated

means of determining the ORI number based upon the name of the town within the state. The

suggested data elements are: Town/City Name, State Abbreviation, ORI Number, County Name,

and Source (as mentioned above). The Zip Code is not being included in order to avoid

problems associated with Zip Code changes and Zip Codes covering more than one county.

The UCR ORI file contains over 16,000 ORI numbers for towns, cities, state police

agencies, and some colleges and universities. When a crime occurs in one of these locations, the

UCR ORI is always used. There are thousands of additional small towns that have never been

provided an ORI number. The county ORI has been assigned to these locations. County ORI

numbers should also be used to report crimes occurring in unincorporated areas.

Formal instructions for the assigning of ORIs will be provided at the time each federal

agency determines its specific manner of data collection, storage, and submission. The UCR

staff will work with each agency to determine the best approach.

2. Duplicate Incident Numbers

A federal department may choose to submit to the UCR Program all crime data gathered

by its dependent bureaus/agencies under the primary two-character Federal Identifier (FID) for

the department. If so, procedures must be in place to ensure that the UCR Program does not

receive duplicate incident numbers for crimes occurring in the same ORI locality. Since both the

nine-character ORI/FID Number and the 12 character Incident Number provide uniqueness,

combined duplication must be avoided. The ORI/FID is comprised of a seven-character ORI

number and a two-character FID. The FID, under the assumption that the department would

combine all bureau/agency data on one magnetic media, would by the same for all crime data
Magnetic Media Specifications

76

submitted for the federal department. The following is an explanation of how duplication could

occur and potential solutions to prevent this possibility.

Assume that each bureau/agency uses the same schema for assigning incident numbers to

its cases. For example, the first two positions always reflect the year the case was opened (e.g.,

1995, 1996, etc.), followed by 1 for the first incident, 2 for the second, etc. Thus, it is possible

that an incident number within one agency could duplicate another agency’s incident number for

a different crime in the same ORI location. This duplication would cause a serious problem for

the federal department when they collect and send all the incident data under one FID code. 

Either the federal department must ensure that its bureau/agencies have a distinct numbering

schema to prevent duplicate incident numbers among agencies, or the federal department’s

computer must provide for distinction.

In the event that multiple agencies/bureaus under a federal department do not have a

distinct incident number that distinguishes it from the others, a data processing solution exists. It

will provide the capability of aggregating crime submittals under one FID code with no

possibility of duplication of other agencies’ incident numbers.

This solution will only work if the incident numbers are less than 12 characters for each

agency. If so, the federal department could increase the length to accommodate assigning an

internal code to each incoming incident number, reflecting the identity of the agency/bureau. 

For example, if a department has five agencies, the computer could assign the first character of

the incident number as A for the first agency’s identifier, B as the second, etc. This would

ensure that duplication of incident numbers would never occur among agencies. However, if the

incident number could be 12 characters, and if a distinction cannot be made by the department’s

computer, then different two-character FID codes must be used, one per agency/bureau within

the department.
RECORD LAYOUT WORKSHEETRecord Name: Administrative Segment (Level 1) Length: 87 Record Format: VB

Data Set Name: UCR.NIBRS.INCIDENT.DATA Block: 32,760

RDW

LEVEL

ACTION

MONTH YEAR

CITYINDICATOR

ORI NUMBER (1)

INCIDENTNUMBER (2)

INCIDENTDATE (3)

REPORT(3)

I N C I D HE O N UT R(3)

1-4 5 6 7-8 9-12 13-16 17-25 26-37 38-45 46 47-48 

(6) OCCURS 10 TIMES

OFFENSECODE #1 (6)

THROUGH OFFENSE

CODE #10(6)

58-60 85-87
Record Layouts

78RECORD LAYOUT WORKSHEETRecord Name: Offense Segment (Level 2) Length: 63 Record Format: VB

Data Set Name: UCR.NIBRS.INCIDENT.DATA Block: 32,760

RDW

LEVEL

ACTION

MONTH YEAR

CITYINDICATOR

ORINUMBER (1)

INCIDENTNUMBER (2)

UCROFFENSECODE (6)

A/C(7)

(8)OC3 TOFFUSE

1-4 5 6 7-8 9-12 13-16 17-25 26-37 38-40 41 42 NUMBERPREMISESENTERED (10)

ENTRY(11)

12 OCCURS 3 TIMES

13 OCCURS 3 TIMES

TYPECRIMINAL ACTIVITY(12)

WEAPON/FORCEINVOLVED #1(13)

AUTO.WEAPONIND. #1

THROUGH WEAPON/

FORCEINVOLVED #3(13)

47-48 49 50 53-54 55 59-60 
RECORD LAYOUT WORKSHEETRecord Name: Property Segment (Level 3) Length: 307 Record Format: VB

Data Set Name: UCR.NIBRS.INCIDENT.DATA Block: 32,760

RDW

LEVEL

ACTION

MONTH YEAR

CITYINDICATOR

ORINUMBER (1)

INCIDENTNUMBER (2)

TYPEPROPERTYLOSS/ETC.(14)

(15-16-17) 

PROPERTYDESC.(15)

PRV(1

1-4 5 6 7-8 9-12 13-16 17-25 26-37 38 39-40 41NUMBERSTOLENVEHICLES(18)

NUMBERRECOVEREDVEHICLES(19)

(20-21-22) OCCURS 3 TIMES (6) OCCU

SUSPECTEDDRUG TYPE(20)

ESTIMATEDDRUGQUANTITY(21)

ESTIMATEDDRUGFRACTION(21)

TYPEMEASURE(22)

OFFENSECODE #1(6)

THR

229-230 231-232 233 234-242 243-245 246-247 278-280 
Record Layouts

80RECORD LAYOUT WORKSHEETRecord Name: Victim Segment (Level 4) Length: 129 Record Format: VB

Data Set Name: UCR.NIBRS.INCIDENT.DATA Block: 32,760

RDW

LEVEL

ACTION

MONTH YEAR

CITYINDICATOR

ORINUMBER (1)

INCIDENTNUMBER (2)

VICTIMSEQUENCENO. (23)

(24) OCC

OFFENSCODE(24)

1-4 5 6 7-8 9-12 13-16 17-25 26-37 38-40 41-43TYPEVICTIM(25)

AGE ORRANGE(26)

SEX(27)

RACE(28)

ETHNICITY(29)

RESIDENTSTATUS(30)

(31) OCCURS 2 TIMES A

JHC(

AGG. ASSAULT/ HOMICIDECIRCUMSTANCES(31)

71 72-75 76 77 78 79 80-81 8

(33) OCCURS 5 TIMES (34-35) OCCURS 10 TIMES

INJURYTYPE(33)

OFFENDERNUMBER TO BERELATED #1 (34)

RELATIONSHIPVICTIM TOOFFENDER #1(35)

THROUGH OFFENDER

NUMBER TO BERELATED #10(34)

85 90-91 92-93 126-127 
RECORD LAYOUT WORKSHEETRecord Name: Offender Segment (Level 5) Length: 45 Record Format: VB

Data Set Name: UCR.NIBRS.INCIDENT.DATA Block: 32,760

RDW

LEVEL

ACTION

MONTH YEAR

CITYINDICATOR

ORINUMBER (1)

INCIDENTNUMBER (2)

OFFENDERSEQUENCENO. (36)

AGE ORRANGE(37)

1-4 5 6 7-8 9-12 13-16 17-25 26-37 38-39 40-43 
Record Layouts

82RECORD LAYOUT WORKSHEETRecord Name: Arrestee Segment (Level 6) Length: 110 Record Format: VB

Data Set Name: UCR.NIBRS.INCIDENT.DATA Block: 32,760

RDW

LEVEL

ACTION

MONTH YEAR

CITYINDICATOR

ORINUMBER (1)

INCIDENTNUMBER (2)

ARRESTTEESEQUENCENO. (40)

ARRESTTRANS.NO. (41)

1-4 5 6 7-8 9-12 13-16 17-25 26-37 38-39 40-51 MULTIPLEARRESTEESEGMENTSIND. (44)

ARRESTOFFENSECODE (45)

(46) OCCURS 2 TIMES 

AGE ORRANGE(47)

SEX(48)

RACE(49)

ETHNIC(50)

ARRESTTEE WASARMED WITH (46)

AUTO.WEAPONIND.

61 62-64 65-66 67 71-74 75 76 77RESIDENTSTATUS (51)

DISP. OFARRESSTEEUNDER 18 (52)

CLEARANCEINDICATOR

(6) OCCURS 10 TIMES

OFFENSECODE #1(6)

THROUGH OFFENSE

CODE #10(6)

78 79 80 81-83 108-110
RECORD LAYOUT WORKSHEETRecord Name: Group “B” Arrest Report (Level 7) Length: 66 Record Format: VB

Data Set Name: UCR.NIBRS.INCIDENT.DATA Block: 32,760

RDW

LEVEL

ACTION

MONTH YEAR

CITYINDICATOR

ORINUMBER (1)

ARRESTTRANS. NO.(41)

ARRESTEESEQUENCENO. (40)

ARRESDATE(42)

1-4 5 6 7-8 9-12 13-16 17-25 26-37 38-39 40-47 ARRESTOFFENSECODE (45)

(46) OCCURS 2 TIMES

AGE ORRANGE(47)

SEX(48)

RACE(49)

ETHNICITY(50)

RESIDENTSTATUS(51)

ARRESTEE WASARMED WITH(46)

AUTOWEAPONIND.

49-51 52-53 54 58-61 62 63 64 65 
Record Layouts

84RECORD LAYOUT WORKSHEETRecord Name: Error Data Set (EDS) Length: 146 Record Format: FB

Data Set Name: UCR.NIBRS.ERRORS Block: 32,704

YEAR

MONTH

RELATIVERECORDNUMBER

SEGMENTACTIONTYPE

ORINUMBER (1)

INCIDENTNUMBER (2)

LEVEL

OFFENSECODE

PERSONSEQ. NO.

1-4 5-6 7-13 14 15-23 24-35 36 37-39 40-42 ERRORNUMBER

DATAFIELD

ERRORMESSAGE

TAPESERIALNUMBER

47-49 50-61 62-140 141-146

Note: Section III, “Error Handling,” contains additional information on this EDS record.
RECORD LAYOUT WORKSHEETRecord Name: LEOKA Segment (Level L) Length: 637 Record Format: VB

Data Set Name: UCR.NIBRS.INCIDENT.DATA Block: 32,760

RDW

LEVEL

FILLER

MONTH YEAR

CITYINDICATOR

ORINUMBER (1)

FILLER

LEOKADATA

1-4 5 6 7-8 9-12 13-16 17-25 26-37 38-637
Record Layouts

86RECORD LAYOUT WORKSHEETRecord Name: Zero Reporting (Level 0) Length: 43 Record Format: VB

Data Set Name: UCR.NIBRS.INCIDENT. DATA Block: 32,760

RDW

LEVEL

ACTION

MONTH YEAR

CITYINDICATOR

ORINUMBER (1)

INCIDENTNUMBER (2)

ZEROREPORTMONTH

ZEROREPOYEAR

1-4 5 6 7-8 9-12 13-16 17-25 26-37 38-39 40-43
87

III. ERROR HANDLING

A. General Information 

The magnetic media being processed by the FBI will contain data segments formatted per

specifications within section I, “Magnetic Data Submission Specifications.” Magnetic media will

contain Group “A” Incident Reports, supplemental updates to previously submitted incident

reports, and Group “B” Arrest Reports. Additionally, incident reports no longer maintained

within the participant’s database in which property recoveries, arrests, and exceptional clearances

were reported will also be on the monthly submissions. Any of these submissions could be

rejected because of the detection of errors through FBI edit checking.

Within this section are three parts that explain (1) how the FBI will handle these errors,

(2) how errors will be sent back to the participant, and (3) what automated procedures are

necessary in order to resubmit the corrected segments to the FBI. Before production mode

submissions begins with the FBI, automated procedures should be in place within the

participant’s data processing department that address the issues mentioned herein.

1. Coordination of National and Participant Databases

In order to reduce the possibility of the FBI’s database becoming out of sync with the

participant’s database, guidelines have been established for submitting data to the FBI. 

Specifically, separate segment submissions using A = Add Arrest (except for Arrestee Segments),

M = Modification, and D = Delete will not be accepted for a previously submitted Group “A”

Incident Report. (Separate updates will be permitted, however, for Arrest, Exceptional

Clearances, and Recovered Property Segments previously submitted as Segment Action Type W

= Time-Window Submission.)

When an incident is modified (with the exception of the addition of Arrestee Segments),

the entire updated incident report should be sent to the FBI as an I = Incident Report. This

resubmission rule will simplify automated processes that would otherwise be complex. The

guidelines will also increase the reliability of the data at the national level.

2. General Incident Data Submission Policy

The submission of modifications to previously submitted Group “A” Incident Reports is

governed by the following two rules:

Rule 1: Any changes to a Group “A” Incident Report previously submitted to the

FBI (except adding Arrestee Segments) are to be processed by first

deleting the entire incident and resubmitting the entire incident report.

Rule 2: If an Arrestee Segment is being added to a previously submitted Group “A” 
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88

Incident Report with no other data changes to other segments, only the Arrestee

Segment is to be submitted, not the entire incident report.

Detailed specifications for supplemental processing and general data submissions

to the FBI are set forth in section I, “Magnetic Data Submission Specifications.”

B. How the FBI Handles Detected Errors

Armed with knowledge about FBI error-handling processes concerning incident report

data found in error, the participant’s computer system can process these error segments

accordingly. System designers will be able to incorporate error-processing methodology into

their data processing system, thus providing for a smooth data flow between the participant and

the FBI.

The FBI’s computer has been programmed to take the following actions when errors are

detected in the following Segment Action Types.

SEGMENT ACTION TYPES:

I = INCIDENT REPORT

Whenever error (s) occur in a Group “A” Incident Report submission, the entire incident

will be rejected. All segments within the incident report will be rejected even though some of the

segments might be correct. This will prevent incomplete incident reports from being added to the

FBI’s database.

After correcting the rejected incident report, it should be resubmitted on the next monthly

submission to the FBI, along with the next month’s data.

PARTICIPANT MAY NO LONGER MAINTAIN THE INCIDENT REPORT JUST

SUBMITTED

When the FBI returns the magnetic media, an incident report designated as being in error

on the Error Data Set (EDS) may have been purged from the participant’s database or the FBI’s

database. In such instances, a subsequent submission using Segment Action Type W = TimeWindow Submission would be made. If the incident did not involve an exceptional clearance,

arrest, or recovered property, no subsequent submission is necessary.

Section I, subsection F, “Determining Amount of Data to Be Submitted,” and subsection

K, “Segment Action Type,” contain specific instructions regarding the above situation.
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A = ADD ARREST or ZERO-REPORT

ZERO-REPORTING (Level 0)

The FBI will reject the specific A = Add Zero-Report segment in error if it contains

incomplete data.

ARRESTEE SEGMENT (Level 6)

When error(s) occur in this segment, only this segment will be rejected; other A = Add

Arrest (Arrestee Segments), if any, will be added to the incident report. As previously mentioned

in section I, subsection K, “Segment Action Type,” the only segment that can be added to an

existing incident report is the Arrestee Segment.

As specified for I = Incident Report submissions containing errors, the entire incident

report will be rejected if any part of the incident is in error. However, this is not the case with A

= Add Arrest submissions if one or more Arrestee Segments being submitted contains error(s). 

The original incident report will not be deleted automatically by the FBI; the incident report will

remain intact.

If the participant no longer maintains an incident report or its software detects that the FBI

no longer maintains the complete incident report, and arrests, exceptional clearances, and/or

property recoveries occur, these segments would be submitted as W = Time-Window Submission

actions (not as A = Add Arrest). Section I, subsection F, “Determining Amount of Data to Be

Submitted,” and subsection K, “Segment Action Type,” contain specific instructions.

GROUP “B” ARREST REPORT (Level 7)

The FBI will reject the submitted A = Add Arrest segment in error.

M = MODIFY

ADMINISTRATIVE SEGMENT (Level 1)

The FBI will reject the submitted M = Modify segment in error; any existing

Administrative Segment on file will remain intact.

The Administrative Segment within a Group “A” Incident Report is the only segment that

can be modified, and only specific data elements may be modified. Section I, subsection K,

“Segment Action Type,” contains additional information.
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PROPERTY SEGMENT . . . (Level 3)

ARRESTEE SEGMENT . . . (Level 6)

GROUP “B” ARREST REPORT . . . (Level 7)

The FBI will reject the submitted M = Modify segment in error. The segment already on

file will remain intact.

Note that M = Modify actions are only applicable for Property (Level 3) and Arrestee

(Level 6) Segments in those cases when these segments had previously been submitted as W =

Time-Window Submission. It is not allowable to modify these two selected segments (i.e.,

Property and Arrestee) within a previously submitted Group “A” Incident Report.

D = DELETE

There may be instances when the participant’s computer believes the FBI’s database

contains an incident report when it does not. This may occur with a resubmission for an incident

report. Resubmissions are always to be preceded by a D = Delete action that removes the original

incident report from the FBI’s database.

If the FBI subsequently detects an error on the resubmitted incident report, it would not be

added to the FBI’s database and thus the incident would no longer exist, and the participant must

once again update its database to correct the FBI-detected error. The resubmission process would

repeat with the generation of another D = Delete action that would precede the incident report

resubmission.

When the second resubmittal is processed by the FBI, the D = Delete action would fail

because the incident report does not exist. Because of this, an Incident Not Found error will not

be sent back on D = Delete requests.

ZERO-REPORTING (Level 0)

The FBI will reject the specific D = Delete Zero-Report segment in error if it contains

incomplete data.

As is the case with other D = Delete transactions, the FBI will not reject this segment if

the month and year had not previously been submitted as A = Add Zero-Report for that month.

DELETE TRANSACTIONS WILL ALWAYS CAUSE THE INCIDENT REPORT TO BE

REMOVED FROM THE FBI’S DATABASE

When a D = Delete transaction is submitted, the corresponding FBI’s incident report will

be removed before processing subsequent transactions. If an I = Incident Report follows the D =
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91

Delete transaction, and it contains errors, no data will be on file for the incident. Once the

incident report is corrected and resubmitted, the FBI would add the data to its database.

W = TIME-WINDOW SUBMISSION

The segment (s) in error will be rejected; any error-free segments for the same incident

will be added to the FBI’s database, as is done for Segment Action Type A = Add Arrest for

Arrestee Segments. The same incident is defined as those segments having the exact same data

values in Data Elements 1 (ORI Number) and 2 (Incident Number).

W = Time-Window Submission actions are used for exceptional clearances, arrests, and

recovered property submissions, where either the participant or FBI no longer maintains the

incident report. Section III, subsection D, “Participant’s Resubmission of Rejected Data,”

contains suggestions on how to resubmit data that were found in error.

Section I, subsection K, “Segment Action Type,” contains specific instructions concerning

first-time submittals for these types of segments.

FBI ERROR RECORDS PROVIDE PRECISE EXPLANATION OF ERROR

All detected errors will be written by the FBI to an EDS in the format specified in section

III, subsection F, “Error Data Set.” Each EDS record will contain sufficient detail to enable the

participant to correct the error. The type of error detected and on what segment it occurred will

be shown within each EDS record.

SPECIFIC SEGMENTS PASSING FBI EDIT REQUIREMENTS REJECTED AS A

RESULT OF OTHER INCIDENT REPORT ERRORS ARE NOT WRITTEN TO EDS

If a Group “A” Incident Report contained 25 segments and one contains an error, only the

error for this particular segment will be written to the EDS. The other 24 will not be written to

the EDS even though they were also rejected by the FBI. The EDS only contains descriptions of

errors; no references are made to valid segments rejected as a result of other FBI-detected errors

within the incident report.

EDITING RULES APPLIED TO PARTICIPANT’S DATA

A list of the software edits used by the FBI on data elements is provided in Volume 4: 

Error Message Manual. Software designers should incorporate these edits in their incident-based

reporting systems.
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92

C. Method for Sending Back FBI-Detected Errors

The following procedures will be used by the FBI in returning participant’s magnetic

media:

1. Error Data Set (EDS)

A second data set will always be written by the FBI following the first data set on the

magnetic tapes/cartridges submitted by the participant. The FBI will create the second data set,

the Error Data Set (EDS). Descriptive error messages will be contained within the EDS that will

reflect specific errors encountered (if any).

On floppy disk submissions, the above error data will be written with a file name of

FBI.NIBRS.EDS.xx, where xx is the two-character state abbreviation for non-federal participants,

and an FBI-assigned two-character code for the federal participant.

2. Last Record on EDS

In addition to any error records generated, an ending record will always be written on the

EDS indicating that the magnetic media was processed by the FBI. Within the Error Message

field will be FBI processed tape NNNNNN on MM/DD/YYYY. The ORI number will be set to

nines (999999999).

This will indicate that the magnetic tape or cartridge number indicated by value in

NNNNNN was processed by the FBI on the date shown within MM/DD/YYYY. The last record

on the EDS will contain this information. On floppy disk submittals, the NNNNNN will be an

FBI-assigned work disk serial number such as WRKxxx, SYSxxx, etc.

3. Assurance That FBI Processed The Magnetic Media

This nines (999999999) record will assure the participant that the magnetic media has

been processed by the FBI. If this record is not on the EDS, the UCR Program at the Criminal

Justice Information Services Division in Clarksburg, West Virginia, should be contacted so the

processing path of the magnetic media can be traced. The FBI will determine whether the

magnetic media (1) had been processed without writing the error records, (2) was partially

processed, or (3) had not been processed at all.

Automatic procedures should be established to search for this record on the returned

magnetic media. The participant should verify that the tape/cartridge number in this record is the
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93

same number submitted to the FBI. This is a quality assurance procedure to ensure that the FBI

had processed the data on the magnetic tape or cartridge, and that the data was returned to the

correct sender.

Agencies submitting floppy disks should verify that the file name written to the disk

properly reflects the correct identity of the agency.

D. Participant’s Resubmission of Rejected Data

1. Participants must Print Error Data Set to See Errors

When the returned magnetic media is received, the EDS must be printed out to see any

errors detected by the FBI. Until such time as the participant implements an automated procedure

for identifying and correcting specific errors, all errors must be handled manually within its data

processing system.

Errors detected by the FBI include the following: invalid data values, missing mandatory

data fields, missing segments, duplicated record segments, segments already on file, etc. Specific

edits applied to data elements are set forth in Volume 4: Error Message Manual, section II,

“Data Element Edits.”

2. EDS Error Records Provide Precise Explanation of Error

The EDS fields located in positions 1 through 43 uniquely identify the segment containing

the error. The following information about the error will be shown in data positions 44 through

140: 44 through 46, the Data Element Number; 50 through 61, the Data Field; and 62 through 140,

the Error Message. These three fields provide the explanation needed to understand and correct any

error detected.

Additional Error Message explanations may be found in Volume 4: Error Message Manual.

Error Numbers are provided in positions 47 through 49 which are referenced within the volume. 

Greater detail is provided than that contained within the Error Message mentioned above.

3. Handling Incidents No Longer on Participant’s Database

Software designers should be aware that segments rejected with one Segment Action Type

code might have to be resubmitted with a different Segment Action Type code. This could occur

because the participant’s system may have purged the data from its database in connection with

its routine old records deletion process. This deletion process may cause some incident reports
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94

just sent to the FBI to be purged from the participant’s database. Also, the FBI might have

purged the data from its database.

Although the deleted segments are on magnetic media, it would be impractical to retrieve,

correct, and resubmit them.

A special Segment Action Type code of W = Time-Window Submission is provided for

those cases involving exceptional clearances, arrests, and recovered property where either the

participant or the FBI no longer maintains the incident report. Section I, subsection F,

“Determining Amount of Data to Be Submitted,” contains specific instructions and details

regarding this situation.

4. Errors Could Result from Participant’s Deficiencies/Bugs

Software deficiencies or bugs in the participant’s system may cause a percentage of

segments to be rejected by the FBI. Even though the original data in the database may be correct,

software bugs could cause data to be omitted from, or incorrect data to be placed into, the

submitted magnetic media. For example, property offenses must have Property Segments. The

participant’s software may have an error that causes the unload program to not load Property

Segments to magnetic media. The missing Property Segments will cause the FBI to reject the

entire incident reports to which they belong.

Procedures should be built into the software to process the EDS data set and match each

rejected incident with those on file in the participant’s database. This matching process should

trigger a subsequent unloading of the rejected segments when it becomes time to write the next

normal monthly magnetic media for the FBI.

E. Use of Segment Action Type Codes in Error Handling

The documentation that follows covers the various Segment Action Type codes (e.g., I =

Incident Report, A = Add Arrest, etc.) and which errors may be detected. The participant must

correct the errors and resubmit per instructions set forth.

1. Segment Action Types

I = INCIDENT REPORT

After the error(s) are corrected, all segments within the incident report must be

resubmitted. A D = Delete action should precede an I = Incident Report for a complete

resubmission of the incident report.
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95

Note: The software should be designed so that no first-time Group “A” Incident Report

submissions are preceded by D = Delete.

A = ADD ARREST OR ZERO-REPORT

ZERO-REPORT (Level 0)

Resubmit the Zero-Report Segment (Level 0) after correcting the error(s).

ARRESTEE SEGMENT (Level 6)

In cases when errors occur in an Arrestee Segment that was being added to a Group “A”

Incident Report previously sent to the FBI, either of two methods may be used: Resubmit only

the rejected Arrestee Segment or resubmit the entire incident report.

If the system is designed to identify and resubmit only the Arrestee Segment in error, data

transmissions to the FBI would be reduced. Designing this capability into the system will,

however, be difficult, and the system designer may opt instead to resubmit the entire incident

report, including the corrected Arrestee Segment(s).

2. When Data Elements Other than Those Within the Rejected Arrestee Segment

Are Also Updated, the Entire Incident Report Should Be Resubmitted

If modifications were made to the incident report between submission of an A = Add

Arrest (Arrestee Segment) and receipt of errors from the FBI, a complete resubmission of the

incident report would be required at the end of the month.

In this instance, the computer system would not resubmit the Arrestee Segment separately

(if design accommodated this special feature) but would automatically resubmit the entire

incident report including the Arrestee Segment after correcting the error it contained.

3. Errors Should Be Corrected Promptly

If error(s) are not corrected before the incident report is resubmitted to the FBI because of

subsequent updating, the entire incident report will again be rejected because of the same FBIdetected error(s) on the Arrestee Segment. Errors must be corrected as soon as possible to

prevent subsequent rejects from occurring.
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96

Section I, subsection K, “Segment Action Type,” contains additional information

regarding Arrestee Segment submissions, as well as recovered property and exceptional

clearances in which an initial incident report is no longer maintained within the participant’s or

FBI’s database.

GROUP “B” ARREST REPORT (Level 7)

Resubmit the Group “B” Arrest Report after correcting the error(s).

M = MODIFY

ADMINISTRATIVE SEGMENT (Level 1)

Resubmit the Administrative Segment (Level 1) after correcting the error(s).

PROPERTY SEGMENT . . . (Level 3)

ARRESTEE SEGMENT . . . (Level 6)

GROUP “B” ARREST REPORT . . . (Level 7)

Resubmit the applicable segment after correcting the error(s). Note that M = Modify

actions are only applicable for Property (Level 3) and Arrestee (Level 6) Segments in those cases

when these segments had previously been submitted by Segment Action Type W = Time-Window

Submission. It is not permitted to M = Modify these two selected segments (i.e., Property and

Arrest) within a previously submitted Group “A” Incident Report.

4. W = Time-Window Submission When Participant Maintains the Group “A”

Incident Report but the FBI Does Not

The participant’s database may very well retain its data longer than the 2-year retention of

the FBI. As mentioned before in section I, subsection F, part 3, “Time-Window,” the amount of

data to send is determined by the Time-Window Base Date calculation.

When the FBI rejects a Segment Action Type of W = Time-Window Submission because

of an error, the participant may:

(1) Resubmit the segment in error after correcting it, or
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97

(2) D = Delete the Administrative Segment of the incident report in question, thus

deleting all related segments currently maintained by the FBI. (The participant

could have submitted two Arrestee Segments, one of which was kept by the FBI.) 

The delete should be followed by resubmission of all segments having an Arrest

Date, Recovered Property Date, or Exceptional Clearance Date falling within the

Time-Window Date Range.

As specified in section I, subsection F, the FBI will keep segments containing exceptional

clearances, recovered property, and arrestees falling within the Time-Window Date Range. This

is done so that the data may be included in yearly publications.

It is important to be aware that anytime a D = Delete is done to remove such segments,

they must be resubmitted to the FBI. Computer software routines within the participant’s system

should handle this in conjunction with instructions specified in section I, subsection K, “Segment

Action Type.”

5. W = Time-Window Submission When Participant Does Not Maintain the Group

“A” Incident Report

When a Segment Action Type of W = Time-Window Submission is rejected because of an

error:

(1) Resubmit the segment after correcting the error, or

(2) D = Delete the Administrative Segment of the incident report in question, thus

deleting all related segments currently maintained by the FBI. 

Note: Combinations of Arrestee Segments and recovered property could have been

submitted, some of which were kept by the FBI.

The D = Delete should be followed by resubmission of all segments having an Arrest

Date, Recovered Property Date, or Exceptional Clearance Date falling within the Time-Window

Date Range.

The participant may choose either of the two actions above, according to the data

processing capabilities built into the system. Action 1 would be the most efficient manner in

resubmitting segments rejected by the FBI, but would become very complicated in those

situations involving multiple segment submissions for the same incident. If Action 2 is chosen,

ensure that all segments falling within the Time-Window Base Date range are submitted to

include the segment(s) rejected by the FBI.
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98

D = DELETE

If an FBI-detected error message is generated for a D = Delete action, it will not be

because the incident was not on file. Rejection will occur, for example, if the Incident Number

was not entered or if an ORI was entered incorrectly.

Correct the error and resubmit the deleted transaction.

Note: Any segments for the same incident that immediately followed the rejected

transaction on the magnetic media were probably rejected as well, with an error

message such as Segment Already on File.

If an Administrative Segment (Level 1) is submitted with a D = Delete, all segments

(Levels 1 through 6) associated with the incident report will be deleted.

The participant’s database may retain its data longer than the 2-year retention used by the

FBI. If it is determined that the Time-Window Base Date would cause the software to treat

subsequent submissions as a W = Time-Window Submission for incidents maintained by the

participant longer than 2 years, all applicable segments falling within the Date Range (January 1

of the previous calendar year to the present) must be submitted as a W = Time-Window

Submission.

6. Participant Software Suggestions for Group “A” Submissions

The purpose of this subsection is to provide insights into certain data-flow functions that

must be considered in the development of NIBRS data processing systems. This includes normal

updating of existing Group “A” Incident Reports previously sent to the FBI, new Group “A”

Incident Reports, and how these actions will affect error processing.

The paragraphs that follow explain the various scenarios that the computer systems should

take into account in correcting FBI-rejected segments and in determining whether to resubmit a

complete incident report or just the corrected segment.

7. Participant Should Have an Activity Date Within Reports Maintained in its

Database

When correcting data errors or updating data, the software should provide a means for

indicating the date of the last update or activity to the database. This would be used by the unload

program in locating or determining which data are to be sent to the FBI when submitting its

magnetic media.
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99

8. Updating of Participant’s Records Should Set Internal Update Action Flags

There is a need to maintain two internal controls for determining resubmission actions as

explained under Incident Report Resubmission and Arrestee Segment Submission that follow.

9. Incident Report Resubmission (software flag)

An Incident Report Resubmission flag would reflect or indicate that data changes were

made that will require a complete resubmittal (e.g., changing property values, adjusting victim’s

age, adding offenders, etc.) This would not be turned on during any updating to Arrestee

Segments not previously submitted but would be turned on if adjusting arrest data where the

Arrestee Segment had been previously sent to the FBI.

10. Arrestee Segment Submission (software flag)

An Arrestee Segment Submission flag should be turned on whenever the arrest data are

initially added to the participant’s database. This flag probably would be located with the

Incident Report Resubmission flag in the Administrative Segment. After the Arrestee Segment

has been sent to the FBI, the Arrestee Segment Submission flag would be turned off. The purpose

of this flag is to let software decide if only the Arrestee Segment is to be sent instead of

resubmitting the entire incident report.

When the time comes to write segments to magnetic media, these two flags would be used

in concert to determine what should occur. This information should be used in conjunction with

functional specifications set forth in section I, subsection D, “Creation of Monthly Magnetic

Media.”

11. Determining If Incident Report Is a Resubmission

In addition to these two controls, the system must be designed to determine if the incident

report is to be the first submittal or a resubmission. Section I, subsection D, “Creation of

Monthly Magnetic Media,” provides additional insight into how to determine this.

12. Data Submission Logic Should Be Designed into the System

The software should also be able to determine whether to either send I = Incident Report,

A = Add Arrest (for arrests), or W = Time-Window Submissions to the FBI. The determining

factor that dictates whether, for example, Incident Report submissions just rejected should be

resubmitted as W = Time-Window Submission actions is totally dependent upon the date (i.e.,
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current date) that the incident data are transferred to the magnetic media in relation to the incident

date. Section I, subsection F, part 3, “Time-Window,” provides additional instructions regarding

submission criteria of incident data that are no longer maintained in the participant’s or the FBI’s

database.

Example: If December 1995, magnetic media contained a resubmission I = Incident

Report with an incident date of 05/01/1994 that was subsequently rejected by the FBI, the January

1996, magnetic media submitted would contain a subset of these known as W = Time-Window

Submission segment(s), not the corrected incident report.

In the above case, W = Time-Window Submission segments would be submitted because

the FBI no longer maintains the I = Incident Report (because of the current year and one previous

year constraint).

Another possibility or situation exists. Prior to correcting the incident report, the

participant might have performed a purge to remove old incidents from its database, including the

incident report in error. If this is the case, it will be impossible to submit the corrected incident

report since it no longer exists in the database. Section I, subsection F, “Determining Amount of

Data to Be Submitted,” provides instructions regarding submission criteria of incident data that

are no longer maintained by the participant or the FBI.

13. Special Software Required for D = Delete Transactions When Used with W =

Time-Window Submission

Special software is required to address the submission of a D = Delete to remove all

segments associated with an incident report. If Segment Action Type of W = Time-Window

Submission is being used in conjunction with the Delete, all segments (i.e., Exceptional

Clearance, Recovered Property, and Arrestee Segment[s]) that fall within the Time-Window Date

Range referenced in section I, subsection F, “Determining Amount of Data to Be Submitted,”

must accompany segments being resubmitted if they were rejected by the FBI.

14. Conclusion

Efficiency controls should be part of the data processing software to prevent unnecessary

data submission where possible. For example, when the participant is entering an Arrestee

Segment into its database and has previously submitted to the FBI the Group “A” Incident Report,

an A = Add Arrest Segment Action Type should be sent for the arrest. However, if other changes

were also made (e.g., add offender, adjust property value, etc.), the entire incident report would be

resubmitted as an I = Incident Report.
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F. Error Data Set (EDS)

All FBI-detected errors will be written to the EDS. An IBM standard label data set will be

formatted fixed block with a logical record length of 146 characters. Each block will be a

maximum length of 32,704 characters. The Data Set Name will be UCR.NIBRS.ERRORS. If the

participant’s computer is unable to process this data set because of the attributes specified above,

the FBI will alter the specifications accordingly.

On floppy disk submissions, the errors will be written with a file name of

FBI.NIBRS.EDS.xx, where xx is a two-character state abbreviation for non-federal participants,

and an FBI-assigned two-character code for the federal participant.

RECORD

POSITION DESCRIPTION

1-4 YEAR

This value comes from the Year of Tape field (positions 9 through 12). 

Section I, subsection D contains information on the creation of monthly

magnetic media.

5-6 MONTH

This value comes from the Month of Tape field (positions 7 and 8). 

Section I, subsection D contains information on the creation of monthly

magnetic media.

7-13 MAGNETIC MEDIA RECORD NUMBER

This will be the physical record number of the error segment on the

magnetic media. For example, if the 600th record had an invalid data

value, then this field will contain 0000600.

Most error segments will have a number, but certain errors will not. For

example, if a segment is missing from a submitted Group “A” Incident

Report, no relative record number will be shown. The field may be used to

assist with retrieving the exact record in error.
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RECORD

POSITION DESCRIPTION

14 SEGMENT ACTION TYPE

This reflects what type of transaction is being processed. The types are I =

Incident Report, A = Add Arrest, M = Modify, W = Time-Window

Submission, and D = Delete.

15-23 ORI/FID NUMBER

This is the NCIC Originating Agency Identifier number (Data Element 1)

of the error segment.

Note: The last record on file will be 999999999 to indicate that the

magnetic media had been processed by the FBI computer system.

The Error Message Field will contain additional information.

24-35 INCIDENT NUMBER

This is the unique incident number (Data Element 2) of the error segment.

36 SEGMENT LEVEL

This is the Segment Level (0 through 7) of the error segment.

37-39 UCR OFFENSE CODE

This field identifies the offense code of the Offense Segment in error.

40-42 PERSON SEQUENCE NUMBER

This value identifies the sequence number for the Victim, Offender, or

Arrestee Segment in error.

43 TYPE PROPERTY LOSS/ETC.

This value identifies the Property Segment in error.
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RECORD

POSITION DESCRIPTION

44-46 DATA ELEMENT NUMBER

This is the data field number that is in error. The value will be from 01 to

52 with the third position blank or an alpha letter. For example, Data

Element 08A = Bias Motivation was added.

 47-49 ERROR NUMBER

This value will reflect an error number that can be used to refer to

additional information about the error. Volume 4: Error Message Manual

contains additional information.

50-61 DATA VALUE/CODE IN ERROR

This will contain the data value/code that was in error. The data from the

field in error will be moved here.

62-140 ERROR MESSAGE

This will explain what error occurred. For example, if Data Element 16

(Value of Property) contained alphabetic characters, the message Must Be

Numeric will appear. All error messages will describe the detected error

condition.

Note: When the ORI NUMBER is 999999999, the error message field

will be:

FBI PROCESSED TAPE nnnnnn ON MM/DD/YYYY

This will indicate that the tape number indicated by value in nnnnnn

was processed by the FBI on the date shown within

MM/DD/YYYY.

On floppy disk submittals, the NNNNNN is an FBI-assigned

number such as WRKxxx, SYSxxx, etc.
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RECORD

POSITION DESCRIPTION

141-146 TAPE VOLUME SERIAL NUMBER

This will be the volume serial number (and only number regardless if the

data set is multi-volume) of the tape from which these errors were

generated.

This number should be used for quality assurance to ensure that the FBI

transferred the errors back to the correct tape.

On floppy disk submittals, this is an FBI-assigned serial number such as

WRKxxx, SYSxxx, etc. and cannot be used for this verification purpose. 

Instead, the file name written to the disk can be used for this verification

purpose.