Oklahoma Crime Data Collection

In accordance with O.S. 74 § 150.10, the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) is tasked with establishing crime reporting practices in Oklahoma.  State, county, city, and town law enforcement agencies are required to submit reports using the forms established by the OSBI.  The OSBI ensures the system used for crime reporting in Oklahoma adheres to the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) format established by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).  Initially, UCR utilized a Summary Reporting System (SRS) which only collected data on eight index crimes (murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft, and arson) and permitted reporting of only one offense per incident or report, utilizing a Hierarchy Rule to determine which offense was reported if more than one had occurred during a single incident.  However, in the 1980’s, the FBI began using the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) to replace the SRS.  NIBRS collects data on more crimes and allows reporting of up to 10 offenses for a single incident/report.  The NIBRS format also collects data on more elements related to the crime, including the relationship between victim and offender.  The FBI officially replaced the SRS with NIBRS on January 1, 2021, accepting only NIBRS compliant data.    

The OSBI completed development of a State Incident-Based Reporting System (SIBRS) and the FBI verified the system as NIBRS-compliant in 2009.  Since that time, the OSBI has been assisting other state, local, and county agencies in establishing SIBRS-compatible reporting systems.  During the transition, in order to continue providing state-wide crime statistics, the OSBI created a conversion process and once the SIBRS reports were validated and verified, the data was converted into the SRS format.  This data was then used to publish the annual Crime in Oklahoma report. 

Due to the time spent validating and verifying SIBRS data prior to the conversion process, crime data has historically been released one year at a time, with approximately a six month delay.  For example, the 2019 Crime in Oklahoma report would be released around July 1, 2020.  Prior to the Crime in Oklahoma publications release, crime data from that year was not released, since the data was not complete.  In order to expedite the availability of crime data, the OSBI began releasing data on a quarterly basis in 2019.  However, the data was still subject to a delay, as the OSBI still conducts a data verification process and notifies agencies of any errors which need correction. 

With the creation of this website, preliminary data from validated reports will be on the current year tab without any delay.  Data available on the Crime Summary by Year and Crime Trends by Category tabs is updated monthly.  It is important to realize that providing the most current data can have drawbacks with respect to the completeness or quality of data.  See the section on Data Fluidity. 

Crime Data Provided and Format

This website provides public access to crime data reported in SIBRS only.  Crime data has been grouped into three main categories – Crimes Against Persons, Crimes Against Property, and Crimes Against Society.  A breakdown of which crimes are included in each category is listed below.

  Crimes Against Persons 

·         Murder and Non-Negligent Manslaughter

·         Negligent Manslaughter

·         Sex Offenses (Non-Consensual)

o   Rape

o   Sodomy

o   Sexual Assault with an Object

o   Fondling

·         Sex Offenses (Non-Forcible)

o   Incest

o   Statutory Rape

·         Aggravated Assault

·         Simple Assault

·         Kidnapping/Abduction

·         Human Trafficking – Commercial Sex Acts

·         Human Trafficking – Involuntary Servitude

·         Intimidation

 

Crimes Against Property

·         Robbery

·         Arson

·         Bribery

·         Burglary/Breaking and Entering

·         Motor Vehicle Theft

·         Counterfeiting/Forgery

·         Destruction/Damage/Vandalism

·         Embezzlement

·         Extortion/Blackmail

·         Fraud Offenses

o   False Pretenses/Swindle/Confidence Game

o   Credit Card/ATM Fraud

o   Impersonation

o   Welfare Fraud

o   Wire Fraud

o   Identity Theft

o   Hacking/Computer Invasion

·         Larceny – Theft

o   Pocket-Picking

o   Purse-Snatching

o   Shoplifting

o   Theft From Building

o   Theft From Coin-Operated Device

o   Theft From Motor Vehicle

o   Theft of Motor Vehicle Parts or Accessories

o   All Other Larceny

·         Stolen Property Offenses

Crimes Against Society

·         Drug/Narcotic Violations

·         Drug Equipment Violations

·         Weapon Law Violations

·         Animal Cruelty

 

Data Not Included

Since this site is based only on SIBRS reports, it does not contain any data reported in the SRS format. As a result, this site will not contain complete crime data for the entire state until all state and local agencies have transitioned to SIBRS. As of December 31, 2020, approximately 93.1% of agencies have transitioned, but the jurisdictions served by those agencies represent approximately only 70% of the state’s population. For statewide crime statistics, please refer to Crime in Oklahoma or contact the Statistical Analysis Center.

It is also important to remember that there are over 400 law enforcement agencies in Oklahoma which have transitioned between 2009 and 2020.  As a result, crime trends will not be accurate unless the query is limited to a specific agency and a time period which follows the agency’s transition to SIBRS. 

In addition, certain offenses are not included in the query tools on this site, for a variety a reasons.  Reports of justifiable homicide and suicide are not included, as these are not crimes.  Gambling and prostitution offenses are also not included, as information regarding these offenses are seldom requested.  Similarly, Type B offenses, such as DUI, are not included.

Further, reports are only included if they have been flagged as “valid” by SIBRS.  Given the depth of information collected on SIBRS reports, there are a variety of data entry errors which could result in a report being flagged as “invalid.”  For example, if a particular data element is mandatory and that particular field is left blank, the entire report will be flagged as “invalid” and not included in the statistics reported on this site. 

 

Data Fluidity

Data reported on this site is only as accurate (or current) as that which has been reported to the OSBI. While there is a statutory requirement governing crime data reporting, there are numerous factors which could lead to delayed or missing reports. For example, a victim may choose not to report or may delay reporting a crime. Similarly, changes in law enforcement personnel, especially in smaller agencies, could contribute to a delay in submitting or correcting reports. Data for the Current Year tab is updated daily and all other data referenced on this site is updated monthly. Consequently, any changes or additions made to the reports submitted may cause fluctuations in the resulting data if the same query is conducted on separate occasions. This will primarily impact data from the last 12 months, but there could be isolated instances where updated information is received on older reports as well.