Downgrading
Crime
Crime
1. Criminal homicide:
a. Murder and non-negligent
manslaughter
b. Manslaughter by negligence
2. Forcible rape:
a. Rape by force
b. Attempts to commit forcible rape
3. Robbery:
a. Firearm
b. Knife or cutting instrument
c. Other dangerous weapon
d. Strong-arm—hands, fists, feet, etc.
4. Aggravated assault:
a. Firearm
b. Knife or cutting instrument
c. Other dangerous weapon
d. Hands, fists, feet, etc.—aggravated
injury
5. Burglary:
a. Forcible entry
b. Unlawful entry—no force
c. Attempted forcible entry
6. Larceny-theft (except motor
vehicle theft)
7. Motor vehicle theft:
a. Autos
b. Trucks and buses
c. Other vehicles
8. Arson:
a.-g. Structural
h.-i. Mobile
j. Other
a. Murder and non-negligent
manslaughter
b. Manslaughter by negligence
2. Forcible rape:
a. Rape by force
b. Attempts to commit forcible rape
3. Robbery:
a. Firearm
b. Knife or cutting instrument
c. Other dangerous weapon
d. Strong-arm—hands, fists, feet, etc.
4. Aggravated assault:
a. Firearm
b. Knife or cutting instrument
c. Other dangerous weapon
d. Hands, fists, feet, etc.—aggravated
injury
5. Burglary:
a. Forcible entry
b. Unlawful entry—no force
c. Attempted forcible entry
6. Larceny-theft (except motor
vehicle theft)
7. Motor vehicle theft:
a. Autos
b. Trucks and buses
c. Other vehicles
8. Arson:
a.-g. Structural
h.-i. Mobile
j. Other
| PART I OFFENSES |
The FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program determines the
level of crime in America. The accuracy of that program depends
directly upon the way you, as a police officer, do your job. There's
more to UCR than the eight Part I Crimes listed above; however, these
are the crimes that determine just about everything when it comes to
spending money on law enforcement and discussing issues related to
crime.
level of crime in America. The accuracy of that program depends
directly upon the way you, as a police officer, do your job. There's
more to UCR than the eight Part I Crimes listed above; however, these
are the crimes that determine just about everything when it comes to
spending money on law enforcement and discussing issues related to
crime.
When you become a
police officer, you'll be
issued a lot of written
material regarding your
duties. If a Uniform
Crime Reporting
Handbook is not part of
that pile of paper, you'll
know from the outset
that your department is
not that interested in
having its police officers
all that knowledgeable on
the subject of accurate
crime reporting. Since
you'll be interested in,
and appreciative of, the
importance of accurate
crime reporting, you'll
obtain your own copy if
one is not provided to
you. Knowledge is a
wonderful thing, and you
will be amazed at some of
the absolutely ignorant—
and creative—ways police
officers, and supervisors,
interpret crime
classifications.
police officer, you'll be
issued a lot of written
material regarding your
duties. If a Uniform
Crime Reporting
Handbook is not part of
that pile of paper, you'll
know from the outset
that your department is
not that interested in
having its police officers
all that knowledgeable on
the subject of accurate
crime reporting. Since
you'll be interested in,
and appreciative of, the
importance of accurate
crime reporting, you'll
obtain your own copy if
one is not provided to
you. Knowledge is a
wonderful thing, and you
will be amazed at some of
the absolutely ignorant—
and creative—ways police
officers, and supervisors,
interpret crime
classifications.
Crimes of violence are
always the main topic, so
the four Part 1 Crimes:
homicide; rape; robbery
and aggravated assault
become the focal point for
society; politicians and
police. While homicide is
prone to very little
manipulation, the
remaining three can
easily be downgraded to
Part II crimes, or be just
ignored altogether.
always the main topic, so
the four Part 1 Crimes:
homicide; rape; robbery
and aggravated assault
become the focal point for
society; politicians and
police. While homicide is
prone to very little
manipulation, the
remaining three can
easily be downgraded to
Part II crimes, or be just
ignored altogether.
Of these four crimes of violence, robbery is the one which potentially
affects most people. Anyone can be a victim of robbery, and it has the
potential to escalate to homicide or rape or both. So…you'd think that
every police department would want to get its hands on every robber out
there. Well…yes, one would think so.
affects most people. Anyone can be a victim of robbery, and it has the
potential to escalate to homicide or rape or both. So…you'd think that
every police department would want to get its hands on every robber out
there. Well…yes, one would think so.
Okay...this time, you're a brand new police
officer working patrol in a large city...
officer working patrol in a large city...
Your district has been experiencing an increase in street robberies, so
your district commander decides that every robbery should be
investigated to the fullest extent possible. While it's a very logical
requirement, your commander doesn't trust his patrol officers to
conduct a thorough and competent investigation. He issues a directive
to have every robbery victim interviewed —whenever possible— by a
robbery detective.
You're just a couple of hours into your 4x12 shift when you receive a
call for a report of an armed robbery. You arrive at the address where
you're met by a middle aged man who tells you he was walking just two
blocks from his home when he was approached by a young man who
pointed a gun at him and demanded his money.
You interview the victim at length, and he describes to you how he
grabbed the suspect's gun in an effort to disarm the suspect. He
describes a brief, but desperate, struggle with the suspect until the gun
discharged. When the gun went off, it so startled the victim that he let
go of the suspect. Now, in desperate fear, the victim describes how he
pretended to be shot. The victim fell to the ground holding himself as
still as possible. His only hope was that the suspect would run away
without shooting him…again. The victim's ploy worked, and the suspect
fled. The victim lost no money or property, and he sustained no injury.
Overall…an excellent outcome for such a potentially deadly situation.
Following your commander's directive, you cart your victim off to the
station to be re-interviewed by a robbery detective. You meet with
Detective Crystal Ball [an alias but obviously appropriate]. The victim
repeats the details of the Attempted Robbery to the detective. At the
end of the interview, the detective decides to locate the crime scene. So
far, so good. You arrive at the crime scene where Detective Ball begins
searching the ground. Now you're impressed when her flashlight hits a
shiny object laying on the ground which you recognize as a shell casing.
The casing is recovered exactly in the area where the victim reported
the struggle as taking place, and the casing is shiny revealing no
prolonged exposure to the elements. This is obviously the casing
discharged from the suspect's weapon. While you had no reason to
doubt the victim's report of the incident, the presence of the shell casing
certainly solidified the victim's account. Furthermore, the victim lost
no property, so he certainly wasn't trying to create an excuse for losing
his money in another manner. He wasn't trying to falsely implicate
someone he simply disliked since he had no idea of the suspect's
identity.
Your favorable impression of Detective Ball's investigative acumen
changes when you read the detective's report. After describing the
incident as stated above, Detective Ball comes to a startling conclusion:
No Attempted Robbery occurred. In fact, the victim's entire report was
fabricated. The detective goes on to describe why the victim was lying.
She describes the difference between a revolver and a semi-auto
handgun. If the gun had been a revolver, no casing would be discharged
from the gun. Since she found a casing, it was clear the gun was a semi-
automatic. She does not dispute that a gun had been fired, but here is
where it gets good. She states that since the victim grabbed the gun, he
would have sustained an injury to his hand from the movement of the
gun's slide action when the gun discharged. Since the victim had no
injury—CASE UNFOUNDED.
Talk about a case of selective hearing. She, supposedly, disbelieved
everything the victim had to say expect the part about grabbing the
gun. The only thing the absence of a hand injury proved is that, during
the struggle, the victim was not grasping the top of the gun when it
discharged.
The scary thing is, you're going to run into a lot of police officers, or
those described as detectives, who make it up as they go along. If those
officers put their own names to the official report, you don't have to lose
any sleep over it. However, if you're directed to write what you know to
be a false report, it's all going to be on you. Remember, everything you
write as a police officer will be with you for your entire career.
In the example described, the detective's report was written as an in
house report. She directed the officer to file the official report as
UNFOUNDED. In this case, the department allowed the submission of
an oral code if the incident was UNFOUNDED. Either way, this incident
produced two false reports by two police officers when it was clear that
no evidence, whatsoever, existed for a determination of UNFOUNDED.
You know…that Murphy's Law thing about what can go wrong will go
wrong happens a lot in police work. Suppose this victim, after all that
interviewing, neglected to tell you that his sister is the President of the
City Council. Or worse, suppose the same suspect robs and murders a
victim the following evening, and your victim comes forward and
identifies the suspect in his attempted robbery incident. It comes to
light that the only police attention the first offense received was that
piece of useless crap written by Detective Crystal Ball.
your district commander decides that every robbery should be
investigated to the fullest extent possible. While it's a very logical
requirement, your commander doesn't trust his patrol officers to
conduct a thorough and competent investigation. He issues a directive
to have every robbery victim interviewed —whenever possible— by a
robbery detective.
You're just a couple of hours into your 4x12 shift when you receive a
call for a report of an armed robbery. You arrive at the address where
you're met by a middle aged man who tells you he was walking just two
blocks from his home when he was approached by a young man who
pointed a gun at him and demanded his money.
You interview the victim at length, and he describes to you how he
grabbed the suspect's gun in an effort to disarm the suspect. He
describes a brief, but desperate, struggle with the suspect until the gun
discharged. When the gun went off, it so startled the victim that he let
go of the suspect. Now, in desperate fear, the victim describes how he
pretended to be shot. The victim fell to the ground holding himself as
still as possible. His only hope was that the suspect would run away
without shooting him…again. The victim's ploy worked, and the suspect
fled. The victim lost no money or property, and he sustained no injury.
Overall…an excellent outcome for such a potentially deadly situation.
Following your commander's directive, you cart your victim off to the
station to be re-interviewed by a robbery detective. You meet with
Detective Crystal Ball [an alias but obviously appropriate]. The victim
repeats the details of the Attempted Robbery to the detective. At the
end of the interview, the detective decides to locate the crime scene. So
far, so good. You arrive at the crime scene where Detective Ball begins
searching the ground. Now you're impressed when her flashlight hits a
shiny object laying on the ground which you recognize as a shell casing.
The casing is recovered exactly in the area where the victim reported
the struggle as taking place, and the casing is shiny revealing no
prolonged exposure to the elements. This is obviously the casing
discharged from the suspect's weapon. While you had no reason to
doubt the victim's report of the incident, the presence of the shell casing
certainly solidified the victim's account. Furthermore, the victim lost
no property, so he certainly wasn't trying to create an excuse for losing
his money in another manner. He wasn't trying to falsely implicate
someone he simply disliked since he had no idea of the suspect's
identity.
Your favorable impression of Detective Ball's investigative acumen
changes when you read the detective's report. After describing the
incident as stated above, Detective Ball comes to a startling conclusion:
No Attempted Robbery occurred. In fact, the victim's entire report was
fabricated. The detective goes on to describe why the victim was lying.
She describes the difference between a revolver and a semi-auto
handgun. If the gun had been a revolver, no casing would be discharged
from the gun. Since she found a casing, it was clear the gun was a semi-
automatic. She does not dispute that a gun had been fired, but here is
where it gets good. She states that since the victim grabbed the gun, he
would have sustained an injury to his hand from the movement of the
gun's slide action when the gun discharged. Since the victim had no
injury—CASE UNFOUNDED.
Talk about a case of selective hearing. She, supposedly, disbelieved
everything the victim had to say expect the part about grabbing the
gun. The only thing the absence of a hand injury proved is that, during
the struggle, the victim was not grasping the top of the gun when it
discharged.
The scary thing is, you're going to run into a lot of police officers, or
those described as detectives, who make it up as they go along. If those
officers put their own names to the official report, you don't have to lose
any sleep over it. However, if you're directed to write what you know to
be a false report, it's all going to be on you. Remember, everything you
write as a police officer will be with you for your entire career.
In the example described, the detective's report was written as an in
house report. She directed the officer to file the official report as
UNFOUNDED. In this case, the department allowed the submission of
an oral code if the incident was UNFOUNDED. Either way, this incident
produced two false reports by two police officers when it was clear that
no evidence, whatsoever, existed for a determination of UNFOUNDED.
You know…that Murphy's Law thing about what can go wrong will go
wrong happens a lot in police work. Suppose this victim, after all that
interviewing, neglected to tell you that his sister is the President of the
City Council. Or worse, suppose the same suspect robs and murders a
victim the following evening, and your victim comes forward and
identifies the suspect in his attempted robbery incident. It comes to
light that the only police attention the first offense received was that
piece of useless crap written by Detective Crystal Ball.
As you begin your career as a police
officer, you probably think that fighting
crime will be your major responsibility, and
you'll be correct. What you don't know is
that you could very easily fall into using
one crime fighting technique which many
police departments find acceptable.
While no police department will publicly
countenance the downgrading of crimes,
many will simply accept the practice and
claim crime reductions from this lazy and
incompetent way of doing business.
There are only two crimes in the United
States which are counted accurately. The
first is homicide—for obvious reasons. Of
course, in some jurisdictions, homicide
officer, you probably think that fighting
crime will be your major responsibility, and
you'll be correct. What you don't know is
that you could very easily fall into using
one crime fighting technique which many
police departments find acceptable.
While no police department will publicly
countenance the downgrading of crimes,
many will simply accept the practice and
claim crime reductions from this lazy and
incompetent way of doing business.
There are only two crimes in the United
States which are counted accurately. The
first is homicide—for obvious reasons. Of
course, in some jurisdictions, homicide
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numbers are so politically critical that a homicide committed at year end
might have its official ruling delayed until the new year. Breaking
homicide records is always of high news value for the media, and the
police department and political leadership always take the heat.
Bank robberies can't escape the count, because banks are insured
institutions. The numbers aren't so great that some can be lost by
accident, and bank robbery is simply a big deal to the FBI.
might have its official ruling delayed until the new year. Breaking
homicide records is always of high news value for the media, and the
police department and political leadership always take the heat.
Bank robberies can't escape the count, because banks are insured
institutions. The numbers aren't so great that some can be lost by
accident, and bank robbery is simply a big deal to the FBI.
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