by Chris Black
TLDR; the FBI did a forced upgrade to its new NIBRS system that prevented local law enforcement from uploading data unless each department purchased extremely expensive upgrades or manually uploaded each record.
This was done intentionally and without warning to create a gap in crime reporting in the midst of one of the biggest non-white violent crime waves the U.S. has ever experienced.
Local law enforcement happily welcomed a departure from reporting requirements.
As a result, we may never know what happened in 2021-? other than an asterisk on table or graph that reads: data not available.
Nearly 40% of law enforcement agencies nationwide failed to report their 2021 crime data to the FBI, Axios Local found in a joint investigation with The Marshall Project.
The data gap makes it harder to analyze trends and fact-check claims about crime. https://t.co/KRcxCjo2D1
— Axios (@axios) June 14, 2022