FBI: New Mexico will use new crime statistics system

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The FBI held a news conference Friday to discuss a new way of collecting data in New Mexico.

“What you’re going to see is a bigger and better picture of what the crime problem is within the state,” said Raul Bujanda, special agent in charge for Albuquerque’s FBI office.

The FBI’s National Incident-Based Reporting System, also known as NIBRS, will be used to keep track of more detailed crime data.

“When we are able to do these reports, we have more of the ability to talk about what it is that you saw on the scene,” Bujanda said.

Previously, the state used the Summary Reporting System, or SRS. On that system, only the most serious crime in an incident would be counted in the crime statistics. For example, if a murder and robbery occurred in the same crime, only the murder would be accounted for.

With the new system, NIBRS, up to 10 offenses from a single incident are counted, along with extra details and data from that crime. Those details could include ethnicity of victims and offenders, date, time and location of every incident, any connections the crimes reported may have to other crimes, and also whether or not a crime is motivated by bias.

This new way of collecting data will be implemented nationally – multiple states are now making the transition. The detailed database is expected to help public leaders, citizens and law enforcement make better decisions based on the extensive data that was not previously available.

“Obviously, more data for the command staff directing their patrols, and their efforts for co-investigations, those types of things,” said Jason Bowie, secretary for the state Department of Public Safety.

For more information about NIBRS, click here.