January 1, 40% of Law Enforcement Agencies Failed to Report Crime Data to the FBI

Close to 40% of U.S. law enforcement agencies failed to report their 2021 crime data to the FBI, according to a report.

“The more detailed the data, the more effective our police can be. … When we look back at 2021 numbers, they’re not going to be particularly useful,” said John Roman, a senior fellow at NORC at the University of Chicago.

The Los Angeles Police Department and New York City Police Department were among the agencies that failed to report their crime data for last year.

“It’s going to be really hard for policymakers to look at what crime looks like in their own community and compare it to similar communities,” said Jacob Kaplan, a criminologist at Princeton University.

Law enforcement agencies that failed to submit any crime data told Axios that the blame fell on non-compliance with staffing shortages and technical issues.