WASHINGTON – The FBI is expanding its system that tracks criminal activity across the United States, USA TODAY reports.
The Uniform Crime Report, released every year by the FBI, provides summaries of criminal activity nationwide, but there are gaps in the data.
“Data seems like a dry and boring word, but without it we cannot understand our world and make it better,” said FBI Director James Comey.
Comey spoke at Georgetown University in February.
The FBI’s current crime recording system tracks 10 offenses, including murder and robbery. The agency is working to switch over to a more complex system that would analyze 24 categories of crime, USA TODAY reports.
The new recording method would provide more information about race, gender and relationships involving victims and offenders, USA TODAY reports. It also would show details about how often police use deadly force, a statistic the FBI currently does not thoroughly analyze.
“We simply must improve the way we collect and analyze data to see the true nature of what’s happening in our communities,” Comey said.
