Bill Analysis

Legislative Service Commission

LSC Analysis of House Bill

Sub. H.B. 4

126th General Assembly

(As Reported by H. Criminal Justice)

 

Reps.     Dolan, Latta, D. Evans, Gilb, Hughes, Seitz, Perry

BILL SUMMARY

·        Requires the Office of Criminal Justice Services to develop and maintain the Ohio Incident-Based Reporting System ("OIBRS") to facilitate the sharing of information with the FBI and participating law enforcement agencies in Ohio.

·        Requires the Office of Criminal Justice Services to require every law enforcement agency that receives certain federal or state criminal justice funding to participate in OIBRS, in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program, or in the Ohio Local Law Enforcement Information Sharing Network.

CONTENT AND OPERATION

The Ohio Incident-Based Reporting System

The bill requires the Office of Criminal Justice Services to develop and maintain the Ohio Incident-Based Reporting System, to be known as "OIBRS."  The purpose of OIBRS is to facilitate the sharing of information with the FBI and participating law enforcement agencies in Ohio.  (R.C. 181.52(B)(16) and (C).)

In connection with OIBRS, the bill requires the Office of Criminal Justice Services to do all of the following (R.C. 181.52(C)):

(1)  Collect and organize statistical data for reporting to the FBI's National Incident-Based Reporting System for the purpose of securing federal criminal justice grants (see COMMENT);

(2)  Analyze and highlight mapping data for participating law enforcement agencies;

(3)  Distribute data and analyses to participating law enforcement agencies;

(4)  Encourage nonparticipating law enforcement agencies to participate in OIBRS by offering demonstrations, training, and technical assistance;

(5)  Provide assistance, advice, and reports requested by the Governor, the General Assembly, or the FBI;

(6)  Require every law enforcement agency that receives federal criminal justice grants or state criminal justice information system general revenue funds through the Office to participate in OIBRS or in the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program.  The bill also provides that an agency that submits OIBRS data to the Ohio Local Law Enforcement Information Sharing Network ("OLLEISN") is in compliance with this requirement if the OLLEISN is capable of collecting OIBRS data and the Office of Criminal Justice Services has the ability to extract the OIBRS data for reporting to the National Incident-Based Reporting System in the manner required by the FBI.  (See COMMENT.)

The bill specifies that its provisions described above do not limit the discretion or authority of the Attorney General with respect to crime victim assistance and criminal justice programs.  It also expands the existing provision that states that nothing in R.C. 181.52 is intended to diminish or alter the status of the office of the Attorney General as a criminal justice services agency so that the provision also specifies that nothing in the section is intended to diminish or alter the status or discourage the development and use of other law enforcement information systems in Ohio.  (R.C. 181.52(E) and (F).)

COMMENT

According to the FBI's website, the Uniform Crime Reporting Program is a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort of more than 17,000 city, county, and state law enforcement agencies voluntarily reporting data on crimes brought to their attention.  The Program's primary objective is to generate reliable information for use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management.  Traditionally, the reports that have been generated through the Program are summary reports that include information such as the number of offenses and clearance rates.

The National Incident-Based Reporting System is a newer system that collects data on each single incident and arrest within specified crime categories from participating states.  While both systems are currently in operation, it is the intent that eventually the National Incident-Based Reporting System will replace the traditional summary reporting system.  (See National Incident-Based Reporting System, Volume 1: Data Collection guidelines, available at http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/nibrs/manuals/v1all.pdf.)

According to the Ohio Department of Public Safety, the Ohio Local Law Enforcement Information Sharing Network ("OLLEISN") is a new program that will allow Ohio law enforcement agencies to electronically share record information.  The program aims to prevent terrorism and other types of crimes as well as help solve communication-related challenges involved in multi-agency investigations.  Twenty-three agencies are participating in the start-up phase of the program with more than 600 agencies expected to join the program by the end of 2005.  The ultimate goal is to have every law enforcement agency in Ohio participating in the program.  The program is funded by federal homeland security dollars.  (See http://www.publicsafety.ohio.gov/news/2005/3_1_05_OLLEISN.pdf.)

HISTORY

ACTION

DATE

JOURNAL ENTRY

 

 

 

Introduced

01-24-05

p.         78

Reported, H. Criminal Justice

05-04-05

p.         748

 

 

 

H0004-RH-126.doc/jc