Audio Transcript

Ms. Ballew: The 2009 Uniform Crime Report is out…

Mr. Scarbro: “For violent crime, murder and robbery showed the greatest decline in offenses reported to the FBI; and for property crime, motor vehicle theft showed the greatest decrease.”

Ms. Ballew: Gregory Scarbro, unit chief for the FBI Uniform Crime Reporting Program, says the UCR Program does not state why crime is up or down, nor does it rank cities…because of information not collected.

Mr. Scarbro: “Variables such as climate, population density, economic conditions, all play into the rate of crime in an individual agency.”

Ms. Ballew: A caution against ranking...

Mr. Scarbro: “Without thorough analysis of the various crime factors associated with the UCR data, a valid comparison cannot be made just using the statistics as reported.”

Ms. Ballew: For more than 80 years, the UCR Program has provided U.S. crime statistics.

Mr. Scarbro: “In 2009, more than 17,000 local, county, tribal, state, and federal law enforcement agencies provided data to the FBI, representing about 96 percent of the population of the United States.”

Ms. Ballew: See the full report at www.fbi.gov. I’m Denise Ballew of the Bureau and that’s what’s happening at the “FBI, This Week.”