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MICR 2020 Annual Report

Notes About the Data

Each year, the Michigan Incident Crime Reporting data is "frozen" on a specific date for purposes of publishing the annual Crime in Michigan report. The frozen set was created on March 1, 2021, for the 2020 Crime in Michigan publication. Any new crime data or updates to previous data submitted by agencies after the "frozen" date is not published in the report. 

Frozen Data - Data extracted from a snapshot copy of the MICR database taken on the data deadline date each year (usually the first or second week of March).  This static copy of the database is created to establish the official year-end numbers and in order to write the Crime in Michigan Annual Report.  Without this static copy of the database, it would not be possible to produce an accurate and internally consistent report or to replicate the official crime statistics published in the Annual Report.

Live Data - Data extracted from the live production MICR database.  The live database is fluid and changes continuously throughout each day of the year as agencies in the state make modifications to crime incidents and add or delete crime incidents. For e.g., adding an arrest to an incident, changing the offense file class on an incident, removing a victim from an incident.

It should be noted that agencies that were unable to submit complete data by March 1, 2021, will show artificially low crime counts in this report. This may happen when an agency experiences a disruption to the submission of their crime data, for example during a period of transition between records management systems or when programmatic/technical complications interrupt data transfer processes. Therefore, users are cautioned against performing trend analysis or ranking agencies/cities based on their crime data, especially for those agencies/cities that indicate a significant increase or decrease in crime counts from one year to the next. 
 

Users should also take into account the following factors when analyzing changes in the volume and types of crimes: missing data, population density, urbanization, composition of the population, stability of the population, modes of transportation, economic conditions, cultural characteristics, family cohesiveness, climate, strength and policies of the criminal justice system, and crime reporting practices of the citizenry.    

When used properly, the data provided in this report can significantly contribute to management and planning activities at local, state, and federal levels, especially by state officials, law enforcement agencies, the legislature, and nonprofit organizations. Questions on the proper use of Michigan Incident Crime Reporting statistics can be directed to the Michigan Incident Crime Reporting Unit of the Michigan State Police, Criminal Justice Information Center, at MICRMail@michigan.gov.

Subsequent to the freezing of the data underlying this report, which occurred on March 1, 2021, the Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety modified their number of reported aggravated assault incidents. The reduction in the number of these incidents is not reflected in this report. For questions about this data, please contact the Benton Harbor Department of Public Safety.

 

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