Weapons Policies - A Survey of Police Department Practices Concerning Weapons and Related Issues

• NCJ Number: 81758
• Author(s): E Weber-Burdin; P H Rossi; J D Wright; K Daly
• Date Published: 1981
• Length: 202 pages
• Grant Number(s): 78-NI-AX-0120
• Sponsoring Agency: National Institute of Justice (NIJ); US Dept of Justice NIJ Pub
• Corporate Author: University of Massachusetts
• Sale Source: National Institute of Justice/
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

The feasibility of local police agencies becoming a source of information about the use of weapons in offenses is examined, using a survey of a national sample of 609 agencies drawn from probabilities proportionate to department size.

Abstract

Questionnaire response was over 70 percent, so results can be generalized to national police patterns of weapons information practices. Local police agencies are a potential source of valuable information about the use of weapons in crime, because the police deal directly with criminal incidents and often are responsible for administering local weapons regulations. Departments in the survey report that detailed weapon information is currently recorded in case reports of offenses. Analysis of the standard report forms used by local agencies shows that many of the forms facilitate the retrieval of weapons information for summary report preparation. The departments report frequent use of the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and much less use of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms weapons tracing systems. The NCIC is given a higher overall rating of usefulness. Although the local agencies currently record a significant amount of weapons information, they are not likely to prepare summary reports on weapons use beyond those required for the Uniform Crime Reports. The willingness of the agencies to prepare additional reports on weapons use is a function of the department's perception of the weapons and crime problem, perception of current summary report burdens, the number of weapons regulations administered, whether the department has its own computer installation, and the ratio of support personnel to sworn officers. Some incentives, such as financial support, computer software, and model report forms, will probably be necessary to ease the burden of increased summary report requests. An expansion of the Uniform Crime Reports would probably be the most efficient way to gather more weapons information. Appended are the questionnaire, sample weights for analysis, and a description of standard report form coding. Tabular data and six footnotes are provided. (Author abstract modified)