Changes to Kansas crime stats released; Violent crime on the rise
16 November 2023
TOPEKA, Kan. (KSNW) — The Kansas Bureau of Investigation has released an amended 2022 Crime Index Report.
The annual report is a compilation of crime statistics recorded statewide by state and local law enforcement agencies. The report was originally issued in July. However, the KBI says Wichita Police contacted the agency to report there was data from their statistics missing from the report the KBI issued.
The agency says they then worked with Wichita police to determine why it was missing. The KBI says they uncovered a system error that prevented thousands of crime reports from being recorded by the KIBRS (Kansas Incident-Based Reporting System.)
“Upon reviewing the crime data released by the KBI, the Wichita Police Department promptly alerted KBI to the inaccuracies. Collaborating with KBI, we pinpointed the issue and rectified it,” said Wichita Police Chief Joe Sullivan in a KBI news release. “Furthermore, we implemented extra checks in coordination with KBI to ensure that submitted data undergoes thorough end-to-end verification upon receipt. WPD’s partnership with KBI is strong and incredibly important to ensuring the safety of our community.”
“When we recognized how many offenses weren’t represented in the annual crime report, we knew we had a responsibility to let the public, the Legislature, and our law enforcement partners know that what we understood about crime in Kansas had changed,” said KBI Director Tony Mattivi. “For example, in the report from July, we saw a slight decrease in violent crime statewide, and with these additional offenses being accounted for, we now know Kansas saw a slight increase in violent crime in 2022.”
“The KBI is grateful to Chief Sullivan and the Wichita Police Department for their partnership. Despite the initial reporting problems, Kansans will have a greater understanding of crime in our state due to these collaborative efforts,” added Mattivi.
The KBI says the KIBRS team reopened the submission process due to the system error, and as a result, nearly 5,000 new crimes were reported. The agency says only a portion of those omissions were from the system error.
The agency says some of the data came from law enforcement agencies that missed the reporting deadline. Some agencies were also still catching up on entering their 2022 data or had additional crimes uncovered that took place in 2022 that have now been reported.
You can read the full report below.