A recent USAFacts.org article incorrectly reported the amount of property crime in Carlsbad (the article has since been corrected). While this instance appears to be a case of bad data, understanding crime statistics and comparisons among cities can be difficult. In fact, the FBI does not provide comparisons among cities because it can be very hard to account for all the variables involved.

Different sources
Several agencies compile and report crime statistics. Since 1930, participating local, county, state, tribal, and federal law enforcement agencies have voluntarily provided the crime statistics to the federal government through the Uniform Crime Reporting Program. The FBI manages this program and releases the statistics to the public.

The San Diego Association of Governments further analyzes this crime data and releases its findings through a separate report.

The Automated Regional Justice Information System includes more than 60 local, state, and federal agencies throughout San Diego and Imperial counties. ARJIS includes a robust mobile program that provides public safety personnel with access to critical data in the field, including warrants and photos; crime and sex offender mapping; crime analysis and statistical reporting; and an enterprise system of applications that help users solve crimes and identify offenders.

All these data sets are intended to inform law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve of crime statistics, with the goal of preventing crime.

Different levels of service
Crime statistics come from crime reports submitted by law enforcement agencies. The Carlsbad Police Department takes a “No call is too small” approach to serving our community. This means Carlsbad officers may respond to and document more calls for service than other jurisdictions. As a result, Carlsbad may have a higher number of crime reports compared to surrounding cities while not actually having a higher incidence of crime.

Related information
FBI crime data
SANDAG crime data
How to prevent crime