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issue > FBI & BCA
MN Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) Working to Improve How Crimes Against Animals are Recorded Minnesota and FBI to Track Animal Cruelty Cases The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) within the MN Department of Public Safety has been working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to encourage and assist MN law enforcement agencies to better track and record crimes against animals. On September 9, 2014, the FBI Director approved the recommendation to add the new offense of Animal Cruelty to the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). In 2016, the actual tracking and recording of four categories of animal cruelty (noted below) began. Prior to doing so, animal cruelty crimes were lumped into an "All Other Offenses" category along with other non-animal crimes, which made tracking these crimes difficult. Without this data, it was impossible for law enforcement and researchers to assess these crimes and analyze patterns, such as 'Is animal cruelty increasing?'. The FBI definition for the offense of animal cruelty is:
The four new categories of "animal cruelty" are listed below. For Animal Cruelty offenses, reporting agencies must enter at least one but no more than three types of activities as defined below:
The code for this offense is 720 within NIBRS. With the four categories coded as:
(Some states may have adopted a different coding system.) As noted by the FBI: "The FBI's definition is meant to encompass all state animal cruelty statutes, which, of course, vary in what they cover; what constitutes abuse and neglect will differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Simply put, if the reported incident meets your state's agency's definitions, then the incident should be submitted to NIBRS." - NIBRS User Manual The actual tracking and collecting of these offenses began in January 2016. It is expected that it may take five to ten years before enough data is collected to analyze trends. Reporting agencies In 2017, the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA) starting transitioning reporting agencies in Minnesota to the new NIBRS reporting system. A "reporting agency" is any agency responsible for submitting crime data. One or more agencies may cover other agencies in their reporting, such as a sheriff office reporting crime data for a smaller police agency or a city that they are responsible for. Law enforcement is defined as police departments and sheriff offices. At this time, no crime data has been collected from nonprofits with humane agents or certain animal control agencies. Minnesota public portal: MN Crime Data Explorer On January 1, 2021, the MN BCA started developing a new public portal called the Minnesota Crime Data Explorer to make crime data available to the public and others. This portal includes animal cruelty offenses from 2021 forward. As explained by the BCA, the FBI NIBRS reporting system is changing how agencies report information about crimes in their jurisdiction. Law enforcement had provided crime information using the Summary Reporting System. Now, with NIBRS, reporting agencies will provide more specific and detailed information about a crime, rather than high level summary information. Examples (as per BCA) as to the changes: • There's an incident where the victim was robbed, murdered and their home burned down. - Summary Reporting - The murder is counted. - NIBRS Reporting - The murder, robbery and arson are counted. • There's an incident where a family pet has intentionally been poisoned. - Summary Reporting - The incident is not reported (data on animal cruelty is not included). - NIBRS Reporting - The animal cruelty incident is reported. For more information, go to: NIBRS vs. Summary Crime Reporting NIBRS USER MANUAL for Animal Control Officers and Humane Law Enforcement As animal control officers (ACOs) and humane law enforcement are first responders to animal cruelty, a manual was prepared for these authorities by the National Council on Violence Against Animals' NIBRS Implementation Committee. LINK: NIBRS User Manual for Animal Control Officers and Humane Law Enforcement Appendix A in the manual shows a sample incident report; the manual explains each section with how to enter/code the data. Definitions, too, of the four categories of crimes noted above are also provided. Of interest: Animals are typically defined as property. However, "in an effort to move communities, law enforcement, and the courts away from considering animals as 'property,' NIBRS classifies crimes against animals as crimes against society. Therefore the 'property' section of the Incident Report does not apply." Further, because these offenses are considered to be crimes against society, the victim in these crimes is "society."
ADDITIONAL articles and resources The following articles provide further descriptions and explanations of NIBRS, the purpose for data collection, some crime data already collected, and other information.
Animal Folks' Animal Cruelty Databank Animal Folks has also been tracking animal cruelty cases with a focus on those cases that result in a conviction. (The NIBRS system above defines an animal cruelty "offense" as incidents reported or known to police/sheriff, not conviction data.) We have identified over 1,800 animal cruelty convictions statewide between 2008 to present. We have also started coding over 200 animal cruelty dismissals; these cases are often linked to other crimes, such as domestic violence, child abuse, or terroristic threats. Often the conviction is for the related crime, which may have a higher penalty. This ongoing project aids in our efforts to work with law enforcement and prosecutors to improve how animal protection laws in Minnesota are enforced.
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