FBI Crime Data

FBI Crime Data Explorer

FBI Crime Data Explorer (CDE) provides UCR crime data and NIBRS incident-level statistics. The API moved from the legacy crime-data-explorer.fr.cloud.gov to cde.ucr.cjis.gov with backend at api.usa.gov/crime/fbi/cde. Data from 18000+ law enforcement agencies.

Working Endpoints (CDE v2)

• /agency/byStateAbbr/{ST} — all agencies in a state with ORI codes, NIBRS status, lat/lon
• /summarized/agency/{ORI}/{offense_code}?from=MM-YYYY&to=MM-YYYY — monthly crime stats by agency
• /pe/{state_abbr}/{ORI}?from={year}&to={year} — agency personnel (sworn officers, civilians, population)

Data Model

• Personnel — law enforcement agency staffing data including sworn officers, civilian employees, and service population over time.

Offense Codes

Violent Crimes=V, Aggravated Assault=ASS, Burglary=BUR, Larceny=LAR, Motor Vehicle Theft=MVT, Homicide=HOM, Rape=RPE, Robbery=ROB, Arson=ARS, All Property Crimes=P.

Gotchas

• Intermittent 503s — the FBI's infrastructure is flaky. Retry with exponential backoff on 502/503/504 (up to 4 retries, backoff factor 2). The community fbi-data-api PyPI package confirms this as expected behavior.
• State abbreviations — uppercase two-letter codes (CA, TX, NY) in URL path segments.
• ORI codes — 9-character agency identifiers (e.g. CA0010000 for LAPD). Get ORIs via /agency/byStateAbbr/{ST}.
• Rate limits — X-Ratelimit-Remaining header tracks remaining calls. Resets hourly.
• Data lag — most recent data is typically 1-2 years behind current year.