GlossaryStaffing, accountability, and public reporting
Annual report
An annual report is an organization's summary of its work, resources, and selected results for a stated year.
An annual report is an organization's summary of its work, resources, and selected results for a stated year. A public-safety annual report can combine narrative, staffing, financial information, and activity statistics. It is a published summary with a defined scope, rather than a complete incident register or continuously updated database.
Read the reporting year
An annual report may use a calendar year or fiscal year. Individual tables can have separate reference dates, such as year-end staffing or a particular statistical submission. The report's cover date does not automatically apply to every measure inside it.
The FBI's data-quality guidelines distinguish a more static annual-report snapshot from data that can update later. This helps explain why a subsequent online query may produce a different total without either publication necessarily having made an arithmetic error.
Example
Hypothetical example: A department's annual report lists 500 qualifying offenses for the year based on the records available at publication. A later database query lists 512 after corrections and late submissions.
The difference needs a revision and extraction-date explanation. It should not automatically be described as 12 additional crimes occurring after the reporting year. The report and query can describe the same year using different data versions.
Common confusion
An annual report summarizes a period. A budget authorizes or describes financial resources, and a dashboard provides selected data views. Documents can share figures without having the same purpose or update schedule.
A count of activities is an output, not necessarily evidence that a desired outcome improved.
Source scope
Check the issuing organization, covered period, definitions, sources, exclusions, and correction policy. Avoid assuming that a glossy presentation or official title guarantees complete coverage of every service or legal reporting obligation. Use the underlying method notes to understand each table.