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GlossaryCrime reporting systems

Zero report

A zero report affirmatively reports no qualifying activity for a period. Learn why it differs from missing data, an empty extract, or no recorded crime.

A zero report is an affirmative submission stating that there was no qualifying activity to report for a defined period under a program's rules. It distinguishes a reported zero from the absence of a submission. The scope of the zero belongs to the reporting program, agency, and period.

An explicit reporting result

The FBI's 2025.0 NIBRS manual describes a Zero Report for a month in which an agency has no crime, arrests, or recovered property to report. It explains that the submission distinguishes that situation from an agency providing no crime information. FBI NIBRS manual, section 3.3

The important distinction is informational. A zero is a reported value; missing information is unknown within that collection. Treating both as the same can distort participation measures, averages, and trends. A dataset should preserve the distinction even if a chart renders both as an empty space.

A zero report is not proof that no unreported offense occurred. It concerns activity known and reportable to the source under its rules. The National Crime Victimization Survey, for example, separately measures covered experiences that were not reported to police. BJS NCVS description

Example

Hypothetical example: A small agency submits a qualifying zero report for April. Another agency sends no April submission because of a records-system problem. The first has an affirmative reporting result; the second has a missing period.

A comparison that assigns both agencies zero offenses would make the second agency appear to have supplied information it did not provide. The correct treatment keeps the missing status visible or follows a documented estimation method. It does not invent a zero to complete the table.

Common confusion

An empty downloaded file is not necessarily a zero report. Filters, publication exclusions, failed downloads, or absent submissions can all produce an empty result. Evidence of an affirmative zero must come from the source's status or documentation.

A zero report also differs from unfounded, which describes the determination that a previously reported offense was not a crime under the applicable criteria. A reporting-period zero and the disposition of one allegation are different concepts.

Revisions matter

The NIBRS manual provides that subsequent qualifying incident or arrest information for the month overrides the Zero Report. Thus, a previously published zero can change when records are added. Preserve the release or extraction date and distinguish the latest value from earlier snapshots. A revision is part of the reporting history, rather than evidence that a zero must remain permanent.

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