Columbus police uncover decade-long data glitch affecting crime report submissions

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — The Columbus Division Of Police is now working to fix a computer systems glitch that led to violent crime being under-reported to the state and the FBI for more than a decade.

“I was surprised by the issue but glad we identified it,” said Columbus Police Deputy Chief Tim Myers.

CPD tells ABC 6 that 165,000 reports were not sent to the state after they were written and submitted by police.

“It was an administrative issue with the workflow, how they were making it to the state,” says Myers, “some reports were not getting sent back to the state for submission.”

CPD discovered the system bug in October and believes it’s been happening since 2013.

The department sends the data to the Ohio Office of Criminal Justice Services reporting system, which in turn sends it to the FBI. Both agencies use the data to analyze and provide to the public.

CPD says since 2013, more than 165,000 cases were not reported, including 42,000 violent crime and property crime reports.

They include:

• 18 murders
• 2,384 rapes
• 2,137 robberies
• 4,869 aggravated assaults
• 7,470 burglaries
• 19,254 larceny/theft cases
• 5,987 car thefts

“They did not affect casework,” said Myers, “cases were still investigated , people were charged with crimes.”

Police say the under-reporting did not impact the recent decline in homicides now being seen in the city.

However, it was a different story between 2013 and 2015, when data incorrectly showed that crime trends were down.

“What we know now to be true,” said Myers, “the offenses actually went up in those years.”

CPD is now working with the state to revise the numbers, starting with the most violent crimes.

“We are taking technology very seriously,” said Myers, “it would be easy to stick our heads in the sand and not ask difficult questions. We are going to ask the difficult questions, even when we do not like the answer.”

FOP Lodge 9 President Brian Steel said the corrected statistics show what officers reported anecdotally.

“I am not shocked to learn that the data does not align with what our officers have experienced on the streets or what our community has voiced,” said Steel.

He lauded Police Chief Elaine Bryant’s transparency and said the chief has his full support.