About Crime in Alabama

Alabama is unique in that all law enforcement agencies must follow the same crime reporting requirements as determined by the Alabama Justice Information Commission, the State’s criminal justice and public safety information policy body. This uniformity ensures that reporting of crime is consistent across all jurisdictions and that victims of crime will receive a thorough report of the crime committed against them.

Though law enforcement agencies have documented crime and officer response for more than 100 years, the Commission originally established guidance for reporting crime in 1975. In 1990, the original formal guidelines for a crime report were established. In 2006, the Commission formalized the statewide  uniform report under the state’s Administrative Procedure Act. In 2009, and later, in 2013, the Commission amended the state rules to incorporate the FBI standards for Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR).

The data on this site is collected by the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency CJIS Division from law enforcement agencies across the state. The data and information shown are for informational purposes only and should not be used to draw any conclusions or generate any reports regarding statewide crime. The data within this compilation is dependent on what crime reports are send by the law enforcement agencies to ALEA. While mandated by law, there may instances where not all agencies are compliant with the reporting requirements. Individual reports are also subject to being updated through supplemental reports.

ALEA CJIS partners with the University of Alabama to annually produce this website. The University of Alabama is a public research institute opened in 1831 and located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama.