SAVANNAH, GA (January 13, 2017): The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Uniform Crime Report (UCR) rule for determining Homicide clearance rates for all law enforcement agencies in the United States, involves taking the total number of homicides cleared or solved (in the jurisdiction) in the current calendar year and dividing it by the total number of homicides for that calendar year.
UCR rules state that “clearances” include cases that are:
- Cleared by arresting someone for the crime
- Those that are exceptionally cleared in the current year
- Any cases that are cleared in the current year that occurred in the previous year or years.
An exceptionally cleared case is a case that will not or cannot be prosecuted. Exceptionally cleared cases usually include: murder-suicide cases and cases that are ruled as justified or self-defense.
In 2016 the SCMPD jurisdiction experienced 50 homicides. Utilizing the UCR’s clearance rate rules, 37 cases were cleared by arrest (8 cases were from 2015), 1 case was exceptionally cleared (murder-suicide). Thus, 38 cases were cleared per UCR standards. With 50 recorded homicides in 2016 and 38 homicides cleared during 2016, the SCMPD attained a 76% clearance rate for 2016.
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