Last year, Akron's crime figures in the FBI's annual report were wrong.

This year's report -- released Wednesday -- contained no Akron statistics.

And once again, police officials are blaming a computer glitch.

Police supervisors were caught off guard last May when the FBI's preliminary Uniform Crime Report contained inaccurate information for Akron in all eight major crime categories. For example, the report showed Akron had six homicides in 1999 when there were actually 16.

Supervisors soon determined that a software problem was to blame for the under-reported figures. At the time, they said they hoped to correct the problem to prevent a repeat.

However, Akron was noticeably absent from the newest FBI report.

This time, the lack of statistics came as no surprise to Akron Capt. James Harris. He said the city is still having the same software problem as last year and -- rather than having incorrect figures again -- decided not to turn in anything to the FBI this year.

Again, Harris said he is hoping the problem will be fixed by next year so that Akron's crime statistics can be accurately reported.

Police departments are not required to submit data to the FBI, though the agency's annual report is considered one of the best measures for tracking crime and trends.

The preliminary report released in May only contains breakdowns for cities with populations of more than 100,000. The final report for 2000, which will be released in October, contains more detailed information.

Harris said the reporting problem for Akron in the past two years had to do with the process of converting the city's crime data into the format required by the FBI.

Akron uses a system that breaks crimes down into 49 categories -- the format the federal government is hoping all police departments will eventually adopt.

For now, however, the FBI still uses a simpler format.

So cities that use the more complex reporting system don't submit their data directly to the FBI. They submit it to a state agency, which then breaks the statistics down into the simpler format still used by the FBI.

But last year, when the Office of Criminal Justice Services crunched Akron's numbers, multiple errors occurred, causing the city's numbers to be vastly under-reported when the FBI report came out. Harris said the software used by the city was not compatible with the program used by the state.

Since the problem was discovered, Harris said he has been working to get Akron's software changed by the Florida-based company that created the software. The changes were delayed, however, when the software company was sold earlier this year. He is still trying to get an official with the company to come to Akron to correct the glitch.

``We're really frustrated because we know what needs to be done,'' Harris said.

An analysis of Akron's crime data for last year, provided by the police department, showed that crime in the city increased by about 0.9 percent. The U.S. overall crime index was unchanged from 1999, although FBI figures show violent crimes increased 0.1 percent nationwide.

In Akron, homicides rose slightly -- from 16 in 1999 to 19 last year. The most notable increases were in aggravated assaults, which went up 28.5 percent and rapes, which rose 11.4 percent. Robberies, burglaries and thefts all went down.

The Beacon Journal

-- Anonymous, June 01, 2001