Clearance Rates Dashboard

The SFPD Clearance Rate Dashboard is used to display clearance rates for Part I crimes committed in San Francisco. Part I crimes are defined by the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program and include homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, larceny, motor vehicle theft and arson. Definitions for Part I crimes can be found on the SFPD Crime Dashboard .

NOTE: Monthly Homicide numbers are located in the monthly Compstat Report.

Part I offenses may only be cleared by arrest or by exceptional means. A law enforcement agency may be able to close a case administratively, however there is specific criteria that must be met for the purpose of UCR clearance.

Clearance rates are calculated for each crime by dividing the number of cleared cases by the total number of crimes recorded. It is also important to note that some clearances are recorded in a particular year but -may pertain to offenses that occurred in previous years. This may result in clearance rates greater than 100%.

Disclaimer: Due to the 24-7 nature of policing, incident-specific reporting, and the near-live nature of these data, these data shift daily. As a result of modifications and additional information that is provided by police personnel and the public, changes to incidents occur, as do the summaries of data seen here.

Clearances by Arrest

For UCR purposes, a law enforcement agency may report that an offense is cleared by arrest when three specific conditions have been met:

  1. The offender was arrested
  1. The offender was charged with the commission of the offense
  1. The offender was turned over to the court for prosecution

The UCR Program only calculates the number of offenses that are cleared and not the number of individuals arrested. The arrest of one individual may clear several crimes and the arrest of many individuals may only clear one offense.

Clearances by Exceptional Means

In certain situations, there are sometimes elements beyond control that prevent an agency from arresting and formally charging an offender. If the following four conditions are met, a law enforcement agency can clear an offense by exceptional means:

  1. Identified the offender;
  1. Gathered enough evidence to support an arrest, make a charge, and turn over the offender to the court for prosecution;

  1. Identified the offenders exact location so that the suspect could be taken into custody immediately;
  1. Encountered a circumstance outside the control of law enforcement that prohibits the agency from arresting, charging, and prosecuting the offender

Examples of exceptional clearances include, but are not limited to:

  • The death of the offenders (e.g., suicide or justifiably killed by police or citizen)
  • The victim’s refusal to cooperate with prosecution after the offender has been identified

  • The denial of the extradition because the offender committed a crime in another jurisdiction and is being prosecuted for that offense