Chief attributes Brentwood’s apparent spike in crime to a new national reporting standard

Despite numbers that give the impression of a spike in the city’s crime rate, Brentwood remains within its 10-year average, officials say.

In February last year, Brentwood police — alongside departments across the nation — implemented a new reporting system, the National Incident Based Reporting System, which changed how crimes are captured. NIBRS eliminated the hierarchy rule that was previously used to collect data.