The North Carolina Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program is part of a nationwide, cooperative statistical effort administered by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. While the program's primary objective is to generate a reliable set of criminal statistics for use in law enforcement administration, operation, and management, its data have over the years become one of the country's leading social indicators. The American public looks to Uniform Crime Reports for information on fluctuations in the level of crime, while criminologists, sociologists, legislators, municipal planners, the press and other students of criminal justice used the statistics for varied research and planning purposes.