Every violent death has a story behind it, but no single data source captures the full narrative. Death certificates provide basic demographic and cause of death information but often lack context.
Medical examiner reports include important medical findings but may not capture interpersonal dynamics or situational factors. Police reports often contain detailed information about the circumstances surrounding an incident but may not capture the full range of public health, medical, and legal context. The United States National Violent Death Reporting System (NVDRS) fills this gap by linking police reports with medical examiner findings and public health records, creating a more comprehensive understanding of violent deaths and how they can be prevented. When these sources are linked, they create a far more complete understanding of why violent deaths occur.
Violence affects individuals, families, and communities across the United States. Preventing it requires more than responding after the fact; it requires understanding the patterns, risk factors, and circumstances that precede it. NVDRS is the only comprehensive, state-based system designed to do just that, integrating data from multiple sources into a single anonymized database.1 By combining information on suicides, homicides, and other violent deaths, NVDRS provides a more complete story than any one agency could develop on its own.
Benefits to Police Agencies
Agencies increasingly rely on data to guide strategy, and NVDRS offers a level of detail that is particularly valuable. The system includes extensive information on victims, including cause of death; demographic characteristics such as age, race, ethnicity, veteran status, and housing status; mental health history; and toxicology results. It also contains information on suspects, including their relationship to the victim, as well as hundreds of additional incident characteristics that capture the context surrounding each death.
NVDRS data can inform policing strategies across several key areas:
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- Supporting resource allocation: Geographic data can help jurisdictions identify violent death “hotspots” and direct personnel and funding to the areas with the greatest need.
- Strengthening prevention and intervention efforts: Cause of death data can guide violence prevention initiatives and highlight the need for targeted public awareness campaigns, such as those addressing emerging suicide methods.
- Enabling data-driven policy development: By tracking how violent death characteristics change over time, agencies can shape their policies to respond to evolving trends and emerging issues.
These insights help agencies use their budgets and personnel more effectively by aligning resources with the most pressing public safety challenges.
The Role of Partnership
The participation of police agencies is essential to the success of NVDRS. Officers are often the first to respond to violent death incidents and may be the only source of critical contextual information about the incident. Detailed reporting from the field helps ensure that NVDRS captures not just the outcome of an incident but the factors that contributed to it.
Collaboration is equally important. Partnerships among police, public health agencies, and medical examiners or coroners ensure that all relevant information is documented and integrated. This collective approach strengthens the quality of the data and enhances its usefulness for prevention efforts.
Police agencies can also play a role in translating data into action by sharing appropriate insights with community partners and the public. Increasing awareness of risk factors such as personal, financial, or health-related stressors can help communities take steps to prevent violence before it occurs. Communities across the United States are already using these insights to drive prevention efforts. In Oregon, for example, NVDRS data revealed that suicide was the leading cause of death among veterans under 45, accounting for nearly a quarter of all suicides in the state.2 It also showed that only one in three veteran suicide victims was receiving mental health treatment at the time of death. In response, state policymakers added veteran suicide indicators to death certificates, improving identification and tracking. This change has allowed for more targeted interventions to connect veterans with needed care and support.
Accessing NVDRS Data
Agencies can access NVDRS data through both public and restricted resources. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides publicly available NVDRS data and reports, while more detailed access to data is coordinated through state Violent Death Reporting System (VDRS) programs.3 State VDRS programs work with police and other partners to provide data that can support local efforts, prevention planning, and public safety initiatives.
Importantly, NVDRS maintains strict data protection. All information is anonymized, stored in encrypted systems, and handled in accordance with rigorous security protocols. Since its inception in 2002, there have been no reported breaches, ensuring that sensitive information remains protected while still enabling meaningful analysis.
Data Input Into NVDRS
The IACP encourages police participation in NVDRS—both contributing data and using the system to better understand violent deaths in their local jurisdiction. In addition, as more agencies contribute data, the system becomes more robust, improving the collective understanding of violent deaths and strengthening the ability to respond to and prevent them.
To contribute data, police departments can provide investigative reports to their state VDRS program, usually housed within state health departments. State programs establish data-sharing agreements with police agencies, medical examiners, coroners, crime labs, and other records offices. They extract and standardize the information and then submit de-identified data to the CDC.
NVDRS includes all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, giving U.S. police agencies the opportunity to contribute data and benefit from the system’s insights.4 By participating in and using NVDRS data, agencies can strengthen their prevention and response strategies while helping build a national foundation for more effective, data-driven violence prevention efforts.d
Notes:
1 “National Violent Death Reporting System,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, August 25, 2025.
2 Xun Shen and Lisa Millet, Suicide Among Oregon Veterans 2008–2021 (Oregon Violent Death Reporting System, Oregon Health Authority, Public Health Division, 2014).
3 “NVDRS Data Access,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, August 25, 2025.
4 “State Profiles,” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Please cite as
Ryan Reamy and Callie Frye, “The Missing Pieces,” IACP@Work, Police Chief 93, no. 10 (October 2026): 72–73.
