Arsons are fires that upon investigation were determined to be caused by arson and reported as such to the FBI under the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) system. Arson cases cleared are those cases in which at least one person is arrested, charged with commission of the offense, and turned over to the court for prosecution. When a juvenile is involved, even though no physical arrest may have been made, a clearance by arrest is recorded when a juvenile must appear in juvenile court or before the authorities. Includes structure and non-structure fire incidents.

The historical record is 2012- 17.7%, 2013 (partial) 15.5%, 2014- 25.7%, 2015 YTD- 11%, ISO Texas Addendum.

This measure is obtained from the Fire Investigation Incident Log using Cause and Case Disposition Fields. Future plans are to have this information documented and available in the department's Firehouse Report Management System.

Actual = Total arson cases cleared/ Total arson cases.

Step-by-Step Process:

1. The employee must have connectivity to the city’s network and be authorized to access Fire Investigations files on the Fire Department server.
2. Cut and paste the following URL into the address bar of a file folder: \\CHFIREFS01\Fire_Investigations\Investigations Log
3. Locate and open the INVESTIGATION LOG excel spreadsheet for the desired year (e.g., “Investigations Log 2017”)
4. Select (highlight) column K, “Fire Cause Determination.”
5. Select (click) excel editing function for Sort and Filter, “Sort A to Z.”
6. A “sort warning” will appear. Select (click) “expand the selection.”
7. Select (click) “sort.”
8. All Fire Cause Determinations will be grouped together by category (alphabetized). Find the grouping for “Incendiary – Arson.”
9. Determine the number of Incendiary – Arson cases logged. This may be accomplished by taking the row number for the first Incendiary – Arson entry and subtracting that row number from the row number for the last Incendiary – Arson entry. The resultant difference is the number of TOTAL ARSON CASES for the researched period.
10. With the Fire Cause Determinations still grouped alphabetically, locate column U, “Disposition.”
11. Left click and hold the Disposition for the first Incendiary – Arson case.
12. Drag down (selecting) to the Disposition for the last Incendiary – Arson case.
13. Select (click) excel editing function for Sort and Filter, “Sort A to Z.”
14. A “sort warning” will appear. Select (click) “continue with the current selection.”
15. Select (click) “sort.”
16. The case Dispositions for only the Incendiary – Arson cases will now be alphabetized. Within this grouping, determine the number of recorded:
    1. Closed – Arrest Warrant
    2. Closed – Case Filed
    3. Closed – Exceptional Means
    4. Closed – General Citation Issued
    5. Closed – JFS referral
17. The resultant sum is the number of TOTAL ARSON CASES CLEARED for the researched period.
18. Divide TOTOAL ARSON CASES CLEARED by TOTAL ARSON CASES.
19. The resultant quotient is the decimal representation for the percentage (actual) of arson cases cleared for the researched period.
20. Close the file, but do not save any changes.