[2] The Bureau is responsible for identifying factors affecting the distribution and frequency of crime and the effectiveness of the NSW criminal justice system, and for making this information available to its clients.
[1] Information about crime that is typically stored in the databases includes:[1] Aggregated data can answer questions such as which areas have high reported crime rates, how many people are charged with a specific offence, or what penalties are imposed for specific offences.
[1] In September 2018, then director Weatherburn admitted the Bureau was at fault for releasing misleading drug detection results.
Figures in some cases were doubled, after BOCSAR had mistakenly added positive results to searches by NSW Police.
[3] In early 2019, Weatherburn announced a new BOCSAR review of circle sentencing (a process which puts Aboriginal adult offenders before a circle of elders, members of the community, police and the judiciary, rather than a traditional courtroom), with results due in 2020.