This dataset contains summary information on opioid drug seizures and arrests made by Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) personnel, stationed statewide, on a quarterly basis. Every effort is made to collect and record all opioid drug seizures and arrests however, the information provided may not represent the totality of all seizures and opioid arrests made by PSP personnel.
Data is currently available from January 1, 2013 through most current data available.
Seizure
Opioids seized as a result of undercover buys, search warrants, traffic stops and other investigative encounters.
An incident is a Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) recorded violation of the Controlled Substance Act and an entry into the PSP Statistical Narcotics System.
By regulation, entry is made by the PSP as stated in PSP Administrative Regulation 9-6:
When violations of The Controlled Substance, Drug, Device and Cosmetic Act are reported, the required statistical information concerning the incident shall be entered into the Statistical Narcotic Reporting System (SNRS).
Incidents may include undercover buys, search warrants, traffic stops and other investigative encounters
So, an “incident” is not based on any arrest, but on a reported violation, though it often can include arrests.
The incidents that are selected and forwarded to the portal are those that include a record of one or more seizures of the opioid drugs. In turn, a subset of those selected incidents also contains a record of one or more arrests.
This is PSP data only, it would not include any Federal case/incident data.

Three different measures of recidivism (rearrest, reincarceration, and overall recidivism) have been used by the DOC in a recent report to further explore the effects of recidivism on the criminal justice system. The DOC defines rearrest as: “the first instance of arrest after the individual is released from the custody of the DOC.” The DOC defines reincarceration as: “the first instance of returning to the custody of the DOC after the individual is released from the DOC.” The DOC defines overall recidivism as: “the first instance of any type of rearrest or reincarceration after the individual is released from the DOC.”

- The 3-year rearrest rates have been consistently higher than the 3-year reincarceration rates.
- The overall recidivism rates have remained relatively stable.
- From 2000 to 2013, rearrest rates appear to grow consistently before trending downward in recent years (e.g. 3-year rate has been below 50.0% in 4 of the last 5 years).
- The 2013 3-year reincarceration rate was down slightly at 43.7%, still lower than all the 3-year rates prior to 2008.
- The 2013 3-year overall recidivism rate dropped to 60.9%. This was the second lowest overall recidivism rate in the past 13 years (with 2011 being lowest at 59.9%)
- The 2015 1-year rates were all up slightly.

These statistics are based on a cohort of inmates.

The effects of the opioid epidemic on the criminal justice system are visible in arrests and convictions involving distribution of opioids and reported use of opioids among inmates entering state prisons. Tracking the number of arrests and convictions involving opioids provides a picture of the opioid epidemic across our counties and by age and gender. Likewise, the impact of the epidemic can be seen in the number of incarcerated people who report use of opioids.