Agencies can clear an incident in one of two ways: by arrest or by exceptional means.

The first arrest on any incident clears all offenses on the incident, as every suspect listed as an offender on an incident is assumed to have committed or acted in concert to commit every offense on the incident. Exceptional clearances are used when an agency has essentially solved the crime(s) but the suspect will not be arrested. The FBI’s criteria for an agency to exceptionally clear an incident are:

1. The agency’s investigation must have clearly and definitively established the identity of at least one offender, and

2. The agency has enough information to support an arrest, charge, and turning over to the court for prosecution, and

3. The agency knows the exact location of the offender, but

4. There is a reason outside control of the agency preventing the arrest, charging, and turning over for prosecution:

Death of offender
Prosecution declined (by the prosecutor for other than lack of probable cause to arrest)
In custody of other jurisdiction (includes extradition denied)
Victim refused to cooperate in the prosecution
Juvenile/No Custody (the handling of a juvenile without taking him/her into custody, but rather by oral or written notice given to the parents or legal guardian in a case involving a minor offense, such as petty larceny)

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