Posted on 06/22/2017 11:41:20 AM PDT by real saxophonist
How Weld law enforcement is working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to combat gun crime
In 2016, the new year opened with five shootings in Colorado Springs.
Those shootings were spread across the city, but as police collected evidence from each crime scene, detectives began to suspect they were linked.
Police found similarities on the spent shell casings they gathered. Every shell bears a specific "fingerprint" from the gun from which it was fired, a set of distinctive markings on the shell casing left by the gun. Each gun leaves different markings, making shell casings an effective way to trace suspect guns.
Forensic firearm examination, as this process is known, is nothing new. But southern Colorado law enforcement were able to use new access to a national database, set up by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, to track the suspected guns across multiple shootings. This collection, known as the crime gun intelligence center, gives smaller police departments access to the ATF's computer system, which tracks guns the way DNA databases track people. It's a new collaboration, and police have used it in Denver and Colorado Springs for a few years.
The system will soon become available to police in northern Colorado as well, and the Greeley Police Department is the first local agency to begin work with the ATF on the project.
On June 6, the Greeley City Council voted to allow the Greeley Police Department to partner with the ATF, so officers can use the database to combat gun crime in the city. Greeley police already use forensic firearm investigation to match shell casings to suspect guns, but, Police Chief Jerry Garner said, the new program will give them access to the ATF's nationwide database.
(Excerpt) Read more at greeleytribune.com ...
Have they caught anyone yet?-)
IIRC, the state of Maryland never made a case off of the required collection of shell casings for each gun sold.
Hire more people!
Raises for everybody!
So what do they do if the perp uses a revolver???
And/or picks up similar empties at a gun range and drops them? Ought to be a WhoDunnit using this these. Another is using handgun ammo in a shotgun/rifle adapter.
I doubt how unique this type of “fingerprint” is. Same goes for ballistics.
Just a few minutes with the proper parts and this info is worthless.
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