ATF’s Sophisticated Crime Gun Intelligence Capabilities

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) has some really impressive capabilities when it comes to gathering and analyzing intelligence around crime guns. This allows them to detect patterns, make connections, and ultimately prevent violent crime involving firearms. Let’s take a look at what they can do!

Crime Gun Intelligence Centers

ATF operates regional Crime Gun Intelligence Centers (CGICs) across the country. These centers take all the data from crime gun traces and ballistics tests in their region and analyze it to identify trends, patterns, and leads that can help solve crimes. The CGICs use special software and databases to make connections that individual police departments might miss. For example, they can link a gun used in a shooting in City A to another shooting last month in City B, even if local police didn’t realize the shootings were related. Pretty cool right?

By taking this bird’s eye regional view, the ATF CGICs can spot gun trafficking patterns and provide actionable leads to local law enforcement. The CGICs also share intelligence bulletins to ensure different jurisdictions are aware of crime gun trends in their region. This big picture perspective allows them to take a preventative approach by identifying suspects and getting crime guns off the streets before they can be used again.

National Integrated Ballistic Information Network

A key tool the ATF uses is the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN). This system allows firearms technicians to acquire digital images of the markings made on fired bullets and cartridge casings and compare those images to others in the database. It’s kind of like a fingerprint database for guns!

When officers recover crime guns and shell casings from a crime scene, they can submit them to an ATF lab to be entered into NIBIN. The system scans for matches, which can link different crimes that may have involved the same gun. These leads allow investigators to connect cases more quickly and potentially get violent offenders off the streets before they can reoffend.

Trace Data and Gun Trafficking Analysis

ATF also manages a program called eTrace, which lets law enforcement submit trace requests on guns they recover. This provides information on where and when the gun was manufactured, shipped, and first sold by a licensed dealer. Trace data helps identify potential traffickers, patterns like buying from the same dealer, and other investigative leads.

By combining trace data with other sources like FFL records, ATF can conduct sophisticated analysis to identify high volume traffickers operating across different jurisdictions. Their analysis can also show how guns move between states and connect traffickers to violent criminals using those guns. This intelligence allows ATF to disrupt trafficking networks and stop the flow of illegal guns.

Partnerships with Local Law Enforcement

A key part of ATF’s crime gun strategy involves integrating with local agencies’ investigation efforts. ATF partners with departments to share intelligence, provide leads, and conduct joint investigations aimed at taking down trafficking rings and getting crime guns off the street. They also provide local agencies with tools and training to aid their ballistics and tracing capabilities.

In recent years, ATF has worked to expand these local partnerships and integration. For example, in 2019 they awarded funding for agencies to assign local officers to the CGICs to facilitate seamless collaboration. They’ve also helped open new CGICs in cities like Columbus to expand their intelligence footprint.

Using Technology to Make Connections

ATF utilizes advanced technologies like AI, geospatial analytics, and predictive algorithms to derive insights from massive amounts of trace data. Link analysis tools help visualize connections between buyers, sellers, and guns used in different crimes across multiple jurisdictions. This technology amplifies ATF’s ability to spot patterns and trafficking networks that agents might have missed.

ATF also runs ballistics intelligence experiments using newer technologies like 3D imaging and machine learning image analysis. The goal is to extract more distinct markings from shell casings and bullets to increase NIBIN’s ability to detect links between cases. As technology evolves, ATF is leveraging it to get smarter and faster at connecting the dots.

The Impact of Crime Gun Intelligence

By leveraging crime gun intelligence, ATF provides invaluable support to local law enforcement and helps save lives. Their regional perspective helps solve crimes and identify dangerous offenders. Analyzing trace data shines a light on trafficking networks that funnel illegal guns into communities. Technological tools uncover patterns in the data to generate leads.

Most importantly, by identifying crime guns and traffickers before they can perpetrate more violence, ATF’s capabilities prevent future deaths and injuries. Their use of intelligence represents a shift towards proactive enforcement and stopping crimes before they occur, not just solving them after the fact. This approach has incredible potential to reduce gun violence and make our communities safer.