Gun crime and a ‘three-legged stool’

Every crime gun and related piece of evidence holds a story. Parts of the story come from the inside of the gun and parts from the outside.

In order to listen to that story, we must apply the right balance of ‘people, processes and technology’ required to exploit all of the information, from both inside and outside the gun.

For example, from the inside comes important ballistics data transferred to fired bullets and cartridge cases as they come into contact with certain parts of the gun during the discharge process.

On the outside of the gun we find the descriptive data needed to trace its transfer history, and we may well find DNA, fingerprints and other forensic trace evidence as well.

•In terms of ‘people’, they are needed to collect, preserve and transfer evidence, to investigate criminal cases, to conduct forensic testing, to trace guns, analyse data and disseminate intelligence. It also takes people to hear and try criminals’ cases in court and administer justice;

•In terms of ‘processes’, policy leads the way. It takes policy communicated through written and standard operating directives to direct, guide and hold people accountable for doing what they are paid to do. In order for processes to be sustainable, they must be efficient and effective. However, to be of maximum crime-solving value, they must also be timely; and

In terms of ‘technology’, available systems like the UK’s National Ballistics Intelligence Service (NABIS) and the US Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS) can process ballistics data and search it over wide area networks, (for example, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives’ (ATF) National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) in the US) to link crimes, guns and suspects across city, state and national boundaries; in the US there is eTrace for crime gun tracing and analysis, CODIS (Combined DNA Index System) for DNA, the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS), intelligence systems such as the cloud-based crime-tracking system GunOPS and gunshot location systems like Shotspotter.

Two questions that I am often asked are:

1.Which agencies are the most successful in targeting armed criminals and dealing with gun violence? and

2.What are they are doing that makes them so successful?

I will answer question two first: the most successful agencies are those exploiting information from inside and outside crime guns and the evidence they encounter. These agencies are successful because they process the information in a timely and sustainable manner through a balance of skilled people, sound processes and innovative technology.

Hardly a week goes by that I do not read about a police agency [in the US] having a successful programme in place aimed at identifying and stopping armed criminals. In addition to being just plain smart, they represent a very commonsense approach – focusing on the identification, apprehension and prosecution of people who shoot guns to cause harm.

For example, police in Bridgeport and New Haven, Connecticut, US, announced the culmination of successful four-month initiative codenamed Operation Samson led by the ATF. A multi-layered initiative, Operation Samson focused on identifying and stopping armed criminals and those that arm them.

Operation Samson brought together all the right people: investigators, forensic experts and prosecutors at the local, state and federal levels. It involved tried and true processes and investigative techniques, as well as newly-revamped processes for the generation of crime gun intelligence from inside and outside of the crime guns they encountered.

Last, but not least, Operation Samson maximised the use of technology to help its people speed their processes and make them more efficient and effective. An instrumental component of Operation Samson was the IBIS technology used by the Connecticut State Crime Laboratory to conduct electronic searches across the NIBIN network in order to link crimes, guns and suspects.

Operation Samson was a succe