GunsBullet-tracing technology helps nab criminals

Published 23 October 2014

Firing a gun leaves a unique carving on each bullet, what some police officers refer to as the gun’s DNA. The Minneapolis Police Department(MPD) has upgraded its bullet-tracing technology, or integrated ballistic identification solution (IBIS), quickly to match bullets to different crimes around the city, and soon around the country. The National Integrated Ballistic Information Network(NIBIN) is a national database of bullets and shell castings that shares information on the markings left on a bullet after it passes through a gun’s chamber.

The Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) has upgraded its bullet-tracing technology, or integrated ballistic identification solution (IBIS), quickly to match bullets to different crimes around the city, and soon around the country. The National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) is a national database of bullets and shell castings that shares information on the markings left on a bullet after it passes through a gun’s chamber.

Firing a gun leaves a unique carving on each bullet, what some police officers refer to as the gun’s DNA. Three-dimensional images of the markings are entered into the NIBIN and cross-referenced with thousands of other gun cases across the Minneapolis-St. Paul region. “We try to figure out who’s pulling the trigger, who’s committing the crimes, who’s got information that they can share,” MPD Deputy Chief Kris Arneson said.

Police are currently using the database, funded with the help of a $300,000 grant from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), to track the gun and assailant from an August shooting at a downtown nightclub. The Star Tribune reports that evidence collected at the scene has already linked the gun to at least eight other shootings.

Jeffrey Magee, assistant special agent in charge of the ATF’s St. Paul office said the upgrade is part of the White House’s initiative to reduce violent crime. Currently MPD and the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension are the only two law enforcement agencies in Minnesota with this latest upgrade to their IBIS systems. More widespread use of the system will enable law enforcement across the country to link more guns to crimes.

If a gun is recovered near a crime scene, police can test-fire the weapon and run the bullet markings though the NIBIN network to see if it is linked to other crimes. “We have incidents where we have connected fourteen shootings — including just regular shots fired where no one is struck — to a murder. We can connect that all to one gun,” Arneson said.

The old IBIS system has helped MPD match more than 1,500 bullets, and now that number is expected to increase. “This is fifteen years newer technology and the results come back a lot better,” forensic firearms technician Timothy Sittlow said. “Without this information and all the hits we’ve had, investigators wouldn’t have the leads that are generated by this,” Sittlow said.