WHAT IS BALLISTICS IDENTIFICATION TECHNOLOGY?
Technology that lets police who recover ballistics evidence at a crime scene identify the gun that was used or connect it to other crime scenes. • Ballistics evidence includes shell casings – the most valuable form of evidence – and bullets. • If police recover a shell casings or bullets, ballistics technologies can help connect that crime to particular guns and often to perpetrators. EXAMPLES OF BALLISTICS IDENTIFICATION TECHNOLOGY: • Example 1: NIBIN – The nationwide database of crime scene evidence run by ATF. • NIBIN includes evidence recovered from crime scenes, so it may offer a lead by connecting a gun to a prior crime. However, it will not disclose: • What dealer first sold the gun at retail; • Whom they sold it to; • Whether it is registered and, if so, to whom. • NIBIN relies on the tiny marks that a gun leaves on a cartridge when it is fired. • Comparing these marks is very difficult; it is an art as much as a science, and even if a computer identifies a possible match, a fo
