Ohio takes high tech approach to solving violent crimes
Ohio is taking a high tech approach to getting violent criminals off the streets.Thursday afternoon, Gov. Mike DeWine joined Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Ohio State Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Richard Fambro to announce a joint initiative that will give local law enforcement officers increased access to technology to help them identify criminals responsible for deadly shootings and other incidents of gun violence in the state.As part of the new Ohio Ballistics Testing Initiative, the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s Office of Criminal Justice Services will award a total of $10.5 million to the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) and Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) to increase the number of National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) units in Ohio from seven to 16. The joint initiative will provide more opportunities for law enforcement to submit firearm evidence for scientific analysis, while simultaneously decreasing turnaround time on testing results. “We must do more to hold accountable the small number of dangerous criminals who are responsible for most of the gun violence in our state— the convicted felons who have lost their right to possess firearms, yet they continue to carry and use guns to hurt and kill people,” DeWine said. “By more than doubling the number of NIBIN units in Ohio, we’ll give our local law enforcement partners easier access to this crime-solving technology to help develop investigative leads that result in arrests.”Firearm forensic scientists use NIBIN to analyze microscopic markings on bullets and shell casings associated with criminal investigations and compare them to firearm evidence connected to other crimes. A match indicates that the same firearm may have been used in multiple shootings, and law enforcement can use this information as an investigative lead. “Every bad guy’s gun tells a story – and that story leads back to the bad guy. But it takes science and data and technology to be able to read that story,” Yost said. “Today’s initiative means more bad guys in prison, where they belong, and fewer guns where they don’t.”In the last 18 months in Ohio, DeWine said more than 1000 people have been injured in shootings and another 650 were killed.He said shell casings are often recovered from crime scenes and never tested or even entered into the database.By making the NIBIN technology readily available at no cost to local departments, the hope is more crimes can be solved.”As a result of this, current shooting cases will be solved faster, future shootings will be prevented and lives will be saved,” DeWine said.
Ohio is taking a high tech approach to getting violent criminals off the streets.
Thursday afternoon, Gov. Mike DeWine joined Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost and Ohio State Highway Patrol Superintendent Col. Richard Fambro to announce a joint initiative that will give local law enforcement officers increased access to technology to help them identify criminals responsible for deadly shootings and other incidents of gun violence in the state.
As part of the new Ohio Ballistics Testing Initiative, the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s Office of Criminal Justice Services will award a total of $10.5 million to the Ohio Attorney General’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI) and Ohio State Highway Patrol (OSHP) to increase the number of National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) units in Ohio from seven to 16.
The joint initiative will provide more opportunities for law enforcement to submit firearm evidence for scientific analysis, while simultaneously decreasing turnaround time on testing results.
“We must do more to hold accountable the small number of dangerous criminals who are responsible for most of the gun violence in our state— the convicted felons who have lost their right to possess firearms, yet they continue to carry and use guns to hurt and kill people,” DeWine said. “By more than doubling the number of NIBIN units in Ohio, we’ll give our local law enforcement partners easier access to this crime-solving technology to help develop investigative leads that result in arrests.”
Firearm forensic scientists use NIBIN to analyze microscopic markings on bullets and shell casings associated with criminal investigations and compare them to firearm evidence connected to other crimes. A match indicates that the same firearm may have been used in multiple shootings, and law enforcement can use this information as an investigative lead.
“Every bad guy’s gun tells a story – and that story leads back to the bad guy. But it takes science and data and technology to be able to read that story,” Yost said. “Today’s initiative means more bad guys in prison, where they belong, and fewer guns where they don’t.”
In the last 18 months in Ohio, DeWine said more than 1000 people have been injured in shootings and another 650 were killed.
He said shell casings are often recovered from crime scenes and never tested or even entered into the database.
By making the NIBIN technology readily available at no cost to local departments, the hope is more crimes can be solved.
“As a result of this, current shooting cases will be solved faster, future shootings will be prevented and lives will be saved,” DeWine said.
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