P95Carry
Moderator Emeritus
Fron NRA-ILA today ......
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New York Ballistic Database Firing Blanks?
A database designed to match handguns in New York state to crime scene
evidence has not solved a crime more than three years after its debut.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/w...un03,0,6234238.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire
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New York Ballistic Database Firing Blanks?
A database designed to match handguns in New York state to crime scene
evidence has not solved a crime more than three years after its debut.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/w...un03,0,6234238.story?coll=ny-ap-regional-wire
Don't need to comment much on this except ......Pataki administration officials cite difficulties local police can face in getting crime scene evidence to Albany, where the database is housed. But state officials say they are close to solving the problem through a deal that would allow inquiries made around New York to piggyback on a federal ballistic network.
Since March 2001, identifying information about each new pistol and revolver sold in New York has been entered into the Combined Ballistic Identification System database. Under the system, called CoBIS for short, new guns are fired, casings are collected and the minute markings are cataloged by a computer. Law enforcement officials say the unique markings are like gun "fingerprints" and that bullet casings recovered from crime scenes can potentially be matched with the more than 53,000 guns entered into New York's database. New York and Maryland are the only states operating such databases.
Federal law enforcement officials run a different sort of database containing information on guns used in crimes, as opposed to new guns. The federal National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, called NIBIN, has been credited with thousands of "hits," many of them yielding investigative information. Maryland's database, five months older than New York's, has posted six hits based on more than 160 queries, according to Maryland state police.
New York's database has produced no hits from 203 queries.
Proponents of ballistic databases say New York's system is still relatively young and that it could take years before new, legally purchased guns are used in crimes. New York criminal justice officials said there is a logistical hurdle, too. Since the CoBIS station is at state police headquarters in Albany, investigators in cities like Buffalo or Watertown must transport crime scene casings to Albany for testing.
State officials hope to make their system more accessible by using the eight federal NIBIN stations around New York as entry points for evidence. But federal regulations bar information on new guns from being entered into that system _ rules attributed to the influence of gun advocates concerned over central registries.
Pataki administration officials say they reached a deal with federal officials that would allow crime scene information to be transmitted one-way to the NIBIN station at state police headquarters in Albany. It would then pass through a firewall to the state-run system, where the actual matching would be done.
ATF spokeswoman Sheree Mixell said there is no final agreement yet. But she said talks were continuing with law enforcement officials in New York to assist them in a way that does not violate the law.
Jessica Scaperotti, a spokeswoman for the state Division of Criminal Justice Services, said the Pataki administration is confident that the federal partnership will help realize the "tremendous potential" of CoBIS. "Gun fingerprinting has the power to provide powerful evidence that can solve crimes," she said.
While the administration expects the arrangement to result in new investigative leads, it's not likely to dampen the long-running dispute over ballistic databases. In New York, a recently filed lawsuit challenging the $1.5 million-a-year system alleges that it violates the privacy of gun owners. Others have questioned whether the databases in New York and Maryland will ever be effective.
Walter Rowe, a professor of forensic science at George Washington University, said there are too many ways to get around New York's database. Criminals can buy guns in neighboring states or simply take a file to the gun's breech face, essentially changing the gun's unique "signature." "If one does a cost benefit analysis, this might not have been a wise way to spend public money," Rowe said.
Eric Gorovitz of The Coalition to Stop Gun Violence disputed the contention that criminals can easily foil the database with a file given the wide array of markings the computer looks at. "Even if they did succeed in doing it once in a while, it's still a tool you don't otherwise have," Gorovitz said. "Nobody says, 'People wear gloves. We shouldn't a have a fingerprint database,' It's a preposterous suggestion."
Gorovitz believes a major problem with ballistic databases is that only New York and Maryland have one. They need to be more widespread to be effective, he said.
And where I ask is the logic in that? So - every state has one?? Big deal .. it'll still be a highly expensive and near useless tool ...... minimally effective IMO.Gorovitz believes a major problem with ballistic databases is that only New York and Maryland have one. They need to be more widespread to be effective, he said
