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Police collecting 'gun DNA' to help solve crimes
Josey1
Member Posts: 9,598 ✭✭
Police collecting 'gun DNA' to help solve crimes Associated PressThough a bullet casing looks smooth to the naked eye, that same shell looks like a scarred lunar surface in the magnified images called up on computer screens at the crime lab. By MICHAEL HILLAssociated Press11/25/2001ALBANY - For the past nine months, state troopers at selected sites have been loading new handguns, firing rounds into steel water tanks and collecting the spent casings. Minute markings on the brass shells are identified and digitized for storage in an electronic ballistics database. The idea is that each casing carries marks unique to the handgun it's fired from, hence the nickname "gun DNA." Police hope that this high-tech database will help investigators match evidence found at crime scenes with particular handguns. No crimes have been solved through New York's database - it debuted in March and is still getting up to size. But it's growing quickly, with more than 10,000 entries so far. "As the database grows in size and in time, we'll have more opportunities and we'll hopefully start seeing some success," said Lt. Mark Heller of the State Police Forensic Investigation Center. New York's Combined Ballistic Identification System - called CoBIS - was signed into law by Gov. George E. Pataki in August 2000 as part of a larger gun control package. The ballistics law covers only new pistols and revolvers sold to people in New York. New York became the second state with such a ballistics database, after Maryland. Both use the same type of computer software, which discerns idiosyncratic marks imprinted on bullet casings when a gun is fired. A 9mm bullet casing looks shiny and smooth to the naked eye. But that same shell looks like a scarred lunar surface in the magnified black-and-white images called up on computer screens at the State Police crime lab. "There's a lot of information that can be inferred here - little scratches, imperfections," Heller said. These images are encoded so that they can be compared to other images in the database. Enter a casing found at a crime scene, and the computer will come up with the closest matches. State Police Lt. Col. Steven Cumoletti said 41 gunmakers - including major ones like Smith & Wesson, Ruger and Glock - are complying with the state law. He said gun manufacturers will provide an envelope containing spent shells with the handgun in about eight out of every 10 sales. In those cases where gunmakers don't comply, dealers wishing to sell a gun must make appointments at one of seven regional CoBIS centers around the state for a test firing. Gun dealers complain about the time they have to spend on test-firing appointments. Dan Bedell said it can take three hours round-trip from his shop in Lancaster to the firing center in Batavia. "It's not very good for a small businessman like myself," said Bedell, owner of Dan Bedell's Firearms & Gunsmithing. "I'm self-employed, and I have to take time out, which I can't get compensated for." A spokesman for Smith & Wesson said the state laws in Maryland and New York effectively double the time new guns spend on the company's test range. Workers can no longer just sweep up used casings, said spokesman Ken Jorgensen. "It adds cost to the product," he said. "The consumer ends up paying for it in the end." Despite qualms from the gun industry, other states are considering the idea. Heller said there have been inquiries about New York's system from officials in Connecticut and Massachusetts. A number of states have legislative proposals to create ballistics databases. http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20011125/1021456.asp
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