Investigating Gun Crime: Integrating Sound, Smell and Sight
Posted by Pete Gagliardi on Mon, Nov 28, 2011
There are many innovative gun violence reduction programs in operation across cities around the world today.
Some cities have programs which utilize acoustics technology to pinpoint the sound of gun fire and immediately dispatch police officers to the scene. Others employ K-9 teams to sniff out firearms and fired evidence. Still others rely upon automated ballistics technology systems like IBIS to electronically see and compare marks on fired bullets and cartridge cases to help link crimes, guns and suspects.
Some cities utilize all three which is certainly a good practice. The question is: Is it done in such a manner as to make it a “best practice”.
In my book, The 13 Critical Tasks: An Inside-Out Approach to Solving More Gun Crime, I identify a series of crucial tasks and best practices for responding to crimes involving the misuse of firearms.
I believe that we can find the answer to the question posed above in Critical Task #2: Integrating Programs. In much the same way that the main support cables of a suspension bridge are formed by weaving together many smaller cables to combine and leverage their individual strengths, we should do the same thing with our violence reduction programs as an overall best practice.
In testing this hypothesis, I did not have to look much further than my own backyard and to former colleagues for a real world example.
Boston Police and Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) have teamed up to integrate three programs involving sound, smell and sight. Simply put, it works like this: When a gun is fired in certain areas of Boston, acoustic detection sensors help to “spot the shot” and notify police who dispatch patrol officers to the scene. An ATF sponsored K-9 Team shows up and the dog begins to sniff out the evidence left behind such as firearms and fired ammunition components.
Should the K-9 Teams find guns, fired bullets or cartridge cases they are processed through the IBIS system at Boston PD where digital images of the critical identifying marks are viewed, preserved and searched against the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) - another program of the ATF in which the Boston PD is an active partner.
What Boston PD and the ATF have done is to take individual programs which by themselves make good practices and integrate them in order to make a Best Practice.
