HOUSTON, June 23 ATF-HPD-commended
HOUSTON, June 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) today presented an award to Laboratory Director Irma Rios of the Houston Police Department (HPD) for the exemplary performance of the HPD Firearms Laboratory, which recently exceeded the 700 "hits" level.
The HPD firearms laboratory utilizes computerized ballistic imaging equipment provided by ATF. The Integrated Ballistic Identification System (IBIS) unit allows firearms examiners to enter and digitize ballistic evidence into the system which correlates them against earlier entries. "Hits" are matches between evidence from different crimes.
"The HPD Firearms Laboratory should be commended for this accomplishment because only six other firearms laboratories in the United States have achieved this level of success," said Dewey Webb, Special Agent in Charge of ATF Houston Field Division, during a Houston City Council Public Safety Committee meeting.
This system is linked throughout the United States via the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN). ATF has currently deployed 201 pieces of equipment to active sites in firearms laboratories worldwide. Since ATF and its partner agencies have begun utilizing this technology, over 1, 200,000 pieces of evidence nationwide and over 26,000 by HPD have been entered. More than 25,000 "hits" have been logged nationwide, many yielding investigative information not obtainable by other means.
For more information go to www.atf.gov/firearms or www.nibin.gov.
CONTACT: Franceska Perot, Ph.D., of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, +1-281-372-2908, cell: +1-281-914-8124
SOURCE Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
