BALLISTIC INTELLIGENCE PROGRAM
Mission
The Ballistic Intelligence Program of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) was created in April 2010 to manage intelligence generated from ATF’s National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN). In this program, ATF collects, analyzes and reports every ballistic intelligence match in ATF’s case management system in order to identify violent gangs and criminal organizations for federal investigation. In addition, ATF’s Ballistic Intelligence Program works to promote law enforcement agency comprehensive ballistic information submissions for NIBIN entry.
Goals
- Promote law enforcement agency ballistic information submissions,
- Collect, report, analyze, and share ballistic intelligence,
- Promote investigation of ballistic intelligence leads.
Law Enforcement Agency Participation
Law enforcement agencies are asked to submit all of their ballistic information to a NIBIN partner for entry onto the network. This includes fired ammunition evidence from crime scenes and test fires of crime guns (any firearm that is illegally possessed, used in a crime, or suspected by law enforcement officials of having been used in a crime). Submitting fired ammunition evidence is important as the higher the percentage of evidence entered on the network, the higher the ballistic match success rate.
Law enforcement agencies investigate ballistic intelligence matches (NIBIN hits
) in order to solve, reduce, and prevent violent crimes. Organizing a standard and simple hit notification protocol for investigators, as well as instituting investigator reporting requirements for the status and outcome of investigations are equally important.
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