Dallas ATF: How crime is solved using a high-tech system

LEWISVILLE, Texas — Ever marvel how police departments throughout North Texas join crimes via the weapons getting used on the streets? It’s not a easy course of. 

WFAA went contained in the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) to indicate you the way officers do it. 

ATF’s constructing is tucked away in Lewisville with a aim to maintain everybody protected.

“Create protected communities. We know the clock is ticking as a result of these of us will proceed to offend,’’ Jamey Vanvlit, the particular agent in cost.

Cody Sorrells is a supervisor for the crime gun enforcement workforce.

“Every gun tells a story,’’ mentioned Sorrells.

Telling these tales takes a lot of effort and time. Shell casings are learn by the NIBIN system, often known as the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network.

We examined a shell casing that led us to a case in January, on the Walmart Supercenter in Lewisville.

“There is a man getting out of his automobile and has an unintended discharge,’’ defined Sorrells.

Police took the gun and casings, they usually ran it via NIBIN.

Sorrells took WFAA into a particular room the place the casing is examined.

As they run them via the NIBIN system, they’re in search of particular markings.

“The marking the firearm leaves on a fireplace cartridge case, is primarily the hearth fingerprint of a firearm,’’ mentioned Vanvlit.

Finding these markings isn’t simple.

“We see there is a lead, a connection. A connection made greater than 50 miles away,’’ mentioned Vanvlit.

The gun within the Lewisville incident was linked to a murder case. 

A murder case the place the identical gun was utilized in an unsolved homicide of a homeless man a yr in the past.

“Was seemingly used within the homicide that was on Jan. 25, 2021,’’ mentioned Sorrells. 

While NIBIN brings justice for households, the machine helps inform a a lot larger story.

The machines not solely assist resolve day-to-day crimes, however additionally they assist native and federal regulation enforcement with different crime tendencies which are taking place throughout North Texas.

Each time a shell casing is linked to a crime, pink dots on the map seem brighter.

“Are there new hotspots popping up on the town? Are there names which are developing again and again? That’s how we get our serial shooters,’’ mentioned Sorrells.

Getting to that step takes a devoted analyst, who spends hours behind the pc each spec.

“Tiny, microscopic instrument marks that assist determine and link these cartridge circumstances throughout crime scenes,’’ mentioned Vanvlit.

Behind each taking pictures, a household is left struggling.

“NIBIN helps deliver intel collectively and businesses collectively to work towards the widespread aim of decreasing violent crime,’’ mentioned Vanvlit.