Crime Gun Intel Center Resources

The Crime Gun Intelligence Center initiative began in 2013, when the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms, Tobacco and Explosives (ATF) and the Denver Police Department (DPD), created a partnership to improve the way in which NIBIN hits are developed and investigated. The initiative is funded in part through DOJ’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) Program. The initiative is an interagency collaboration within the Denver Metropolitan region, and now includes additional police departments, District Attorney’s Offices, United States Attorney’s Office, U.S. Marshals Service, and a division within the Colorado Department of Corrections. The partnership focuses on the collection, management, and analysis of crime gun data from NIBIN and eTrace, in order to produce timely and actionable information on trigger pullers to prevent additional shootings. In the fall of 2014, ATF funded the implementation of a three-square-mile ShotSpotter acoustic gunshot detection system, in order to enhance the effectiveness of the CGIC.

The key to success in the Denver GCIC process is timely ballistics testing- including collection, entry, correlation, and confirmation of hits within 24 to 48 hours following cartridge collection. This allows for timely lead generation and analytical work, which ultimately establishes case linkages and identifies shooters. From 2013 to late 2016, the CGIC team linked over 170 shootings through NIBIN, resulting in 66 state arrests, 24 prosecutions for U.S. federal firearms violations, and 27 referrals to the joint criminal enforcement group for further investigation. Additionally, the CGIC team has generated 20 officer safety bulletins involving shooting suspects and facilitated five revocations of parole. ATF IOIs assigned to the CGIC have provided three referrals to the field for targeted inspections of FFL holders identified as being sources of crime guns.

Kansas City, MO, has a significant gun problem that jeopardizes the public health and well-being of its citizens. It has consistently struggled with violent crime, even though it is not among the nation’s largest metropolitan cities (FBI, 2014; 2015). Kansas City reported a 20% increase in aggravated assaults from 2014 to 2015 (KCPD Annual Report, 2015; InfoView Report, 2016), of those 25% were committed with a firearm. The number of aggravated assaults committed with a firearm in 2015 rose to 1190, nearly a 28% increase from 2014 (LERC, Aggravated Assaults, 2016). In an effort to focus resources, the Kansas City Police Department’s (KCPD) Law Enforcement Resource Center (LERC), in conjunction with the Midwest Crime Gun Intelligence Center (CGIC), has identified a “Hot Zone”, where a disproportionately high percentage of aggravated assaults and homicides involving a firearm as well as drive by shootings occur. The Hot Zone represents approximately 10% of the city, by area. In the past two years, 71% of all firearm-related aggravated assaults have occurred in the Hot Zone (LERC, Crime Map, 2016). In the past five years, nearly 76% of the homicides committed with a firearm and 77% of the recorded “drive-by shootings” occurred in the Hot Zone (LERC, Analysis of Drive-By Shootings, 2015; KCPD Homicide Analysis, 2014; KCPD Homicide Analysis, 2015).

Under the Kansas City Crime Gun Intelligence Center Initiative, the KCPD and CGIC partners will fully implement the CGIC process that is in line with the Denver Model (White and Franey, 2014). KCPD will increase the frequency of evidence collection from district stations for NIBIN entry, will assign KCPD investigators and ATF special agents to the CGIC; will improve lab analysis turnaround time; will increase collaboration with state and local prosecutors’ offices and parole and probation; will work with CGIC researchers to measure outcomes; and will leverage existing analytical capacities.

Despite years of decreases in violent crime, violent crime increased in Los Angeles from 2014 through April of 2016, by 14.3 % from 2013 through 2014 and by 21% from 2014 through 2015. Specifically, from January 1 to March 31, 2016, 185 people were shot, and over 38 people were killed in gun and gang violence. In 2015 and 2016, four divisions that make up only 17% of the city’s geographic population accounted for 34% of all violent crime in Los Angeles and 50% of its murders. In order to combat violent crime, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) developed a strategy that incorporates community partnerships, proactive deployment of officers, and the use of data-driven, evidence-based tactics. The establishment of the Los Angeles Crime Gun Intelligence Center (CGIC) will greatly improve the existing strategy by focusing its efforts in the most violent area of the city, within the 77th Street Division.

Under the Los Angeles CGIC Initiative, the LAPD will work closely with its partners to reduce violent crime and gun crime, increase the production of timely and actionable information regarding violent crime, enhance collaboration among agencies in Los Angeles, and develop and implement Focused Deterrence to prevent gun-related crimes, among other goals. The LAPD will work with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the LAPD intelligence analyst, and the JSS research analyst to conduct NIBIN analysis, gun crime tracing, and identification and arrest of armed criminals. A focused deterrence team comprised of law enforcement and community-based organizations will identify prospective clients for call-ins and work together to prevent and mitigate criminal offending with a firearm. A team of prosecutors comprised of members of the USAO, Los Angeles City Attorney (LACA), and Los Angeles District Attorney (LADA) will develop an overall strategy and work with the LAPD to review arrests, determine filing items, and manage offender cases. Finally, LAPD’s research partner, Justice & Security Strategies, will work with the LA CGIC to evaluate the effectiveness of its efforts.

The city of Milwaukee has historically been afflicted with high levels of firearm violence, fed by a steady source of firearms from commercial retailers, gun shows, stolen firearms, and internet based selling platforms. Milwaukee suffered a 42% increase in total violent crime between 2011 and 2015, and has the second highest violent crime rate per 100,000 U.S. residents. In order to combat firearm violence, the Milwaukee Police Department (MPD) implemented the ShotSpotter gunshot location system, as well as embedded the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network within their Intelligence Fusion Center. In 2014, the MPD and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) entered into a collaborative effort to reduce gun violence through the creation of a Crime Gun Intelligence Center (CGIC).

Despite MPD’s significant efforts and progress towards implementing the Denver CGIC model, more is needed to improve system deficiencies, increase operational capacity by NIBIN/CGIC focused personnel, and provide enhanced real-time comprehensive NIBIN leads to the Milwaukee CGIC Task Force, MPD personnel, and other partners. To this end, the Milwaukee CGIC Initiative will focus on personnel expansion, improving program infrastructure, overtime, crime analyst training, and community outreach focused deterrence programs, with the assistance of multiple partners. Collaboration among different agencies is key in this initiative, and partners include the ATF, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office, and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Research partners include the Police Foundation and George Mason University’s Center for Evidence-Based Crime Policy’s Dr. Christopher Koper, and these partners will work with CGICs to obtain data for effective performance measurement.

The City of Phoenix has experienced a significant increase in violent crime over the past few years. Many of these violent crimes have resulted in homicides, aggravated assaults and robberies which generally have a firearm nexus. In order to address violent gun crime, the Phoenix Police Department (PPD) has worked closely with other agencies in the Phoenix area and has developed the Phoenix Metro NIBIN Program. This program incorporates 26 different agencies from around the state that enter their shell casing information into the PPD-based system. This collaborative approach facilitates cross-jurisdictional investigations of gun-related crimes and has been an extremely successful and productive program for all participating agencies. In order to enhance this and other existing strategies and to develop new gun crime reduction strategies, the Phoenix Police Department (PPD) and partners will establish a Phoenix Crime Gun Intelligence Center (CGIC).

The PPD will model the CGIC developed in Denver, Colorado by developing a workflow process/ investigative process that includes patrol, NIBIN, case detectives, the PPD Gun Squad and ATF operational manpower. In developing the CGIC, the PPD will form an Executive Steering Committee that will involve a broad collaboration that includes partners from the Phoenix Metro NIBIN program, county and federal prosecutors, community organizations, ATF subject matter experts and a research partner from the Arizona State University. These partners will develop processes and make them into protocols and policies to support the CGIC operations.

Over the past two years, Washington, DC has experienced an increase in the proportion of gun-related violent crime.* Between 2014 and 2015, homicides in the city increased by 54 percent. While the number of homicides declined in 2016 when compared to 2015, the proportion of gun-related homicides continues to rise. In 2014, firearm-related homicides comprised 69 percent of all homicides and in 2015, 76 percent of all homicides were associated with guns. That number increased to 78 percent in 2016. These gun crimes are concentrated in several neighborhoods in the District, impeding development in these areas even while other parts of the city experience an economic boom.

A major contributing factor to gun crime in Washington, DC is the availability of guns in surrounding jurisdictions. An ATF report on firearms recovered and traced in Washington, DC shows that in 2014, more than 50 percent of guns recovered in the District with known source states were traced back to Maryland or Virginia.** Less than five percent of guns recovered in Washington, DC originated in the District.

Under the Washington, DC Crime Gun Intelligence Center (CGIC) Initiative, the Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) will work closely with local and federal partners, including the DC Department of Forensic Sciences (DFS), the United States Attorney’s Office (USAO), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), and surrounding jurisdictions to target and reduce gun crime. CGIC partner agencies will work to:

1. Ensure the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) and eTrace databases contain comprehensive data;
2. Coordinate investigations that span jurisdictional boundaries;
3. Mitigate intelligence gaps among agencies; and
4. Facilitate violent crime investigations and prosecutions, among other objectives.

To achieve these objectives, executive partners, including senior managers from the MPD, DFS, USAO, and ATF, will meet to discuss the status of NIBIN and CGIC operations and end user needs on a quarterly basis. Tactical team partners, including ATF and MPD enforcement groups, will conduct the daily operations of the CGIC. Research partners will coordinate with CGIC analysts to obtain the appropriate data for effective performance measurement. MPD serves as the lead agency for the CGIC initiative, with continued support from the ATF, DFS, PGPD, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA), and USAO.

*Violent crime is defined as homicide, assault with a dangerous weapon (ADWs), and robbery.
**Source: https://www.atf.gov/about/docs/report/district-columbia-firearms-trace-data-%E2%80%93-2014/download