{"id":33274,"date":"2022-06-29T16:12:34","date_gmt":"2022-06-29T16:12:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/?p=33274"},"modified":"2022-06-29T16:12:34","modified_gmt":"2022-06-29T16:12:34","slug":"atf-crime-gun-intelligence-center-to-open-at-wsu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjstudents.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/29\/atf-crime-gun-intelligence-center-to-open-at-wsu\/","title":{"rendered":"ATF Crime Gun Intelligence Center to open at WSU"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is planning to open the Crime Gun Intelligence Center of Excellence at Wichita State University. The largest component of the facility will be the NIBIN National Correlation and Training Center, which will analyze spent firearms casings from crime scenes to see if they were used in other crimes.<\/p>\n


\n Jaime Green
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The Wichita Eagle<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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In a huge win for Wichita State University<\/a>, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives<\/a> is preparing to open a Crime Gun Intelligence Center of Excellence on the school\u2019s Innovation Campus<\/a>. <\/p>\n

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The national center, unlike anything the ATF currently has, is part of its Crime Gun Intelligence strategy. There will be several components to the center. <\/p>\n

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Those include a new center for ballistics analysis; a new home for the ATF\u2019s Crime Gun Intelligence governing board; a new home for the ATF\u2019s Intelligence Research Specialists Academy and other advanced training; and a new facility for crime gun intelligence training for law enforcement and anyone else nationally with a role in investigating firearms-related crimes. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a lot of things,\u201d said George Lauder, assistant director for the ATF\u2019s Office of Field Operations<\/a>. \u201cWe are incredibly excited about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The ATF is leasing the three-story, 54,000-square-foot building just north of NetApp\u2019s new Innovation Campus building<\/a>. Before that building was ready for occupancy, NetApp was temporarily in the space that the ATF is now taking.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great facility,\u201d Lauder said.<\/p>\n

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The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is planning to open the Crime Gun Intelligence Center of Excellence at Wichita State University. The largest component of the facility will be the NIBIN National Correlation and Training Center that will analyze spent firearms casings from crime scenes to see if they were used in other crimes. Courtesy photo<\/span> <\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

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The largest component of the facility will be the NIBIN National Correlation and Training Center within the Center for Excellence, which is how the ATF is referring to the center for short.<\/p>\n

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The Correlation and Training Center will be the second of its kind nationally and the first with ties to a university, which will allow for student involvement through WSU\u2019s School of Criminal Justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis is going to be unique and one of a kind,\u201d said Kristin Brewer, director of the Midwest Criminal Justice Institute<\/a> at WSU.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be a huge opportunity for students.\u201d<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s also going to be an opportunity for a lot more crime solving.<\/p>\n

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NIBIN stands for National Integrated Ballistic Information Network<\/a>. The network is centered around a BrassTRAX machine, which analyzes fired casings from crime scenes and determines if they were used in other crimes.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s basically like a fingerprint system for fired shell casings,\u201d Lauder said.<\/p>\n

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He is the former special agent in charge of the Kansas City Field Division<\/a>, and he said Wichita is a key city within that division, so he spent a lot of time here.<\/p>\n

The Wichita Police Department<\/a> \u201chas always been a great partner,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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In early 2018, Lauder said he was introduced to WSU and found that it has a \u201crobust criminal justice program\u201d and shares a facility with the Wichita Sedgwick County Law Enforcement Training Center, which also is on the Innovation Campus.<\/p>\n

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In 2016, WSU and Wichita Police began talking about getting a BrassTRAX machine for the school and ended up acquiring one in 2019.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt presented a great opportunity for students to get applied learning,\u201d said Brewer, who also is co-director of the Wichita Crime Gun Intelligence Center that houses the BrassTRAX machine.<\/p>\n

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Today, the school is able to help more than 20 area law enforcement agencies analyze recovered casings.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a novel idea,\u201d Lauder said.<\/p>\n

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He said that previously, all BrassTRAX machines were either at police departments or forensic labs.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWichita State has been leading the way in many respects,\u201d Lauder said. \u201cThey recognized, hey, there\u2019s a role for academia here, and I agree.\u201d<\/p>\n

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At least 200 new jobs<\/h3>\n

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The NIBIN center will generate 200 to 250 new jobs, the majority of which will be correlation review specialists.<\/p>\n

The jobs aren\u2019t through the ATF. The ATF contracts with private companies for the workers. <\/p>\n

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Those contracts are still being negotiated, so it\u2019s hard to say exactly what salaries will be, but they likely will be entry-level and mid-level types of pay.<\/p>\n

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Lauder said the hope is to have personnel in place by early October.<\/p>\n

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Employees will take images and analyze casings to determine if they were used in other crimes and send that information back to law enforcement agencies. <\/p>\n

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With about 5,000 people in the bureau, half of whom are special agents, the ATF is the smallest agency within the Department of Justice<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Though its mission includes work with alcohol, tobacco, arson and explosives, about 75% of its work is focused on federal firearms enforcement.<\/p>\n

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There are already almost 10 ATF agents working in Wichita, and there will be additional full-time ATF personnel who coordinate the training academy and research personnel for the new WSU center and people who will lead the programs. <\/p>\n

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Lauder said the Wichita center will be \u201cproviding a service that is helping solve violent crimes in communities across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He said that likely will include crimes in Wichita, too.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of time.\u201d<\/p>\n

How it works<\/h3>\n

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The technology behind a BrassTRAX machine, which takes high-resolution 3D images of the unique markings on fired casings, has been around since the 1990s. Initially, it was used as a tool in laboratories.<\/p>\n

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Lauder said that changed in the last decade when pioneering agents in the field began using it to generate investigative leads.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThrough our analysis, we realized, hey, we can improve how we use these systems, and we evolved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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Software allowed for comparison with other casings in a national database.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so it generates leads,\u201d Lauder said. \u201cYou still need a human to look at those exemplars and make determinations.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He said it\u2019s not like DNA that conclusively points to a person. However, it does connect a fired casing to a weapon.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt has been eye-opening to see how productive the technology has been in these last 10 years,\u201d Lauder said. \u201cWe forever connect crime scenes that were seemingly unrelated.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The first national correlation center opened<\/a> in Huntsville, Ala., in 2019. Initially, that center had 45 correlation review specialists who examined 200 casings a day. Now, 200 review specialists examine 1,700 casings a day.<\/p>\n

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There are 248 sites around country using the machines, some of which do their own correlations.<\/p>\n

There is a waiting list for law enforcement agencies to be added to the national center. The second center in Wichita will change that.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe will eliminate the wait list and whatever sites come on in the future,\u201d Lauder said. \u201cWe will be able to accommodate them at least for the foreseeable future.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Typically, results are ready in 72 hours, though often it\u2019s quicker than that. Lauder said he expects wait times will be reduced with the extra center.<\/p>\n

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He said it also is important to have a second facility in case of an electrical or natural disaster.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe didn\u2019t want to have a single point of failure,\u201d Lauder said. \u201cThis second site is going to ensure that there is redundancy between the two sites.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018It only makes sense\u2019<\/h3>\n

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In addition to the work that specialists will do with imaging casings, Lauder said the new center will train future intelligence research specialists. <\/p>\n

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\u201cIt will become our national academy for that job series.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He said intelligence analysts help make sense of information and provide that to field offices and work with agents and investigators on cases.<\/p>\n

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Also, Lauder said all kinds of police departments and other law enforcement centers nationally will send people to the Center of Excellence to share the latest crime-fighting technology and processes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the Center for Crime Gun Intelligence,\u201d he said. \u201cIt only makes sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He said it also makes sense for Wichita to be the permanent home for the ATF\u2019s Crime Gun Intelligence governing board.<\/p>\n

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The board is comprised of national police chiefs and representatives of U.S. attorneys and laboratories involved in crime fighting. It oversees Crime Gun Intelligence processes for the ATF and ensures standards and consistency nationally.<\/p>\n

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Lauder said the ATF\u2019s partnership with academia in creating the Center of Excellence also will create an environment \u201cwhere we can learn from each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

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He said there are other potential partnerships. There are no concrete plans to do anything specific, Lauder said, \u201cBut we certainly hope that those ideas come in very short order.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that the community is supportive of that sort of service we provide,\u201d he said. \u201cWichita has always been a great place for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\u2018A rich history\u2019<\/h3>\n

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Brewer said WSU has one of the oldest criminal justice programs in the country. <\/p>\n

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\u201cWe offer a rich history mixed with innovation and applied learning . . . as well as technology,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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The school offers degrees in criminal justice, forensics science and homeland security.<\/p>\n

WSU is starting its third year of teaching a NIBIN class, which is cross-listed between the forensics science and criminal justice programs. Brewer said WSU is the first university to create a NIBIN course of study.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis collaboration is important to WSU.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Brewer said the center supports WSU President Rick Muma\u2019s priorities of fueling the talent pipeline in the region, diversifying and boosting the state\u2019s economy through innovation, education and applied learning and entering a new era of digital transformation.<\/p>\n

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In addition to helping students and creating internship and job possibilities for them, she said Wichita police and WSU recognized the need for NIBIN to reduce violent crime.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThis provides opportunities to help law enforcement across the nation, not just here locally,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just a great partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Lauder said he can\u2019t take credit for the Center for Excellence name, but he said he thinks it\u2019s a fitting one.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe believe that this is going to be a huge benefit for the entire country.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Carrie Rengers has been a reporter for more than three decades, including almost 20 years at The Wichita Eagle. Her Have You Heard? column of business scoops runs five days a week in The Eagle. If you have a tip, please e-mail or tweet her or call 316-268-6340.<\/span>\n <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<\/div><\/div>\n