The Peoria County Sheriff’s Office now has its own equipment to use updated technology for testing evidence in shooting investigations.
Sheriff Chris Watkins announced the launch of his department’s National Integrated Ballistic Information Network [NIBIN] program, becoming the only sheriff’s office in Illinois with its own system.
After working through other police departments and agencies over the past five years to use the network, Watkins said the direct access will speed up their ballistic identification process with gun-related homicides and other firearm crimes.
“Within hours we can get data back, it just depends. Sometimes it’s up to a day, but a lot of times within hours we can get that that back. Especially in a homicide, every hour is critical,” said Watkins.
“And we have the most up-to-date machine, too, which helps identify some of these shell casings.”
Funding to purchase and install the NIBIN equipment came through a $372,000 grant from the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board received in June.
Watkins said since then, his department has been working with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms [ATF], as well as the manufacturers and software companies, to get the system running.
“It took almost six months to get the system, and then a couple of months to work with ATF to download software and get those phone lines connected. So it was a little bit of a process, for sure,” said Watkins.
He described using the NIBIN system works in two ways. The computer system captures high-resolution, three-dimensional images of shell casings recovered at the scene of a shooting, or those test-fired from a seized weapon.
The system analyzes the markings and scans the national database to see if they match other shootings, both regionally and across the country.
“It’s just great technology,” said Watkins. “My crime lab came to me when they saw this grant, and asked if we could have our own to kind of speed things up when we when we get these shootings.”
The county’s budget includes a seven-year contract with the Integrated Ballistic Identification System.
