Colorado Criminal Bureau of Investigation Director Ted Mink called it a “proven program,” during a news conference Monday.
Pueblo Police Chief Troy Davenport declared it a “powerful tool” that has been “crucial to taking the worst of the worst off the streets.”
Bob Troyer with the United States Attorney’s Office used perhaps the most popular phrase, calling CGIC “the grease that fries the crime chicken.” It “surgically removes” the 5 percent of the population responsible for about 70 percent of “the violence and terror” in communities, he said.
The key to the partnership is the collection of data in the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network, which houses three-dimensional images of shell casings and test firings of recovered guns for comparison across multiple crime scenes. NIBIN analyzes those markings and matches them to other casings or guns in the system with the same ballistic evidence – thereby linking shootings.
Statistics show that CGIC’s success in southern Colorado – which includes Colorado Springs, El Paso County, Pueblo and Fountain – has more than doubled in its two years of practice, jumping from 105 “hits” in 2015 to 260 through Dec. 5 this year.
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