Ohio Law Enforcement Agencies Can Solve More Gun Crimes Using Federal Intelligence Tools

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 9, 2024
Media Contact: Sabrina Miller, [email protected]

Ohio Law Enforcement Agencies Can Solve More Gun Crimes Using Federal Intelligence Tools

New study finds only 65 percent of Ohio law enforcement agencies use resources that can solve gun crimes, save lives; study encourages more law enforcement participation

CHICAGO, IL - More than two-thirds of Ohio law enforcement agencies are using federal crime gun intelligence tools, but a new study released today by The Joyce Foundation indicates that local, state, and federal law enforcement can better utilize federal crime gun intelligence tools that can identify major gun traffickers, increase clearance rates, reduce bias in policing, and save lives.

Optimizing Crime Gun Intelligence found that low law enforcement participation rates, slow processing times by the federal agency overseeing the tools, and barriers created by congress are all factors preventing these resources from being fully utilized. However, more participation is encouraged by law enforcement as part of a multifaceted approach to reducing gun crimes, which are particularly difficult to solve, the study says.

The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) oversees the four primary crime gun intelligence tools – eTrace, Collective Data Sharing (CDS), the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN), and the NIBIN Enforcement Support System (NESS) – resources that allow law enforcement to analyze crime guns, shell casings, and police records. But only 65% of law enforcement agencies in Ohio are signed up to participate in eTrace.

Of the agencies enrolled in eTrace, only 23% share their gun trace data with other agencies in the state via CDS - meaning the vast majority of crime gun-related data never leaves the police department from which it was collected. Clearance rates for gun crimes in many places across Ohio are below both the national average and most of its neighbors in the Great Lakes region. and more than 700 people statewide die by gun homicide annually. Considering that Ohio exported crime guns at the highest rate in the US in 2021, with 18,085 total traces, these tools could have a significant impact on stopping shootings in the state and across the country.

“As gun violence continues to impact communities across the state, law enforcement agencies, Congress, and the ATF must use every possible tool to solve gun crimes and save lives,” said Tim Daly, Director of the Joyce Foundation’s Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform Program. “Significant changes to ATF’s ‘crime gun intelligence tools’ are needed to lower processing times, increase ease of use, and ensure crime guns are traced and gun traffickers are identified. And more law enforcement partners in Ohio need to take advantage of these important tools that we know work in a fair and just way.”

Other key findings include:

• Lagging processing times: When law enforcement does utilize eTrace, the average “standard” request takes ATF approximately 16 days to complete, more than double the agency’s stated goal of seven days. This delay means many crime guns are going untraced for more than two weeks after a shooting. Similar delays are found with NIBIN sites, where a lack of infrastructure and staffing has led to 40% of sites not meeting ATF’s two-day target for timely lead generation.

• Incomplete data for ballistic evidence: Shell casings for at least 130,000 out of 460,000 recovered crime guns nationwide were not entered into NIBIN in 2021, a number that is likely much higher for shell casings recovered without a gun.

• Congressional roadblocks: Overly-restrictive laws and chronic underfunding has limited ATF’s ability to drive usage with law enforcement and analyze data in a timely manner.

These findings have significant implications for new laws designed to increase accountability for serious gun crimes. The Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) made gun trafficking and straw purchasing federal crimes for the first time. But if gun crimes are not cleared – if shooters and traffickers are not identified using ATF’s tools – these new criminal provisions can’t actually be used.

While these findings indicate room to improve utilization of these tools statewide, Ohio has taken important steps in the right direction with significant public investments in 2022 that expanded law enforcement agencies’ access to NIBIN terminals. As detailed in the report, a representative from the Cincinnati Police Department described it as a “game changer” when the department went from having access to a single NIBIN terminal to two, allowing the department to enter evidence into NIBIN more quickly.

“Utilizing new tools, data sharing, and technology to solve gun crimes is critical for communities to effectively combat the scourge of gun violence in Ohio and across the country," said Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval. “I’m incredibly proud of the work our police department has been doing to utilize these new tools, including establishing the first Crime Gun Intelligence Center in the state."

Recommendations for Ohio and federal law enforcement agencies and policymakers to remedy the tools’ shortcomings and improve participation rates, include:

• The ATF should integrate data across the intelligence tools and increase awareness to provide a comprehensive, national platform for law enforcement agencies.

• Ohio should require all law enforcement agencies to enroll in and comprehensively use eTrace, CDS, NIBIN, and NESS. This includes State policymakers providing resources for training support for law enforcement agencies. The three states with the highest eTrace participation rate (New Jersey, Virginia, and North Carolina) all have state laws requiring law enforcement agencies to trace all recovered crime guns.

• Congress should increase federal funding for ATF and the U.S. Department of Justice to support the expansion, improvement, and usage of crime gun intelligence tools.

To access the full report and its recommendations, please see HERE. To see a fully searchable database of agency participation, please see HERE.

###

For media requests or questions, contact Sabrina Miller at [email protected].

For more than 25 years, the Joyce Foundation has been committed to supporting research, education, and policy solutions to reduce gun violence and help make communities safer. Our three-part strategy focuses on gun violence prevention, justice system reform and a new focus area of violence intervention.