Unresolved gun homicides and shootings not only leave potential perpetrators at large but also plunge families and loved ones into a state of uncertainty, exacerbating the community's mistrust in law enforcement. Clearance rates for firearm homicides — the percentage of cases that police solve — have been declining nationwide since at least 1980, when law enforcement cleared about two out of every three firearm homicides. Today, just half are solved, The Trace reports. That means that if you shot someone in a major city in America, there's a 50% chance of getting away with it. The clearance rate for nonfatal shootings is even lower, with only about one-third being solved. Some strategies and tools could — and have — helped. But those tools have suffered from underutilization. That’s where Crime Gun Intelligence Centers come in. These hubs foster interagency partnerships to do what routine police work often can’t: track down people who repeatedly pull the trigger.
Local police, state agencies, and federal authorities like the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives work at the intelligence centers, sharing real-time data to solve and prevent gun crimes. They’re essentially a law enforcement “brain trust” for tackling shootings, with a special focus on linking incidents across jurisdictions, tracing the movement of firearms, and building cases against repeatedly violent offenders. By centralizing these efforts, intelligence centers help law enforcement solve past crimes and disrupt future ones before they happen. The intelligence centers also help increase participation in the ATF’s key information systems: the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network, or NIBIN, and eTrace. NIBIN helps link the shell casings of bullets to the firearms that fired them, often revealing patterns across multiple shootings. eTrace helps law enforcement track the ownership history of a firearm to where the gun was originally purchased legally, and by whom. Together, these tools allow intelligence centers to take a proactive approach — targeting the most dangerous shooters, cutting off illegal gun supply chains, and preventing violence before it escalates. Some evidence shows that Crime Gun Intelligence Centers have been successful in improving clearance rates, potentially reducing gun violence along the way.
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