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Trenton,
NJ – Attorney General Anne Milgram
today formally launched the state’s
historic gun trace partnership with the
federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms
and Explosives with the issuance of a new
law enforcement directive that orders all
local police departments to input data on
guns used in the commission of a crime to
the New Jersey State Police and the ATF.
The
E-trace program, unveiled last summer by
the ATF, Gov. Jon S. Corzine, Milgram and
State Police Superintendent Rick Fuentes,
has been operating on a pilot basis for
several months to test computer programming
that allows local police officers to report
gun information to ATF at the same time
they check whether a gun used in the commission
of a crime was stolen.
The
new computer program, formally dubbed the
NJ Trace System, should boost reporting
to ATF from 30 percent to 100 percent, Milgram
said.
“The
new system for local police is a significant
step forward in creating a database to track
gun trafficking,’’ Milgram said.
“We will be able to track purchasers,
retailers and wholesalers. It will be the
kind of information and intelligence that
will allow us to prevent crime and save
lives.’’
“Even
in the pilot phase, E-trace has revealed
patterns of firearm purchases that have
enabled us to arrest individuals for illegal
gun distribution,” said Colonel Fuentes.
“Fewer illegal gun dealers means fewer
guns on the street. I believe this important
directive will ultimately prevent murders.”
The partnership with ATF allows the State
Police to use the ATF’s E-trace system
to identify trends and relationships between
crimes and gun transactions by pooling all
reported information to the ATF. Previously,
individual police departments would seek
trace information from ATF and only that
department would receive information back.
The partnership creates a state database
that can be mined for information by State
Police analysts and shared by all municipal
departments in the state.
The
ATF E-trace system can disclose the identity
of a firearm’s first purchaser, when
it was purchased and where it was purchased.
This allows state law enforcement officials
to determine whether there are patterns
to where guns used in a crime in New Jersey
were originally purchased and who purchased
them.
The Attorney General’s directive orders
that local police departments promptly enter
information on the make, model, caliber
and serial number of a weapon seized in
connection with a crime to both the National
Crime Information Center (NCIC) system --
which can determine whether a weapon has
been stolen. The directive says information
should be entered into the NJ Trace system
within 24 hours of the time the weapon was
recovered.
In addition, the directive addresses ballistics
testing and states that test firing should
be done “as expeditiously as possible’’
and results submitted to the National Integrated
Ballistics Identification Network (NIBIN)
to determine whether the weapon is related
to any other criminal episode.
“These
technological advances are all important
tools in our fight against crime,’’
Milgram said. “If we can trace illegal
guns that are used in crimes, we can develop
the kind of information that will help us
catch the criminals trafficking in illegal
guns.’’
A
copy of the record can be found at www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases08/dir20080318.pdf
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