DAVENPORT, IOWA -- Solving gun crimes in the Quad Cities is getting faster for local police.
In June 2019, Davenport Police got a National Integrative Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) for about $400,000. It analyzes cartridge casings from fired guns and compares them to all the other databases throughout the country. The firing pin from a firearm leaves specific impressions on the shell casings. The impressions can help investigators determine if the firearm was used for another crime and what kind of gun it is.
"We are at right around 461 cases entered into our NIBIN system," Assistant Police Chief Jeffery Bladel said. "Of those, we had 205 leads back for the investigator, so that's about 45% of the entries have come back with leads.”
Bladel said Davenport Police have responded to 12 confirmed shots fired calls so far in 2020. They responded to 195 in 2019 and 2018.
Now, the department is sharing their NIBIN system with other local law enforcement agencies, helping investigators connect cases across the river.
"We`ve had leads from Moline," Bladel said. "We`ve had leads from Rock Island, so we are seeing the benefits right now being able to connect cases across river."
Moline Police will be able to start using NIBIN in February. Previously, the department sent casings to a lab in Peoria. Before purchasing it's own NIBIN, Davenport Police used to take their evidence to the Crime Lab in Ankeny, Iowa. The NIBIN system in the Quad Cities helps officers get results in hours, instead of months
"We know that the turnaround time for a forensic lab in the state of Illinois can be month," Moline Police Chief Darren Gault said.
Moline Police say they have responded to one confirmed shots fired call so far in 2020.
"We are finding that the incidents are connected, so a shooting in Moline, might be connected to a firearm that is recovered in Davenport or Rock Island," Gault said.
The Rock Island Police Department has been using Davenport's NIBIN system since October 2019. Bettendorf Police will begin using the system in the next few months.
"With Davenport, Rock Island, and Moline, just looking at the metro area of the Quad Cities, that's 76% coverage,” Bladel said.
"We are going to take this to another level and put people that are using guns illegally in jail," Gault said.