The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives’
National Integrated Ballistic Information Network
Program
Audit Report 05-30
June 2005
Office of the Inspector General
Through its National Integrated
Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) program
developed in 1999, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco,
Firearms and Explosives (ATF) deploys Integrated
Ballistic Identification System (IBIS) equipment to
state and local law enforcement agencies. IBIS
equipment creates crime-firearms evidence images
that are stored in the NIBIN database and are
compared to other evidence images in the database.
Matching images identify links to other crimes. By
identifying links to other crimes, law enforcement
authorities may identify new leads that help solve
the crimes. Examples of how NIBIN has been used to
link and solve crimes are contained in the ATF’s
recent “Hits of the Week” publication at Appendix
XI.
Ballistic Images
Every firearm has individual
characteristics that are as unique to it as
fingerprints are to human beings. When a firearm is
discharged, it transfers these characteristics — in
the form of microscopic scratches and dents — to the
projectiles and cartridge casings fired in it. The
barrel of the firearm marks the projectile traveling
through it, and the firearm’s breech mechanism marks
the ammunition’s cartridge casing. The primary
markings that are unique to a given firearm are
detailed below.
Land and groove markings around
the circumference of a bullet: Some markings
left on the side of a bullet are incidental to the
machining of the interior of the barrel, while other
markings, such as grooves, are intended to impart
rotation to the bullet when in flight. The red
arrows in Illustration 1 point to the land and
groove markings on the side of a fired bullet. The
red arrows in Illustration 2 point to the groove
markings on the outside of a deformed bullet.
|
Illustration 1
 |
|
Illustration 2
 |
|
Source: Mitretek
Technical
Report 2002-CCJT-004 |
|
Source: Mitretek
Technical
Report 2002-CCJT-004 |
Firing pin impression on the
primer face of a shell casing: When the firing
pin strikes the primer of a cartridge casing, the
firing pin leaves a dent in the primer. The two
primary types of firing pins are center firing pins
(Illustration 3) and rim firing pins (Illustration
4). The red arrows in Illustration 3 point to the
firing pin dents left in the primer of fired center
firing cartridge casings. The white arrows in
Illustration 4 point to the firing pin dents left in
the primer of a fired rim firing cartridge casing.
Illustration 3
 |
|
Illustration 4
 |
|
Source:
Mitretek Technical
Report 2002-CCJT-004 |
|
Source: Mitretek
Technical
Report 2002-CCJT-004 |
(continued below)
|
TRAINING
Tampa Bay Chapter
February 12, 2008
"Ballistics Imaging Investigation"
Cresha Cason, Forensic Technology
March 11, 2008
"Vending Gender and the Race to Defraud: Supplier Diversity Fraud"
Alison Jimenez, President, Tanjeble Inc.
April 8, 2008
"Testifying as an expert Witness"
John Gudavich, Retired Investigator, United States Attorney's Office
9th Annual Fraud & Computer Crimes Seminar
May 6-7, 2008
Ruth Eckerd Hall
Clearwater, Florida
1111 McMullen Booth Road
Clearwater, FL 33759
2006 - 2007
OFFICERS &
DIRECTORS
PRESIDENT
Christine Dever, CPA, CFE
Accountabilties Consulting Services
(813) 417-1825
VICE PRESIDENT
Steve Hooper, CIA, CFE, CCSA
Clerk of the Circuit Court Hillsborough County, FL
(813) 276-2029 x3703
SECRETARY
Clark J. Bolton, CFE
Bolton Risk Management LLC
(727) 771-5255
TREASURER
Laura Krueger Brock, CPA, CFE
Kirkland, Russ, Murphy & Tapp, P.A.
(727) 572-1400
DIRECTOR
Mark Dubina,
CFE
Florida Department of
Law Enforcement
(813) 878-7366
DIRECTOR
Ellen Wilcox, CFE
Florida Department of
Law Enforcement
(727) 298-2482
DIRECTOR
Gary Chapman, CFE, CGAP
City of Tampa, Internal Audit
(813) 274-7163
CHAPTER TRAINING
Wayne Boytim, CFE
City of Tampa,
Internal Audit
(813) 274-7167 |
News from the ACFE
Help Contribute to a
Worthwhile Cause
The
ACFE's Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse is
among the most widely quoted sources on white-collar crime
statistics in the world, and has been cited by the The Wall
Street Journal, The Financial Times, Fortune, Reuters News
Service, CNN and other international services. The
2007 National Fraud Survey is now open and available online,
and the results of this bi-annual study on the costs and effects
of fraud on American business will be compiled and published in
the 2008 Report to the Nation on Occupational Fraud and Abuse.
Your participation in the
2007 National Fraud Survey will help make the Report to the
Nation a reality, and will raise the voice of all CFEs and
support the global fight against fraud. In recognition of time
you will spend completing the survey, we will credit you with
two hours of ACFE (non-NASBA) CPE.
CPE Verification Deadline January
31, 2008
To maintain your CFE Certification,
you must earn at least 20 total credits, ten of which must be
fraud-related, between January and December each year. To
confirm your compliance, log on to ACFE.com and select "My
Account" from the left hand menu, then select "CPE Compliance."
You should maintain detailed documentation of earned CPE credits
for three years in case you are randomly selected for CPE audit.
If you have any questions, please call ACFE Member Services at
(800) 245-3321. |
Dinner Meeting News
 Our
next Dinner Meeting is scheduled for February 12th
Cresha Cason, Forensic Technology will be presenting
"Ballistics Imaging Investigation."
-
What is firearms identification?
-
IBIS: the ballistics imaging tool
used in most forensics labs in the world.
-
The NIBIN (National Ballistics
Information Network) program in the U.S.
-
FastTRAX-the new way to get
ballistics leads from NIBIN within days.
The dinner meeting will be held at the Westshore
Hotel, located at 1200 N. Westshore Blvd. The hotel
is just north of I-275 and Cypress Avenue on the east side of Westshore (map). Evenings will begin with a social at 6:00 P.M.,
followed by a buffet dinner at 6:30 and a presentation at 7:00. The
cost is $20, payable at the door.
To make your reservation, please use the following link
Chapter
Meeting Reservation and complete the form at the bottom of
the page. You can also make your reservation by emailing
Wayne
Boytim by the Friday before the
meeting date. Reservations will be accepted after that date and
walk-ups are always welcome. Please remember that cancellations are
accepted up to the afternoon of the meeting. No shows will be billed
after the second missed meeting. Please help us keep our costs down
by letting us know if you are unable to attend.
January 8th Dinner Meeting
Dr. Gary Cook, Ph.D. of Florida Southern University
provided a 60 minute presentation on "Computer Aided Fraud
Examination" to an audience of 64 chapter members at the West
Shore Hotel in Tampa.
Dr. Cook prefaced his
remarks by stating that his presentation was focused on the
computer programs used as tools in fraud examination. Below are
a few of the high-lights from his discussion:
Many considerations when selecting proper computer
programs, to include:
-
Time investment to learn new program
-
Financial cost associated with new program
-
No 2 programs exactly alike, choose based on need
Categorized programs
Results from Dr. Cooks survey to 157 respondents
regarding programs used in conducting fraud examination:
-
Wide array of GP programs, however significant number
used Microsoft Office programs---Word, Excel & Access
-
Free software was available, albeit few used
-
2 most popular data analysis/data mining programs were
IDEA & SQL
 Gary
Cook is an Associate Professor of Business Administration at Florida
Southern University. Gary will present "Computer-Aided Fraud
Examination. Gary received his B.S. and M.B.A. from California State
University and his Ph.D. in Management Information Systems from
Arizona State University. Since receiving his Ph.D., Gary taught at
Michigan State University, the University of South Florida, the
University of Dubuque, and Governors State University. His research
interests include decision support systems, information technology
management, electronic commerce, and human computer interactions. He
is the recipient of the Faculty Excellence Award from Governors
State and is a Certified Wireless Security Professional. In addition
to his own publications, Gary is a reviewer for several journals and
is on the editorial board of The Journal of Information Systems.
PowerPoint
Presentation
|
(continued from above)
Breech face markings on the
primer face of a shell casing: When a firing pin
strikes the primer, resulting in an explosion inside
the cartridge casing, the bullet is propelled
forward out of the barrel of the firearm and the
cartridge casing is propelled rearward towards the
breech of the firearm. The green arrows in
Illustration 3 point to markings incidental to the
machining of the breech that were imparted to the
primer end of a center firing cartridge casing.
Extractor/ejector markings on the
primer end of a shell casing: In the case of a
revolver, when a round of ammunition has been fired,
the bullet is propelled out of the firearm barrel
and the empty cartridge casing remains within the
firearm barrel until removed by the firearm user.
With semi-automatic or automatic weapons, the
cartridge casings are automatically ejected from the
firearm. The black arrow in Illustration 5 on the
next page points to the markings imparted by the
mechanism that extracts the cartridge casing from
the firearm.
|
Illustration 5
 |
|
Source: Mitretek
Technical
Report 2002-CCJT-004 |
From the 1930s to the early 1990s,
firearms examiners compared bullet and cartridge
casing marks using comparison microscopes that could
compare two bullets or casings at the same time.
This was a very tedious process. Afterwards,
photographic snapshots of the images from the
comparison microscopes could be made and
distributed. Generally, the sharing of such results
was done locally.
In the early 1990s, the ballistic
imaging and matching process was computerized.
Digital cameras were used to photograph bullets and
cartridge casings. Afterwards, the images were
scanned into a computer, stored in a database, and
analyzed using a software program. All firearms
examiners with access to the computerized system
could compare the marks on a large number of bullets
or cartridge casings. When the computerized system
was interconnected across many law enforcement
agencies through a telecommunications system, like
NIBIN, it permitted the rapid comparison of bullets
and cartridge casings used in crimes in one
jurisdiction with those used in crimes in another
jurisdiction.
The types of comparisons made by
NIBIN of the primary markings on bullets and shell
casings with those of reference images are shown
below.
|
Comparison of Bullet
Markings –
Images of Recovered Bullets
Versus a Reference Image
 |
|
Source: Mitretek Technical
Report 2002-CCJT-004 |
|
Comparison of Firing Pin Impressions –
Images of Recovered Cartridge Casings
Versus a Reference Image
|
|
Source: Mitretek Technical
Report 2002-CCJT-004 |
|
Comparison of Breech Face Impressions –
Images of Recovered Cartridge Casings
Versus a Reference Image
|
|
Source: Mitretek Technical
Report 2002-CCJT-004 |
Firearms technicians use the IBIS
equipment to enter digital images of the markings
made by a firearm on bullets and cartridge casings
and perform comparisons to other bullets and
cartridge casings entered into the system. If a
high-confidence candidate emerges as a possible
match, firearms examiners compare the original
evidence. By minimizing the amount of non-matching
evidence that firearms examiners must inspect to
find a confirmable match, the NIBIN program enables
law enforcement agencies to discover links between
crimes more quickly, including links that would have
been lost without the technology. In funding and
supporting this program, the ATF provides state and
local law enforcement agencies with an intelligence
tool that many could not afford on their own.
For the balance of
the OIG's audit report, go to:
http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/ATF/a0530/index.htm
or
http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/ATF/a0530/final.pdf
|
President's Message
Hello
everyone. We are off and running into the New Year
with many goals but one in particular that we must
have your help on in order to achieve. It will only
take a few minutes, literally, of your time,
however, it will be an immense help to the Chapter
as a whole! We will be sending out a questionnaire
with no more than 10 easy answer questions. If you
can just take a few minutes and answer within the
document and email it back that will be great. Our
drop deadline will be February 29th.
Please respond as it will be a quick and simple way
for you to really do your part as a Chapter member.
Our
dinner meeting schedule is now full and we are
nearly complete will the seminar schedule. We will
be posting extra news on our seminar so keep your
eyes open! All information will be posted on our
website. We are continually looking for new
speakers and ideas so please email them anytime you
think of someone or cross the path of a colleague
that might be a potential speaker or member. Please
let us know if there are topics that have not been
presented that you wish to hear! We work very hard
to provide a great variety of topics and experts.
Thank you Steve Hooper for all of your hard work!
The
National ACFE Seminar will be in Boston this year
July 13th – 18th. Last year
we had an excellent presence especially given that
it was in Orlando. We would like to plan a group
event up there so please let us know if you are
going as soon as possible. This will be one of the
questions in the short questionnaire.
We will
see you at the February meeting! Thank you!
Christine A. Dever, CPA, CFE |
|
