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ROCHESTER, NY – The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is advancing its technology to help police fight violence with a new system that can compare shell casings found by investigators and match them to other gun crimes within minutes.
Monroe Crime Analysis Center Director David Phelps said the new software will help law enforcement around Monroe County and beyond.
“With this new technology, we can match one gun. even if we don’t have the gun. We can see that the gun is connected to multiple shootings,” Phelps said.
Micheal Curran, the local agent in charge of the ATF’s Rochester field office, said the speed of the new equipment will make it faster to solve gun crimes and potentially save lives.
“It’s a real game changer because when it’s months, it doesn’t do law enforcement much good. Days certainly help. But when it’s within hours, someone could potentially be in custody and you can get that information right away, and that will be very helpful to our investigators,” Curran said.
That’s why Curran said the partnership ATF has forged with law enforcement in Rochester is a model for what his agency wants to bring to every community around New York state.
“People need to know that ATF is out there using our crime weapons intelligence strategy and working day and night. It works in Rochester with our partnerships better than anywhere else in the state and we want to bring everyone else up to speed on what we’re doing here ,” Curran said.