New Mexico DOJ touts statewide progress with new ‘crime gun’ data tracking initiative
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Months into its new "crime gun" database program, the New Mexico Department of Justice announced significant progress across the state.
This article was originally published by Source New Mexico.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez on Friday announced that his state Department of Justice’s nascent effort to trace firearms used in multiple crimes across the state is already paying off.
Torrez first announced the Crime Gun Intelligence Center in December and said it would help law enforcement agencies across the state to quickly and accurately scan evidence such as spent shell casings and recovered guns and check a national database of guns linked to crimes for potential matches.
Officials at the time said giving law enforcement agencies around New Mexico machines that can access the federal database would be an important step in tracking weapon trafficking and repeat offenders. Since launching the initiative, law enforcement agencies around New Mexico have uploaded more than 700 shell casings into the database and linked 31 recovered guns to 74 shootings. Nearly half of the guns analyzed were used in crimes in multiple jurisdictions.
“New Mexico didn’t wait to act, we built a first-in-the-nation model that is already delivering results,” Torrez said in a statement. “By centralizing this work within our office and partnering with agencies across the state, we are giving investigators the tools they need to connect the dots, solve cases faster, and prevent future violence.”
Nationally, gunfire is the leading cause of death for children and teenagers, and New Mexico’s firearm mortality rate of 26.6 per 100,000 residents is among the highest in the nation, according to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.
Before the New Mexico Department of Justice brought this technology to rural police departments and sheriff’s offices — including those in Gallup, Roswell and San Juan County — officers typically would have to travel several hours to access the database through a machine located in the Albuquerque Police Department.
The initiative has since grown, according to an NMDOJ announcement. The Ohkay Owingeh Police Department joined the program in April.
“Every casing entered, every firearm traced and every lead generated represents a step toward safer communities,” Torrez said in a statement.