Ballistics without Borders
What’s Not Happening
I came across a 2023 Fact Sheet prepared by the U.S. Mission to Mexico titled "Biden-Harris Administration’s Ongoing Efforts to Stem Firearms Trafficking to Mexico".
The Fact Sheet highlights a June 2023 meeting attended by senior officials from the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security. Also in attendance were the Ambassador to Mexico and the Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). The meeting, a Southbound Firearms Trafficking Coordination Meeting, took place at ATF Headquarters to discuss ongoing efforts to stem the trafficking of firearms from the United States into Mexico.
What caught my attention, wasn’t what I read, but what I didn’t read.
Nowhere in the very detailed recap of the Southbound Firearms Trafficking Coordination Meeting was there any mention of ongoing efforts to share ballistics-related Crime Gun Intelligence (CGI) between ATF’s National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) and the over 45 automated ballistic identification systems spread throughout Mexico in the hands of the PGR/FGR, state, and city law enforcement agencies.
Moreover, this was despite the stated intent by the U.S. and Mexico to do that very thing – share ballistics-related CGI - as far back as 15 years ago, and at odds with the direction that the rest of the world has moved toward since then. Read on.
Criminals Move - Evidence Moves
I once read a news story about a mother pushing her child in a stroller in downtown El Paso who was struck by an errant bullet fired during a shootout between Mexican police and car-jacking suspects just across the border. Police believe the shot was fired from Ciudad Juarez in Mexico about two blocks away, where shoot-outs between criminal gangs are commonplace along the Southwest Border between Mexico and the United States.
According to the article, police couldn’t remember a person getting shot this way before, but did say that rounds have previously struck buildings in the Texas border city. The article indicates that two years ago, bullets fired in a gunfight between a suspected drug gang and Mexican authorities struck City Hall, smashing a window.
Here's another case, the Laredo (TX) Police Department responded to a homicide on a public street where the victim sustained fatal gunshot wounds. Subsequent investigation revealed that two Los Zetas Mexico-based drug cartel-hired gunmen committed the murder. Laredo PD arrested both suspects.
Yet another, the Jim Hogg County (TX) Sheriff’s Department stopped a Los Zetas-connected vehicle transporting 118 lbs. of marijuana from Mexico to Texas. Deputies arrested the occupants, including one occupant who possessed a 9mm pistol to protect the drug supply. Later, ATF arrested the possessor, an illegal alien, for Federal firearms violations. Using NIBIN, the Bexar County (TX) Crime Lab was able to link the pistol to the homicide. The suspect from the vehicle stop agreed to testify against both murder suspects.
I could go on and on making the case that armed criminals and evidence of their crimes jump the “wall” that runs between Mexico and the United States.
INTERPOL Walks its Talk
When criminals operate in multiple countries throughout the world, we must cast as wide a net as possible to catch those valuable pieces of information that will allow us to identify and apprehend those responsible. This is our best defense against transnational illicit networks, whether they are involved in armed robbery, drug trafficking, terrorism, human smuggling, or any other crime.1 Ronald K. Noble, Former Secretary General, INTERPOL
IBIN is the only large-scale international ballistic data-sharing network. With over 1,800,000 records, IBIN provides a global platform for the centralized collection, storage, and cross-comparison of ballistics data. [Updated stats as of December 2024: 2,200,000 records and 37 operating countries] Ballistics data shared via IBIN has revealed links between gun-related crimes taking place thousands of miles away, providing valuable investigative leads for police.
Member countries are encouraged to follow the IBIN Search Protocol and to conduct international ballistic comparisons for all ballistic recoveries:
Within 80 kilometers of international borders.
By customs or border officials.
From suspected traffickers of contraband (drugs, documents, guns, etc.).
Related to terrorist activities.
From persons with a residence in another country.
INTERPOL provides member countries with a secure network (IBIN) to share and compare ballistic data internationally. IBIN member countries use IBIS® technology images and correlation processes. Law enforcement agencies from non-IBIN member countries can also benefit from IBIN’s international ballistics database by contacting the INTERPOL General Secretariat through their respective INTERPOL National Central Bureau.
Although a pioneer in this area and the creator of one of the world’s largest and most productive ballistic information-sharing networks, the United States is not, as of this writing, an IBIN-participating country.
The U.S. talked the Talk – a few times
One of the Strategic goals outlined in the 2009 National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy, was to: Substantially reduce the flow of illicit drugs, drug proceeds, and associated instruments of violence across the Southwest border.
Under supporting action # 3. Enhance cooperation with international partners in weapons smuggling/trafficking investigations, was the recognition that:
“Ballistics information systems deployed in Mexico could be integrated with a modernized National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) system to enable U.S. and Mexican law enforcement to discover links between crimes more quickly.”,
and that:
“Continued deployment of IBIS equipment in Mexico would greatly increase U.S. Government and Government of Mexico investigative efforts to reduce violent crime, and the upgrading of the NIBIN system in the United States would allow for integration with ballistics imaging systems in Mexico.”
On July 9, 2009, Three United States Department of Justice officials (L. Breuer, W. Hoover, A. Placido) appeared before a United States House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Hearing Entitled “The Rise of Mexican Drug Cartels and U.S. National Security”.
The following excerpt is from their joint written statement:
“As part of President Obama’s commitment to President Calderon on his recent trip to Mexico, ATF will also work to bridge the Integrated Ballistic Identification Systems that stores digital photos and arms-related information related to criminal investigations. This will allow the sharing of digital images, ballistic markings, and other arms-related information to help identify leads in violent crimes both in Mexico and in the United States.”
One of the Strategic Objectives outlined in the 2011 National Southwest Border Counternarcotics Strategy, in Chapter 7, was to: Stem the flow of illegal weapons across the Southwest border into Mexico.
Supporting Action 3E: Modernize, expand, and network ballistics imaging technology with Mexican law enforcement agencies indicated that:
“Ballistics information systems currently deployed in Mexico will begin linking in 2011 with a modernized National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) system to enable U.S. and Mexican law enforcement to discover links between crimes more quickly. Action: DOJ/ATF.”
The U.S. has helped increase Mexico’s internal ballistic analysis capacity but no sharing of ballistic CGI data between the U.S. and Mexico has come to fruition as of yet.
United Nations General Assembly Talks the Talk
The Fifth Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects was held in New York, June 16-20, 2014. There the States highlighted the complementary role that the exchange of ballistics information could play concerning crime gun tracing of small arms in the context of criminal investigations. Moreover, the meeting report encourages the Member States and international, regional, and subregional organizations in a position to do so, to provide, upon request, adequate technical and financial assistance to strengthen national capacities for ballistics information collection and exchange.
The Sixth Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects was held in New York, June 6-10, 2016. The States noted the complementary role that the exchange of ballistics information and the use of ballistics databases, including technical and financial assistance to strengthen national capacities, can play in combating the illicit trade in small arms and light weapons.
The Seventh Biennial Meeting of States to Consider the Implementation of the UN Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade in Small Arms and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects was held in New York, July 26-30, 2021. The main topic was international cooperation to prevent and combat the diversion and the illicit international transfer of small arms and light weapons to unauthorized recipients. Following the International Tracing Instrument, the States sought to strengthen, information sharing on the unlawful trafficking of small arms and light weapons, by promoting the voluntary use of web-based databases, such as those of INTERPOL (the INTERPOL Illicit Arms Records and Tracing Management System and the INTERPOL Ballistic Information Network) and other relevant information exchange mechanisms.
To IBIN or not to IBIN
It’s a matter of context and perspective. The proper context for the comprehensive transnational collection and sharing of ballistic data focuses law enforcement and forensic efforts on those areas where crime guns and related evidence are most likely to be encountered such as prescribed in the IBIN Search Protocol:
Within 80 kilometers of international borders.
By customs or border officials.
From suspected traffickers of contraband (drugs, documents, guns, etc.).
Related to terrorist activities.
From persons with a residence in another country.
By the way, did you know how IBIN came to pass?
Not long after it became operational in 2009, IBIN first proved its value where it counted most, on the streets of Portugal and Spain, where police were able to share and leverage their ballistic data through IBIN to develop two suspects in Spain who were responsible for a series of violent carjackings and a murder in Portugal. Discovering a link between these crimes would have been highly unlikely before IBIN was established.
Knowledgeable sources indicate that IBIN has proved valuable in connecting crimes, guns, and suspects across the Caribbean states. In one case, a firearm seized by the RCIPS in the Cayman Islands was linked to five murders in Jamaica.
Caribbean countries don’t manufacture firearms. So how are these guns getting into the islands?
According to a recent GAO report, there were 7,399 guns recovered from crimes and traced between 2018-2022. Of these recovered guns, 73% (or 5,399 guns) came from the United States, according to ATF. Most of these firearms were handguns.
The GAO report goes on to describe U.S. efforts to prevent gun trafficking from the U.S. to the Caribbean.
For example, the report states that the U.S. currently partners with 13 Caribbean countries to stem the flow of illegal guns and other activities. The U.S. provides resources and training, ATF access to its tracing systems, and training on the conduct of firearms traces. These traces have helped local entities to identify intelligence leads, trafficking routes, and traffickers for prosecution.
In Closing
There was no mention in the GAO report of ATF providing access to NIBIN’s ballistics data nor sharing that data with the Caribbean’s IBIN hub.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) web page for CIBIN indicates the following:
Other than considering it about 15 years ago, I have not been able to find anything during my research to suggest that ATF is currently sharing NIBIN data with IBIN or Mexico.
There’s a Chinese Proverb that sums up the message I’d like to convey today:
"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is today."
Not clear enough? Try this one:
“The best time for the U.S. to plug into IBIN and Mexico was 15 years ago. The second-best time is today.” – Pete’s Proverb
End note:
Speaking of planting trees, in case this is my last article of the year, thank you for the privilege of your time reading these things I write.
Here’s wishing you and yours a joyful Christmas and a peaceful New Year.
Noble, R.K. 2009. Trans-Pacific symposium on dismantling transnational illicit networks [Remarks]. November 10.
Pete, an excellent article and very informative. I also believe this is where Forensic Double Casting can certainly help to further enhance the exchange of Ballistic Information across International Borders without jeopardizing the chain of custody and integrity of Ballistic Evidence (fired bullets and cartridge cases and test fires.
Pete, excellent as always & highly enlightening. History matters. Telling & learning from these history lessons help us not only understand how we got here but how we can move forward. Leadership at all levels revolves around accomplishing the mission, taking care of your people, & efficiently using all your resources. NIBIN/IBIN (as well as other crime gun intelligence technology) are incredible resources not being maximally utilized.