Green Bay ‘NIBIN’ Machine Now in Service as Violent Crime Investigations Continue | WFRV Local 5

GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – As violent crime investigations continue in Green Bay, a new tool is now “online” at Green Bay Police Headquarters, providing investigators with an extensive database with which to work.

“Basically what it does is it takes a digital image of the back of the case where the primer is on a bullet,” Lt. Clinton Beguhn said.

Green Bay now rents a NIBIN machine, which is the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network, which enables the processing of ballistic evidence, which can be entered into a database to compare it to other crimes both locally and nationally. .

When unloaded, each firearm leaves an imprint on the bullet casing. This can serve as a kind of fingerprint, which can help identify the type of firearm that was used in the commission of a crime. “Comparing them to cartridges found in other crimes can give investigators a good idea of ​​where this weapon came from or who may have used it,” said Lt. Beguhn.

Since taking the oath of office as Green Bay Police Chief, Chris Davis has put a gun violence reduction strategy on his list of priorities. In a one-on-one interview with Eric Richards of WFRV, Davis mentioned a very proactive weekend, as patrol officers handled 800 service calls. “They took four guns off the streets and brought charges against some of those responsible for a pretty serious crime,” Chief Davis said.

For the moment, the NIBIN machine is rented from the Bureau of Alcohol, tobacco and firearms. Green Bay hopes to buy the equipment that costs $ 200,000. Some of the $ 2 million Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich would like to set aside from the $ 23.7 million in American Rescue Plan Act funding could be used to purchase.

Before obtaining the NIBIN machine, investigators had to turn the evidence over to Milwaukee for processing, which took time and resources essential to investigations. Now that the equipment is in-house, evidence can be processed and entered into the database within 24 hours of the crime. “What he is able to do is make connections between incidents much faster than in the past,” said Chief Davis.

When asked if an investigation may fail, if the evidence gathered from a scene isn’t already in the database, Lt. Beguhn replies that that doesn’t mean a dead end is near. “Let’s say the casing is from a gun that hasn’t been acquired yet, maybe it’s been used down the line.”

If that same gun is used in another crime and that cartridge goes into the system, we might have another piece of the puzzle that we can use a bit later, ”said Lt. Beguhn. On the City of Green Bay website there is a link to cartecrimecommunautaire.com which describes various crimes in cities of the United States, including Green Bay.