Law enforcement in Philadelphia suburbs announce new technology to tackle gun violence
NORRISTOWN, Pa. (CBS) -- Several law enforcement agencies came together Wednesday to announce a new way to tackle gun violence that includes state of the art technology.
The District Attorney's of Bucks, Chester, Delaware and Montgomery Counties said this new technology will be used to tie together spent shell casings back to a single gun.
Prosecutors are finding more and more, a single gun has been used in multiple shootings.
In a show of force — top prosecutors from four counties outside Philadelphia announced a new piece of equipment that can scan and log the specific markings found on fired bullets at crime scenes and then upload the information to a nationwide database with six million entries.
"It also enables us to interrupt the shooting cycle, stopping a shooter from doing it again," Kevin Steele, the Montgomery County District Attorney, said.
"This is a game-changer in combatting gun crimes and gun violence," Steele added in a release.
Officers from across Montgomery County were in a nearby auditorium training on its usefulness in what CBS News Philadelphia has been told is an effort to outsmart the "bad guys."
Prosecutors are noting an increase in gun violence spilling out of the city of Philadelphia and into surrounding counties.
"This partnership, the technology and the evidence… will put violent criminals who use guns on notice," Jennifer Schorn, the first assistant DA in Bucks County, said. "We will pursue you, we will arrest you, we will prosecute you."
Prosecutors also explained how the technology will work.
Within 48 hours of a shooting, police from the four counties will transport the spent shell casings to the Montgomery County detectives forensic lab for analysis.
The information from that national database is then sent back to specific detectives working the case.
Officials wouldn't say how much the device cost.
The technology has been online for two weeks, but Steele said it hasn't solved any investigations yet.