Arlington police use intelligence-based program to fight violent crime
ARLINGTON, Texas (CBSDFW.COM) — As North Texas police departments work out strategies to fight violent crime, Arlington police are in the middle of a pilot program aimed at establishing a dedicated force that uses ballistic evidence to track down criminals.
Arlington Police Chief Al Jones says overall crime is up 9% from this time last year. His hope is that this pilot program will keep the streets safer.
It's called NET—or the NIBIN Engagement Team. NIBIN stands for National Integrated Ballistic Information Network.
It's a national database managed by the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) and gives local law enforcement agencies access to help trace ballistic evidence recovered at crime scenes.
In other words, if a gun is used in a crime, they can use the system to trace that weapon to see if it was linked to other crimes - sometimes even in other cities. It also produces charts to build an investigative profile of the suspects.
"What's different about this program it's really driven by intelligence," said Jones.
"NIBIN helps connect these dots, it's an intelligence-driven approach to focus efforts on curbing violence," said James VanVliet, ATF Dallas field division Assistant Special Agent in Charge.
This system has been around for years, but Arlington police recently formed a group— a dedicated team of 9 to proactively combat crime. It will contain a sergeant, 3 detectives, 3 officers, a crime analyst and a special agent from the ATF.
The department said because NET officers and detectives are not assigned cases, they have the ability to proactively follow up on these leads, gather evidence, and seize weapons and make arrests when appropriate.
"I want us to start looking at cases that we already have because a lot of those cases we already have are linked to some things that we are seeing now," added Jones.
This new strategy brings hope to so many families who have lost a loved one due to gun violence in Arlington like Felicia Williams.
"I miss him so much," said Williams.
Her son BJ was just 21-years-old when he was shot and killed at a park in 2014.
"So as big as his heart was, it pieced him in his heart, and I didn't see him anymore," said Williams.
Devastated by his loss, Williams started the non-profit organization, Journey 2 Healing Hearts. She wants to help other families who are left to cope with the trauma of losing a loved one in a violent manner.
"It's too much gun violence going on in our world today," added Williams.
She's hoping this reduces crime to help prevent tragedies like what she had to experience.
This pilot program started July of this year and extends into January. At that time, Chief Jones will see if it's feasible for it to continue.
