ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. – The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office is starting to use technology that is well-known across the country for helping to solve gun-related crimes.
It is all done by uploading pictures and evidence of spent shell casings and bullets to the “National Integrated Ballistic Information Network,” also known as NIBIN.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office first started using NIBIN in 2019.
ATF Senior Special Agent Mark Mutz said evidence uploaded to NIBIN is compared to what’s already in the system, and a notification from the system means that the evidence the Sheriff’s Office uploaded came back as linked to another crime.
Mya McKee, a forensic specialist with the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office, said leads can come within hours or days via NIBIN.
McKee, who examines the evidence that is uploaded to NIBIN, explained exactly what investigators are looking for.
“When ammo is fired from the gun, the firing pin will leave a mark on it, and depending on the firearm, it leaves a certain type of mark,” McKee said. “All of the markings I am looking for are going to be from a certain type of gun and that’s how you are able to distinguish cases from others.”
Mutz explained that NIBIN is unique when it comes to criminal databases because they are “capturing an element of crimes committed with firearms that has not previously been explored.”
“We were able to acquire more data, collected from cartridge casings and test fires, submit them, and as a direct result, impact investigations that are occurring right here,” Mutz said. “We are able to use this information to target violent offenders. [We are able] to prosecute the people and arrest people that are terrorizing these communities with guns.”
Recently, 20 shell casings collected by the St. Augustine Beach Police Department in a 2024 drive-by shooting case were run through the national network.
Investigators said three of those shell casings were linked to weapons used in three homicides and five other unrelated shootings.
“We have had a strong partnership with ATF, North Florida High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA), and the State Attorney, Florida’s 7th Circuit for many years and NIBIN is a powerful example of these agencies coming together to provide the most advanced law enforcement technology to solve and prevent violent crimes involving firearms,” Sheriff Rob Hardwick said.
In December 2022, State Attorney R.J. Larizza launched “Operation Young Guns,” which led to more than 450 cases being prosecuted involving teenagers and young adults up to 25 years old committing crimes with guns.
Those crimes included everything from murders and armed burglaries to armed assaults, and NIBIN helped connect many of them.
