ROYAL MALAYSIA POLICE REDUCING FIREARM RELATED CRIME USING AUTOMATED BALLISTICS IMAGING TECHNOLOGY

By Supt. Shaikh Abdul Adzis B. Shaikh abdullah Royal Malaysia Police Forensic Laboratory
(11 April 2011)

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Ballistics imaging technology has received national attention as a powerful tool for improving the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP) response to firearm-related crime by linking multiple crime scenes to one firearm. This paper will show the impact of ballistics imaging technology on the productivity of the RMP Forensic Laboratory. Cost-effectiveness estimates and qualitative evidence will also suggest that ballistics imaging technology allows the RMP to make hits that would not have been possible using traditional ballistics identification methods.

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INTRODUCTION Every firearm has individual characteristics much like the uniqueness of human fingerprints that are transferred in the form of microscopic scratches and dents to the projectiles and cartridge casings from the firearm itself (U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, & Firearms, 2001). The barrel of the firearm marks the bullets that travel through it and the breech mechanism of the firearm marks the ammunition cartridge casings from which the bullets are fired. When bullets and casings are recovered at a crime scene, these unique markings provide law enforcement agencies with an important opportunity to determine whether the bullets or casings were fired from a specific suspects firearm. Recovered crime guns can also be test-fired and the resulting bullets and casings from one crime scene can be compared with ballistics evidence at

another crime scene to determine whether the crimes were linked to the same gun.

In the past, the comparison of ballistics evidence was a very labor-intensive and time-consuming task as each piece of newly recovered evidence had to be manually compared with a test-fired bullets and casings. There was no means to automate the process and, given labor and time constraints, it was very difficult to make matches across crime scenes (Braga, 2004). During the early 1990s, Forensic Technology Inc. developed an automated ballistics imaging and analysis system, called the Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS). The IBIS system maintains a database of digital ballistic images of bullets and casings from crime guns. As new images are entered, IBIS compares the recovered evidence with existing images from prior crime scenes to identify possible matches. For cartridge casings, digital images are correlated based on characteristics such as breech face, firing pin, and ejector marks. For bullets, digital images of the LEAs (Land Engraved Area caused by the firearm barrel) are correlated. IBIS technology quickly sorts through large volumes of ballistics evidence and suggests a small number of candidate cases that may match the evidence in question. Firearms examiners then manually look at the candidates and conduct a standard forensic comparison to confirm a match, if one actually exists.

In 2005, RMP selected another automated ballistics system called CONDOR as the standard ballistics imaging technology for their then-proposed Malaysia Ballistic Identification Database (MYBID). MYBIDs goal is to allow RMP to check digital images of recovered ballistic evidence against a nationwide database of many thousands of images of ballistics crime scene evidence. On October 2010, with the development of new technology and software that combines both two-dimensional and three-dimensional imaging, the RMP acquired IBIS TRAX-3D to replace the present system. Using the new IBIS
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TRAX-3D system, the RMP Ballistics Section has entered some 7128 bullets and 7563 cartridge casings from criminal cases and firearms indexing into its imaging database, and has generated extremely positive results.

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OVERVIEW OF IBIS TRAX-3D IBIS TRAX-3D is the latest evolution of IBIS and is capable of automated imaging, comparison, enhanced visualization and analysis of spent cartridge casings and fired bullets that have sustained damage or fragmentation. Currently, its the only system to provide a five-axis automated imaging stage capable of rotational and lateral movement. It also provides high-resolution 3D and 2D images of a bullets topography which is free of distortion. IBIS TRAX3D is more effective in the analysis of a wider range of bullet types, and has also produced superior quality images. This IBIS TRAX-3D was able to meet all criteria proposed due to: excellent compromise between lateral and vertical resolution; reasonable acquisition time; optimal working distances to prevent accidental damage to sample and also allowing for the acquisition of a wider range of bullet deformation; minimal generation of artifact and noise in raw sample profiles; true colour representation of sample that is linked to height data; ability to image steep slopes, therefore imaging maximum surface features; rotational axis for 360 measurement of cylindrical samples;

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MALAYSIA BALLISTIC IDENTIFICATION DATABASE (MYBID) Prior to the adoption of IBIS, RMP operations usually consisted of manually matched bullets and cartridge casings recovered at a crime scene to determine whether the bullets or casings were fired from a specific suspects firearm. Firearms examiners did not systematically compare bullets and casings from one scene with ballistics evidence recovered at other crime
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scenes to determine whether separate gun crimes were linked. When firearms examiners did attempt to make such matches, known as making cold hits, it happened in one of two ways. The first possible way a cold hit occurred was if a firearms examiner recognized some unique markings on a cartridge casing as very similar to markings on a cartridge casing recovered at another crime scene. The other possibility was if a detective developed an investigative lead from a confidential informant that a recovered crime gun had been used previously in another gun crime and would request the firearms examiner to make comparisons of evidence across the crime scenes.

Since adopting IBIS, the RMP Ballistic Section test fires all recovered crime guns. Bullets and cartridge casings found at scene of crime are also imaged and entered into the MYBID. The Ballistic Section has made an aggressive effort to collect, image, and enter ballistic evidence from all incidents involving firearms (from homicides to illegal possession cases) into the MYBID. RMP refers to this process as comprehensive imaging of all crime-related ballistics evidence. In sharp contrast, before IBIS was acquired, cartridges or bullets from different crimes scenes were cross-examined by firearms examiners only in extreme circumstances or where there was a suspicion two criminal events were connected.

The information contained in MYBID could be of significant value in resolving unsolved cases in which ballistic evidence was recovered at the scene of a crime or as a part of the subsequent investigation. In addition, RMP are considering using ballistic imaging technology to create statewide systems that contain reference ballistic images of cartridges and bullets from test firings of licensed guns and security forces throughout the country. By creating such systems, cartridges and bullets recovered from crime scenes, would search the images against the reference database, and, if there is a match, the RMP can identify the original owner of the gun in question.
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FUTURE DEVELOPMENT In the future, IBIS TRAX-3D equipment will be installed in five regions throughout Malaysia (North Region, South Region, East Coast Region and East Malaysia). Ballistic images will be stored in regional, server-based databases. Depending upon workload, each site will have one BrassTRAX-3D acquisition station for cartridge cases and one BulletTRAX-3D acquisition station for bullets. These stations will be employed to capture image data at the regional level and communicate the data to the central MYBID location for processing and comparison. The BrassTRAX-3D and BulletTRAX-3D stations can also be used in regions that do not have their own firearms examiners.

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OUTPUT AND BENEFITS FROM IBIS TRAX-3D

All firearms related crime cases which occur throughout Malaysia will be referred to the MYBID, which is located at RMP Forensic Laboratory in Kuala Lumpur. With the IBIS TRAX-3D system, burdens will be reduced and productivity will be improved. The sharing of information is faster and more effective. The increase in productivity refers to upgraded staffing by reducing manual functions, increasing resources and the improvement of the automation process. In the long term, the cost will decline over time.

IBIS is being used by over 60 countries a testament to the systems good reputation among the countries using it to help solve firearm crime. The system also has sustainability in terms of computer software and parts that are easily available for maintenance and future improvements.

Apart from keeping ballistic data, MYBID can also manage information about licensed guns such as, make, model, serial number and the history of the firearm. IBIS TRAX-3D is also capable of storing data of 12 gauge cartridges often used by licensed owners and poachers alike. This further enables the

RMP to monitor the movement of firearms and indirectly prevent the misuse and illegal poaching that has become a global issue.

CONCLUSION The results of this paper suggest that the IBIS TRAX-3D technology significantly increased the productivity of the RMP crime solving program. Clearly, the IBIS technology significantly increases the ability of RMP to make ballistics matches across crime scenes. The cost-effectiveness estimates and qualitative evidence also suggest that the IBIS technology allows the RMP to make hits that otherwise would not have been possible. Before IBIS was adopted by the RMP, ballistics matching across gun crime scenes was an adhoc and tedious process. Now, the RMP can systematically compare recovered gun crime evidence against its entire inventory of evidence with little effort. The science of ballistics, in particular, has been an important component in addressing violent crimes, which are often committed with firearms.