£1.1m police firearms database takes aim at gun crime

Police claim a new £1.1m firearms database will help take more guns off the streets by allowing forces across the country to share vital weapons and ammunition intelligence much more easily.

The National Firearms Forensic Intelligence Database (NFFID) has been set up by the Forensic Science Service (FSS) with the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) and is now fully operational.

Speaking at the launch today, Home Office minister Caroline Flint said the database will be an invaluable tool for the police.

"Using cutting edge technology, it will help to bring more of the criminals who bring fear to our communities to justice," she said.

Police have been calling for central firearms information systems since the shooting of 16 schoolchildren in Dunblane in 1996 and a delayed national firearms certificate register of gun ownership is also due to be up and running by next summer.

Alan Green, Deputy Chief Constable of Greater Manchester Police and ACPO spokesman on criminal use of firearms, told silicon.com that funding had been a "big issue".

"It has taken a long time to develop but let's look forward and make sure all forces submit weapons and ammunition to the FSS so we can get it on the database," he said.

The NFFID will act as a central firearms intelligence repository, which forces will submit local information on guns seized and fired ammunition collected at scenes of crime that can be analysed using an automated bullet comparison system called IBIS.

IBIS can compare spent ammunition from unsolved crimes with data from recovered weapons and suggest a list of possible matches.

The database has been built in-house by the FSS on an Oracle platform and the UK's police forces will be eligible for a part of a £0.5m fund set up by the Home Office to cover extra costs incurred making submissions to the NFFID.

But Green said if all forces do make the effort to submit and share information then it will have a significant impact on the ability of police to tackle gun crime.

"It gives us much better information on where guns are coming in from and any trends. It will enable us to work with manufacturers to make imitation weapons more difficult to convert into firing live ammunition," he said. ""It will improve our ability to investigate gun crime. In terms of numbers, who knows, but we hope it will enable us to take more weapons off the streets."

FSS CEO Dave Werrett said: "Previously we were unable to undertake anything more than a local comparison which took several days. Now we are able to carry out a national check in a matter of hours."