SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane police will soon use new technology to combat a concerning increase in shootings as the department works to identify possible repeat offenders responsible for multiple gun crimes.
The Spokane Police Department will begin using a NIBIN database to analyze bullet casings and connect shootings across the county more rapidly.
The technology comes as the city has recorded 103 non-injury shootings this year compared to 69 during the same period last year. 17 non-injury shootings were reported in September alone.
SPD said officers often find little at the scene after these kinds of shootings, but the threat is still serious.
“These are all concerning in that every time a bullet leaves the barrel of a gun, the potential to seriously injure or kill somebody exists for sure,” said Spokane Police Chief Kevin Hall.
Chief Hall pointed to the fatal case of Gavin Looper, a 13-year-old Peperzak Middle School student who was shot and killed in a drive-by shooting when the bullet went through a house and hit him while he was playing video games.
“Once the bullet leaves the barrel, there’s no control over it,” he said.
Hall said research shows that a very small number of people are responsible for a large amount of gun violence.
A regional crime lab backlog has slowed progress on these investigations in recent months.
“This will allow us to do all of that work and connect shootings throughout the county in a much faster way,” Hall said.
If police find a bullet casing, that can go straight through NIBIN.
If they find a gun but no bullet casings, officers fire the gun into a specially designed bullet trap. That then gives a sample casing that gets put into the database.
“This technology will allow us to locate some of these chronic offenders who are responsible for a lot of different shootings,” Hall said.
Spokane Police said the Sheriff’s Office will be trained on this technology as well, to analyze evidence and build stronger cases against suspects involved in multiple shooting incidents.
“It is another tool that investigators can use to further these very serious cases,” Chief Hall said.
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