State police head testifies to committee on report calling system ineffective
By Anica Butler
Sun Staff
March 10, 2005

The head of the Maryland State Police testified yesterday that a mandate to collect ballistics information hasn't helped solve crimes, while advocates of the law blamed the state police for its ineffectiveness.

In a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee, Col. Thomas E. "Tim" Hutchins would not say whether he personally supports a bill that would repeal the law. But he testified about a state police report that calls the Integrated Ballistics Identification System, or IBIS, expensive and ineffective.

As a result of that September 2004 report, Del. Joan Cadden, an Anne Arundel Democrat, sponsored a bill that would repeal the law requiring the collection of the ballistics information.

IBIS was created in 2000 to amass a database of ballistic markers by requiring gun manufacturers to test-fire them and submit the cartridge casings to state police. Technicians then make a digital image of the unique markings and enter them into the database for future comparison. The markings often are referred to as "ballistic fingerprints."

Hutchins testified yesterday that 43,729 casings have been entered into IBIS, and the database has been used 208 times. Six "hits" have resulted from those inquiries, but none resulted in criminal prosecutions. In four years, $2.5 million has been spent on IBIS, Hutchins said.

Teresa M. Long, assistant director of the state police forensic sciences division, said flawed information from gun manufacturers also is a problem.

IBIS advocates, however, are opposed to the bill.

"We know that these databases take time to get running," said Joshua Horwitz, executive director of the Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence.

Horwitz said the problems noted in the state police report can be remedied. Another advocate, Casey Anderson of CeaseFire Maryland, said the state police also should seek permission to link IBIS to the federal ballistics database.

If police agencies could send ballistics information to state police through the federal database -- rather than driving the information to state police headquarters in Pikesville -- more agencies would take advantage of the database, Anderson said.

Robert A. Ricker, a former attorney for the National Rifle Association, said he believes that state police are loath to make the changes necessary for IBIS to work. He pointed to the low number of inquiries as an example.

"If you don't use the system," Ricker said, "it isn't going to work."

The bill had not been scheduled for a vote.