According to the FBI, there were 362,348 firearm-related offenses committed in the U.S. in 2023 alone. In many of these cases, criminals left key evidence behind: cartridge casings from the bullets fired at the scene. With the increased use of assault rifles and machine-gun conversion devices, there’s been a significant increase in the number of rounds fired at crime scenes—leading to an ever-more urgent need to identify the casings and help get the shooters off the streets.
Now Plano- and Montreal-based LeadsOnline—a provider of data, technology, and intelligence tools for law enforcement agencies—has launched a new ballistic analysis tool that aims to do just that.
The tool, called IBIS ClearCase, is “a fully automated system that streamlines the triage of cartridge casings collected from a crime scene,” the company said. In just minutes, it can:
- Capture exhibit images and location data at the crime scene
- Determine the number and caliber of firearms used in the incident
- Identify the ideal casings for submission to the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) managed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF)
Seeking to generate ‘the most reliable leads’
ClearCase is built on the same proven algorithms used by IBIS, the world’s leading ballistic identification technology, LeadsOnline said, ensuring the ideal candidates are submitted to NIBIN to then generate the most reliable leads. Drawing on this same technology and decades of expertise, the Plano company sasys results from ClearCase are “fast, unbiased, and reliable so investigators can establish and pursue leads more quickly to get crime guns and their users off the street.”
This innovation is need, the company notes, because the current process for triaging casings for submission to NIBIN is “predominantly manual and reliant on the availability of trained technicians.” In addition, some cartridge cases can’t be triaged until the processing of other evidence, including DNA, fingerprints, and gunshot residue—which can take weeks or even months to complete.
That lag time means offenders “remain at large with the ability to shoot again,” the company said.
“IBIS ClearCase addresses the challenges of modern law enforcement—more shootings and an increasing volume of recovered cartridge casings—by providing an automated solution that generates quick, reliable investigative leads without waiting on firearm technicians, who are overburdened, to perform subjective and manual analysis,” said Thomas Brandon, former acting director of the ATF and VP of business development and government affairs at LeadsOnline.
2024 case featured 60 fired cartridge cases
One early test of LeadsOnline’s new technology involved an active investigation stemming from a drive-by shooting in July 2024. The investigating detective had been waiting on ballistic results for nearly three months, the company said. “In one hour, the detective ran the 60 fired cartridge casings through ClearCase, which identified four unique firearms.” With that information in hand, he was able to begin pursuing the guns used in the incident.
“IBIS ClearCase was designed to complement the ATF’s highly successful NIBIN program by reducing ballistic analysis backlogs, while also enabling law enforcement to get simple but essential answers faster regarding their ballistic evidence,” LeadsOnline CEO Alex Finley said in a statement. “The system is easy to use and doesn’t require specialized training, yet it produces immediate and reliable investigative insights so leads can be pursued and cycles of violence disrupted. It also supports workflows to preserve trace evidence, such as DNA and fingerprints, keeping investigations moving and enabling lab technicians to focus their time on hit confirmation and other critical activities.”
ClearCase is sold as a solution-as-a-service for an annual fee, the company said.
Founded in 2000, LeadsOnline said it now serves more than 5,000 U.S. law enforcement agencies and global public safety organizations in nearly 80 countries. The company is headquartered in the Dallas suburb of Plano and in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
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