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Police use this high tech tool to track bullet casings

The Trump administration announced in June that additional ATF officers were being sent to Chicago to help tackle the city’s gun violence problem. Those agents are making use of a new high-tech tool — a ballistic testing van linked to the ATF’s interstate database “Integration Ballistic Information Network” — on loan to the city for the summer. According to Chicago Tribune, there have been 1924 shootings in Chicago this year.

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Meanwhile, the Cincinnati police have seen gun crimes spike in recent years. But the police force there has been a national leader in adopting an investigative tool that could help solve the problem, by linking bullet casings found at multiple crime scenes to one gun, and one criminal. The tool could help keep shooters off the streets, but it’s not very widely used. Vice News looked at the challenges in implementing it.

This segment originally aired July 12, 2017 on VICE News Tonight on HBO.