Columbia police seek more than $200k in seized proceeds to identify guns

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

The Columbia Police Department is requesting $208,934 in seized money to buy gun identification technology.

The request will be presented at the City Council meeting Monday.

If approved, CPD will work with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives through a gun identification program called the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network.

The money will come from the Asset Forfeiture Fund, which is part of the Asset Forfeiture Program, a federal program under the Department of Justice in which money made from seized assets in criminal cases is used to fund programs.

During a City Council meeting in August, CPD announced it had over $420,000 from sales of seized items. Later, CPD presented three ways the agency could use the funds and suggested new body cameras, community education classes on crime and the gun identification technology.

According to a memo from the City Council, the machine captures and compares ballistic evidence through a database. When shell cases or firearms are collected as evidence, they will be entered into the machine for identification and to provide information for future cases.

During the meeting in August, CPD Chief Jill Schlude said that without this machine, police have to send ballistic evidence to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for identification, prolonging the investigation process. According to a memo for the upcoming meeting, this technology will increase efficiency and shorten evidence turnaround time from two to three weeks to an average of 24 hours or less.