Jacksonville leaders say Crime Gun Intelligence Center will help solve crimes faster

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jacksonville leaders say the city’s new Crime Gun Intelligence Center will help solve gun-related crimes faster.

According to the center’s Violent Crime Dashboard, there have been 197 gun-related incidents in Jacksonville in the past 30 days.

That’s a 30 percent increase over the previous 30 days.

The $1 million center allows law enforcement to immediately analyze gun crime evidence.

“What this allows us to do is basically tie the crimes together using technology,” said Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Assistant Chief of Violence Reduction Travis Cox.

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Crimes like the shooting at a Terry Parker High School football game Friday.

“My heart immediately sank and dropped, and I was like, oh no,” said Jacksonville mother Avenicia Mason.

Raines High School student Shammon Mickens was shot.

JSO said the shooting may have been gang-related, although Shammon’s family denied to Action News Jax that he was in a gang.

“Nobody should ever have to experience that at all, especially at a high school football game,” said Jacksonville father Paul Whittingham.

Action News Jax asked Cox how Jacksonville’s new Crime Gun Intelligence Center reacts to that kind of shooting.

“If there are shell casings that were gathered at that scene, we can process those through our firearms lab. Is the gun used in this shooting -- has it been used in other shootings? Which will create leads,” said Cox. “We have invested in a firearms lab here locally. So, in the past, it may take us six months to 12 months to get results back from a firearms lab. We’re now getting those results back in 24 hours.”

Shell casings’ unique signatures help detectives identify shooters faster, connect related gun crimes, and prevent future shootings.

“Whether the crimes happen in our county, outside of our county, even in another state -- we actually had a firearm that we connected to another crime out in Chicago,” said Cox.

The center also puts dozens of JSO detectives, State Attorney’s Office employees and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives agents in the same room to streamline communication.

At least 11 cities already have Crime Gun Intelligence Centers, including Los Angeles, Washington, D.C.,   and Detroit.

The U.S. Department of Justice funded grants for those 11 cities’ centers.

Jacksonville applied for the same grant but didn’t get it.

“I think it would have been a positive had we gotten it. I think you’ll see us apply again in the future,” said JSO Sheriff Mike Williams.

Washington, D.C. got a Crime Gun Intelligence Center in 2016.

In the three years that followed, there have been over 1,000 fewer violent crimes involving guns than in the previous three years.

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Cox Media Group