Jacksonville mayor asks city council to invest in technology to combat gun violence

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — City leaders gathered Wednesday to announce a new resource to fight gun violence in Jacksonville.

Jacksonville Mayor Lenny Curry was joined by Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams, State Attorney Melissa Nelson and city and federal law enforcement officials.

Curry asked the city council president and council to do a one-cycle emergency appropriation of $250,000 to fund the Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS). The technology allows law enforcement to trace a gun involved in a crime to other crimes more quickly, Curry said.

"Granting JSO the custody of this technology will alleviate the heavy burden currently our state labs are experiencing," Nelson said.

Officials said the use of the technology with the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network will allow JSO to match shell casings to guns and to other shell casings.

Nelson said law enforcement would have results between 24 and 48 hours instead of months with the new technology.

"If you are stupid enough to do a crime in our city, specifically commit a crime with a gun ... If you are stupid enough to do this, we are coming after you," Curry said.

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Cox Media Group