Senator Martin Heinrich’s Office recently secured about $1 million in federal funding to bring ballistics testing machines to New Mexico communities.
The machines are a part of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive’s National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN).
There are currently four NIBIN machines in the state, but the incoming funding will bring additional machines to Farmington, Gallup, Roswell, and Las Cruces. Senator Heinrich said that delivering these types of resources will help smaller communities investigate instances of gun violence.
“It’s really about teamwork. When I, as somebody who works at the federal level, can partner up with a police department or a sheriff’s department at the local level, and we work together, then we can have a bigger impact on preventing crime when you can prevent it upstream, and on prosecuting crime that’s already happened.”
In the instance of a gun crime, information gathered by the machines will go to the New Mexico Attorney General’s Crime Gun Intelligence Center, and will aid law enforcement in identifying and prosecuting suspects. Las Cruces Police Department Detective Carlos Carrillo called the ballistics machines a game changer.
“In the past, we would have to depend on other agencies to be able to help us with these types of forensic examinations when it comes to ballistics. To date, we’re able to do it a lot quicker and be able to get the results,” Carrillo said.
Beyond funding for the expansion of NIBIN machines in the state, Senator Heinrich said he’s also working on securing funding for auxiliary services that will help improve public safety in southern New Mexico.
“Mental health, substance abuse treatment, those are things we’re really focused on in the committee as well. And we’re focused on housing because that’s another one of those drivers upstream that really defines whether somebody is in a stable situation or whether they’re likely to fall into a criminal element.”
KRWG reached out to the campaign of Nella Domenici for an interview regarding public safety in the state, but the Republican nominee challenging Martin Heinrich in this year’s U.S. Senate race did not respond to the request.
