BOWLING GREEN, Ky. — Demonstrations of the Louisville ATF division's mobile unit took place on the campus of the Bowling Green Police Department (BGPD) Friday. The unit is used to gather leads for firearm related crimes.

Officers demonstrated how the process works by firing shots then gathering the cases from actual crimes, scanning the bullet casings to produce evidence. 

“If we have a crime involving a weapon, ATF has this technology that if a particular weapon has been involved in a crime somewhere else we may have a chance of developing a lead," said Kevin Wiles, chief deputy of Warren County sheriff's office. 

The mobile units are a game changer according to Wiles, potentially helping cut down on timing for each case. 

“Unlike fingerprints, there is a little bit of a lag when we submit those and get the results back," said Wiles "With this system it is much much faster, so those detectives really love this kind of system because the information and the leads are much more timely and we can immediately start working on leads while the case is fresh.”

The unit looks for specific points on the shell casings that lead to matching it with a certain weapon. Specifics of how often Kentucky lawforce uses the unit were not shared, but Wiles is looking forward to having ATF officers work with law enforcement. 

“For us to get into the NIBIN system without this trailer being here we would have to arrange with an agency like the BG police department that has a trained entry officer that we could work with to get a weapon entered into the database," Wiles said. "So I think that is going to change in the future where AFT will be there and can help local agencies as they are needed to enter.”