The National Ballistics Intelligence Service, or NABIS, is a British
intelligence service
An intelligence agency is a government agency responsible for the collection, analysis, and exploitation of information in support of law enforcement, national security, military, public safety, and foreign policy objectives.
Means of informatio ...
dedicated to managing and providing detailed information regarding
firearm-related criminality. The service aims to use its database to store ballistics information about police cases involving firearms, and consequently maintain it for future use and reference. The service operates four facilities to test and analyse firearms evidence to help link it with other cases.
These are based in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
.
The service was officially launched on 1 April 2008
and can be roughly compared to the
Integrated Ballistics Identification System The Integrated Ballistics Identification System, or ''IBIS'', is the brand of the Automated firearms identification system manufactured by Forensic Technology WAI, Inc., of Montreal, Canada.
Use
IBIS has been adopted as the platform of the National ...
operating in the United States.
Four regional forensic hubs operate within four host forces/organisations: Greater Manchester Police (GMP), West Midlands Police (WMP), Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and the Glasgow unit of SPA Forensic Services. The staff are around 40 in number.
See also
*
British intelligence agencies
The Government of the United Kingdom maintains intelligence agencies within three government departments, the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Ministry of Defence. These agencies are responsible for collecting and analysing foreign and d ...
*
National Police Chiefs' Council
The National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) is a national coordination body for law enforcement in the United Kingdom and the representative body for British police chief officers. Established on 1 April 2015, it replaced the former Association ...
*
Police National Computer
The Police National Computer (PNC) is a database used by law enforcement organisations across the United Kingdom and other Non-Law Enforcement Agencies. Originally developed in the early 1970s, PNC1 went 'live' in 1974 providing UK police forc ...
*
United Kingdom National DNA Database
The United Kingdom National DNA Database (NDNAD; officially the ''UK National Criminal Intelligence DNA Database'') is a national DNA Database that was set up in 1995. In 2005 it had 3.1 million profiles and in 2020 it had 6.6 million profiles ...
*
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and preve ...
(ATF) - USA
References
External links
Official NABIS website
2008 establishments in the United Kingdom
Government agencies established in 2008
Home Office (United Kingdom)
National law enforcement agencies of the United Kingdom
Organisations based in Birmingham, West Midlands
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