Gov’t Awards US$1.9 Million Contract to Supply Ballistic System for JCF

Forensic Technology W.A.I. Inc. of Canada has been awarded a contract valued US$1.9 million to supply an Integrated Ballistic Information System (IBIS) for the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF).
Minister of Information, Senator Burchell Whiteman, who made the announcement at Monday’s (Oct. 3) post Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House, explained that the system would assist and support the Firearms Licencing Authority by “providing a database against which it will be possible to match the licensing of firearms and match the firearms and shells that have been found at crime scenes.”
As such, the Minister said, the police would not only become more effective in dealing with crimes but in tracking the users of these firearms and determining whether or not these guns have been used to commit heinous crimes.
“It is well known that the importation and trading in illegal firearms and ammunition in Jamaica is one of the principal contributors to the high level of serious crime,” he stated.
He added that in an effort to stem the level of crime and violence and the trading in firearms, additional equipment for ballistic testing, data acquisition and storage for the new Firearms Licencing Authority, would be acquired to work in conjunction with the IBIS.
IBIS, Mr. Whiteman noted, is used by “major law enforcement agencies in our partner countries such as Canada and elsewhere”.
IBIS is reputed to be the only commercially deployed ballistic system available in the world. It succeeds the now defunct ‘DrugFire’ ballistic testing system and is expected to be in the island before the end of the year.