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Monday, August 10, 2009

So, what happens to confiscated guns?

This is a bit belated, but I'm posting it now in case you guys missed this story last week.

The Police Department's top brass often call news conferences to show off a haul of weapons that were confiscated during drug busts and other get-a-bunch-of-bad-guys efforts. The weapons -- handguns, sawed off shotguns, rifles and so forth -- usually cover the length of two or three tables. The displays make for a great picture, or B-roll footage for the top of the news.

I always wonder what happens to the firearms -- and the ammo, for that matter -- after the reporters leave the room. Do they all get melted down? Shoved into an industrial-sized closet, maybe? 

Guns, bullets and every other kind of projectile imaginable end up at the PD's Firearms Identification Unit, where 20 full-timers process more than 5,000 weapons every year. Their story:

 IN THE MIDDLE of a narrow, darkened room, Officer Larry Hagler sat hunched over a microscope, peering at a mangled slug that had been removed from a homicide victim's spine.

He had spent hours staring at the bullet, like it was a magic puzzle with a surprising hidden image - and, in a way, it was.

Hagler, a member of the Police Department's Firearms Identification Unit, said he was studying the "hills and valleys," the minuscule markings that are left on a bullet when it's fired from a gun.

If he's lucky, after staring at the bullet for a couple of hours or a couple of days, he'd notice that the hills and valleys on the malformed slug match the pattern on a bullet from a different crime scene, thus helping detectives resolve an unsolved case.

On TV shows, that kind of forensic analysis usually takes mere seconds, and leads to a pulse-pounding arrest before the next commercial break.

In the real world, the work done by Hagler and the 19 other members of the FIU is time-consuming and mentally exhausting - but plays a vital role in fighting crime.

To read the rest of the story, click here.

Finished already? Click here to read about a local gunshop owner who is turning to the Web to keep stolen guns out of stores.
Posted by David Gambacorta @ 12:25 AM  Permalink | 1 comment
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  • 0 like this / 0 don't   •   Posted 10:35 AM, 08/10/2009
    Look, we have a State Parolee Crime Problem in "Killadelphia". Yeah there are over 49,000 Probationers...Yeah we have 1/6th the population of New York City, but 6 Times the Crime Rate...BUT, we have 9,000 State Parolees that are not being "Supervised" because the Parole Agent caseloads are DOUBLE that of other states... Twice the Maximum recommended by National Parole Association! Nobody can be supervised at those levels. Rendell is releasing 2,000 Inmates per month into our neighborHOODs and NOT screening them for drugs and NOT sending them back to prison for any Parole Violations...in many cases, even if they pick up a new criminal case! Parole Board Chairman, McVey, has repeatedly refused to surrender documentation to State Auditors to hide their crimes. Documentation is even being destroyed! The State Attorney General (Tom Corbett) was repeatedly told and has done Nothing! There are over 500 State Parole and DOC Escapees in Killadelphia, right now, as you read this! The Mayor, City Council, State Legislature...all have repeatedly betrayed their sacred trust...Murder victim after murder victim...destroyed family after destroyed family. What's worse is that the news media has also chosen to betray it's sacred duty to the public. The news media wants a "Bail Out" too. We've paid for Rendell's "No Bid" and "Inappropriate" contracts to his law firm, campaign contributors and "friends" with the blood of our crime victims and the bodies of our family members. He's turned a World Class City into the Largest Open Air Prison in America and 1st in the Nation in COP KILLINGS. We've even been called "The City of Death". Why aren't the FEDs following the money/blood trails back to Rendell? No, Eddie isn't selling kidneys, but he's been killing us for YEARS! Now his "Spin Doctor" is bailing and Eddie is working on his memoirs...and what a "Legacy" it is.... The President's Comment Line is 1-202-456-1111, U.S. Attorney = 215-861-8200. How bout making one phone call?
    — John Law


1 comments
About The PhillyConfidential team

Dana DiFilippo has covered murder, mayhem and miscellany at the Daily News since 2000. She grew up in Delaware County and studied journalism and photography at Penn State University. E-mail tips to difilid@phillynews.com.

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Stephanie Farr has been reporting for the Daily News since 2007, covering everything from gay porn stars who entered the burglary business to moon trees, skinheads, murders and naked bike rides. She covers crime, both in the city and suburbs, and keeps clippings of bizarre Associated Press articles. Her favorite this year was the story about the drunk in Punxsutawney who gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to a dead opossum. E-mail tips to farrs@phillynews.com.

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Phillip Lucas joined the Daily News crime team in 2011. He grew up on the mean streets of Seattle and studied journalism and psychology at Howard University in Washington, D.C. Before landing in the City of Brotherly Love, Phillip was a reporter for The News Journal in Wilmington, Del. Email tips to lucasp@phillynews.com.

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Morgan Zalot is the newest crime reporter at the Daily News, starting in 2011 after interning at the paper twice as a Temple University journalism student. In her past stints at the DN, she covered just about everything, from drunken Phillies fans to a barber shop in a high school to a grisly murder-suicide. She’s a born-and-raised Philly girl who grew up in the Northeast. E-mail tips to zalotm@philly.com.

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