Senator Parker Advocates to Bridge the Gap in Crime Detection
Calls for the Inclusion of Microstamping in the Upcoming Budget Proposal
(Brooklyn, NY) – Today, State Senator Kevin Parker, Senate Democrats and Assemblymembers, along with family members who have lost loved ones to gun violence, advocates and law enforcement joined forces and at the State Capitol to urge the State Senate to include microstamping in this year’s budget proposal. Microstamping, which connects shell casings from crime scenes to the first purchaser of a weapon, would provide law enforcement with a critical tool to solve gun crimes. Microstamping has passed the Assembly several times, but so far the Senate has been unwilling to approve it.
In his executive budget proposal, Governor Cuomo proposed the repeal of a pistol and revolver ballistic identification database – known as CoBIS – creating a gap in the ability of law enforcement to link shell casings back to the gun that fired them.
“The elimination of CoBIS from the executive budget presents a gap in crime detection and crime prevention,” Senator Parker explained. “The enactment of microstamping would bridge this gap and go a step further in protecting the safety and security of Brooklyn residents and all New Yorkers. This is not an anti-gun rights bill. This is a bill to assist our law enforcement officers in solving crimes” continue Senator Parker who is a co-sponsor on the Senate Bill S675-B.
Microstamping ensures that when a gun is fired, information identifying its make, model and serial number is stamped onto the ejected cartridge as a tiny alpha-numeric code. “Microstamped” shell casings make it possible for law enforcement to trace and determine critical facts about the guns used in many unsolved crimes, even if the crime gun itself is never found.
Microstamping has the support of numerous law enforcement and municipal officials around the state, including over 100 mayors and 80 police departments and law enforcement organizations.
“Legislators, advocates, law enforcement, and citizens from Brooklyn and all across New York State agree - we need microstamping legislation and we need it now,” Senator Parker concluded. “We cannot keep putting off this common sense legislation which will make Brooklyn safer by helping law enforcement put gun criminals behind bars. Time is of the essence; the sooner microstamping becomes law, the sooner it will help solve violent crimes, deter illegal gun trafficking, and ultimately save lives."
To read a report released by New Yorkers Against Gun Violence on the devastating impact of unsolved gun crimes on families across New York visit http://www.nyagv.org/documents/ShellCasingsAnonymousReport.pdf [3].
About Senator Kevin Parker
Senator Kevin Parker is committed to restoring the overall quality of life for the constituents of the 21st Senatorial District in Brooklyn. A lifelong Brooklyn resident, Senator Parker has been a Flatbush resident for more than 33 years. Having been nurtured, schooled and employed in the district, Senator Parker is intimately familiar with the needs of this ethnically diverse community that consists of 311,000 constituents in several communities which include: Flatbush, East Flatbush, Midwood, Ditmas Park, Kensington and Borough Park.
###
Media Contact: Mynah Gooden
718-629-6401
