The East African Community Regional Forensic Referral Centre (RFRC) in Kampala, Uganda is set to receive a state-of-the-art Digital Ballistics Identification System (DBIS) compatible with the INTERPOL Integrated Ballistics Identification Network in the month of December 2016.
The RFRC, which was designated through a proposal by the EAC Police Chiefs in 2011 as a Regional Centre of Excellence on Forensic Science, will receive the equipment from Ultra Electronics Forensic Technology of Dublin, Ireland at a cost of Euros 897,553 only.
The EAC along with COMESA, IGAD and Indian Ocean Commission have been implementing a joint cross regional project aimed at curbing maritime insecurity in the Indian Ocean. The project, whose implementation commenced in 2013, was a response to acts of maritime piracy that had bedevilled the Somali Coastline and by extension the Indian Ocean. It received EU support to the tune of Euros 37.5 million spread over a five year period.
The EAC component includes among others enhancement of investigative capabilities of the investigative authorities in the Eastern and Southern African-Indian Ocean (ESA-IO) region to effectively investigate maritime insecurity incidents. To this extent and acknowledging the use of firearms as a primary facilitator of criminal incidents, there was expressed need for establishment of modern ballistic examination and analysis capabilities. The acquisition of the DBIS has been funded by the Project.
The equipment, which comprises a Bulletrax Station, a Brassstrax Station, a Match Point plus Station, a Data and Correlation Station, and a Server was subjected to rigorous pre-shipment inspection and pre-testing by a team from the EAC Secretariat and RFRC on 28th November, 2016, in compliance with the contractual terms.
The Secretariat team led by the EAC Peace and Security Expert, Mr. Leonard M. Onyonyi; the Head of the RFRC in Kampala, Assistant Inspector General of Police, Samwel Ezati; and the Head of Ballistics at the RFRC, Ag. Commissioner of Police, Mr. Mutuya Umar, were in Dublin, Ireland concluding the exercise on Tuesday, 29th November, 2016, after which the equipment will be shipped to Uganda.
The Commissioning of the DBIS is expected to take place in February 2017 after which Partner States will as they may deem necessary take advantage of the facility for analytical purposes.
This is the only second such equipment within the EAC, the other being operated by the Kenya Police Service. The facility will also be used to impart ballistics training for Partner States deficient of the capacity.