Law Enforcement personnel from a multitude of agencies from throughout West Virginia, and beyond, were in Bridgeport on Thursday to take part in a Crime Gun Intelligence Training session.

 

The event took place at the Benedum Civic Center with The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) Louisville Division serving as the host.

 

It was the third such training exercise in as many days for the Louisville Division, which covers Kentucky and West Virginia. Both events prior to Thursday were in Kentucky.

 

“This training was for state and federal prosecutors, assistant U.S. attorneys, state prosecutors across West Virginia and a number of local police agencies, including the West Virginia State Police,” said ATF Special Agent in Charge Shawn Morrow. “The entire state was invited, and we had decent representation. We were really happy today because we had so many prosecutors involved. Obviously, their partnership with us is super important.

 

“If we are investigating criminal activity, it’s important we are getting good prosecutions in court. Having them here to understand firearms trends across the United State but also more specifically here in West Virginia was really important.”

 

Will Thompson, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia and Bill Ihlenfeld, the United States Attorney for the Northern District of West Virginia, were both in attendance and Morrow was pleased to see both who he said prioritize violent crimes and firearms offenses.

 

“The fact they were present today, that they wanted to work with us, collaborate with us is really a statement about their commitment to public safety and their prioritization of firearm offenses and violent crimes,” Morrow said. “And having their line attorneys here, the people really doing the work alongside ATF agents, is really important.

 

“It gives us an opportunity to speak to them about crime trends, gun trends. They know what we are focused on, what we are spending our resources on. We want them to have a good understanding of that so when we bring them cases and ask them to charge these cases in federal court, they do so. Once an investigation starts at ATF we talk daily with the U.S. Attorney’s Office. We have line prosecutors that work side by side, hand in hand with our agents. They work together to develop an investigative strategy.

 

“Our job is to find evidence and their job is to see that we get a just verdict in court. It’s a hard job they have but days like today when we can come together in training is important for West Virginia.”

 

Morrow said a good portion of the training focused on trends related to firearms trafficking thefts of firearms, unlicensed dealing but also privately-made firearms and some of the things they are starting to see like 3D-printed guns.

 

“Of particular concern are these machine gun conversion devices where individuals can take a device and install it on a semi-automatic hand gun for instance and turn that into a fully-automatic hand gun,” he said. “First of all, it’s unlawful. It’s dangerous for the community. If these individuals attempt to use that to commit some kind of crime, the propensity that they are going to injure an innocent bystander is really high. Also, when people have these devices, it imposes a real danger to law enforcement.”

 

Morrow was quick to point out that manufacturing or possessing a privately-made firearm is lawful. ATF is more concerned when individuals who are prohibited from possessing firearms get their hands on them. That scenario creates challenges for law enforcement because if they are used in a crime, they don’t have markings on them, they don’t have serial numbers and they are nearly impossible to trace.

 

According to Morrow, the Louisville Field Division’s priorities are illegal possession and use of firearms. They spend a lot of time working on criminal organizations whether that’s a criminal group or gang or an armed drug trafficking organization.

 

They also give special attention to firearms traffickers, people who are sourcing firearms, obtaining them with the intention to divert them to the illicit market where they often end up in the wrong hands and at crime scenes.

 

The issues that the ATF and other law enforcement agencies deal with are present everywhere but location does come into play in terms of point of emphasis.

 

“The crime trends we see in our urban areas are often different than what we see in less-populated areas. For instance, in West Virginia we may not see the same volume of violent crime that we see in our larger cities but we still do see them.

 

“Where we do have problems across this state are armed drug traffickers, a lot of times that involves individuals who come to West Virginia from out of state.

 

“West Virginia is a gun-friendly state. That’s OK. There are a lot of hunters here, outdoorsmen, it’s part of the culture. Where we are concerned with is where individuals obtain firearms and traffic them often times out of state. We work a lot of investigations with police departments across the United States where guns are sourced in West Virginia and illegally trafficked to other states.”

 

Morrow also said lawful gun owners in West Virginia, or anywhere really, can play an important role in public safety.

 

“Up to 25 percent of firearms law enforcement officers deal with on the street were previously stolen,” Morrow said. “That means someone failed to secure their firearm. If the firearm is not on your person, it needs to be secured. It needs to be in a place that isn’t accessible for someone who is not supposed to have it.

 

“We also see a lot of instances where stolen guns are not reported to the police. You need to maintain good records of make, model and serial number so you can provide that info to law enforcement if your firearm is stolen.”

 

Morrow also said that an important part of the training sessions is to make sure law enforcement agencies are aware of the federal resources available. For example, the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) which is designed to examine evidence from multiple crime scenes, drawing links that investigators didn’t know previously existed.

 

Another invaluable tool is the ATF’s National Tracing Center, the only one of it’s kind in the country, which can tell law enforcement where a firearm originated and where it was first sold.

 

“We train a lot and our reach is pretty broad,” Morrow said. “It’s about working together. If we can perfect a criminal investigation with our local law enforcement partners, the West Virginia State Police and our prosecution partners, we can have a great impact on public safety.”

 

Editor’s Note: Pictured from left to right: Special Agent in Charge Shawn Morrow, Assistant Special Agent in Charge Lissa Jordan, Resident Agent in Charge of the Clarksburg Office Ken Grace and Assistant Special Agent in Charge Robert Maynard.