Pilot Program Helping Police Solve Crimes

A trail of bullet casings is solving crimes in Orlando and Orange County. Last fall, WFTV reported how a state's pilot program was supposed to quickly check bullet casings against multiple crimes and eliminate a 2-year investigation backlog.

WFTV found it's put nearly a half-dozen people behind bars.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement ballistics lab had a 1,200 case back log last year. Investigators were waiting six to 12 months to find out if the same gun had been used in multiple crimes.

“It was very frustrating. Criminals were out on the streets while we were waiting months and months for results,” said Nanette Rudolph, FDLE.

Now, the backlogs been eliminated and Orlando police officers and Orange County deputies get results in one week thanks to a pilot program that allows the two agencies to bring in cartridge cases from recent crime scenes and have them tested immediately.

“We can help track down the criminals quicker. We find out who the shooter is, where the gun came from and tie everything together,” Rudolph said.

The program helped deputies charge Dangelo Pugh with two crimes. They say tiny marks on a cartridge casing he left behind at drive-by shooting matched a casing found at the scene of a home invasion a month later. Cops put his mug shot into a photo line-up and the home invasion victim picked him immediately.

“We’re giving those leads to the agency so they are able to do their investigations and put bad guys in jail,” OPD Crime Scene Tech Chantal Styer said.

Rudolph says they plan to test new cases weekly to clear the backlog. It’s modeled after a program used by the Los Angeles Police Department.

So far this year, weekly ballistics testing has given Orange County leads on 100 cases and helped deputies make five arrests. It has generated leads in over 50 cases for Orlando police.

Rudolph received a national award for implementing the weekly testing program that has eliminated the backlog. Currently, it’s only open to OPD and the Orange County Sheriffs Office, but FDLE hopes to involve other Central Florida agencies later this year.

It is important to note, one of the reasons this program works is that criminals are starting to use the same guns more and more. That's because they're more expensive to get.

Police say the street value on a gun has gone up as much as $200 because of the bad economy and increased efforts to seize the guns by law enforcement.