Pristina, 5 October - The European Commission, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Kosovo Police have inaugurated the Integrated Ballistic Information System (IBIS) at the Kosovo Police Forensic Laboratory.

The EU-funded equipment worth EUR 1.2 million will improve the effectiveness of investigations and contribute to reducing the backlog of cases in Kosovo courts.

“Having available more reliable evidence will lead to a higher rate of convictions and strengthen the rule of law in Kosovo as it enables the implementation of European standards in the area of Justice, Freedom and Security.

A well functioning forensic service is a pre-condition for the effective fight of crime. Ensuring full respect for the rule of law is indicated as key European partnership priority for Kosovo,” said Kjartan Björnsson, Head of Operations at the EC Liaison Office.

The forensic laboratory staff has started using this ballistic information system after having been thoroughly trained. IBIS is a comparative analysis station for examining 2D and 3D images of bullets and cartridges. Both fired bullets and cartridge cases scans are captured and stored as reference data in a ballistic database for firearms identification.

Every civilian weapon\'s \'fingerprint\' will be registered in this database through being test-fired and evidenced and hence facilitate criminal investigations. IBIS is used in more than 50 countries in the world and also allows information exchange with Interpol.

The introduction of IBIS will highly increase the forensic capacities of the Kosovo Police. Rapid dissemination of ballistics information, also with other law enforcement authorities and countries, allows for tracking of gun-specific information and connection of a particular firearm to multiple crimes irrespective of geographic location.

The European Union has since 1999 supported the development of the Kosovo Police through infrastructure and capacity building. Just in the 2009 IPA Annual Programme over EUR 12.05 million have been allocated for strengthening the rule of law