ATF
Deploys Spanish eTrace to Mexico, Guatemala
and Costa Rica
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and
Explosives (ATF) today announced a two-phase
rollout of eTrace 4.0, the newest version of
ATF's web-based firearms tracing software,
to the governments of Mexico, Guatemala and
Costa Rica.
The bilingual edition, commonly called
Spanish eTrace, will allow law enforcement
agencies in those countries to easily
capitalize on the full benefits of eTrace in
Spanish or English, and will provide data
conventions in accordance with international
standards.
The first phase of the rollout is a live
release of the software, in limited
deployment to Mexico and the two Central
American governments, in order to gauge
system performance in a real-world user
environment and to address user feedback.
The second phase will entail full deployment
to other international partners in
Spanish-speaking nations. (A full news
conference and demonstration of the new
system is being planned at ATF headquarters
as part of the second phase deployment.)
"Spanish eTrace marks the beginning of a new
stage of cooperation between ATF and its
international partners," said ATF Deputy
Director Kenneth E. Melson. "It will
strengthen our efforts as we stand together
at the frontlines against gun violence and
illegal firearms trafficking. We must
identify those who put guns in the hands of
criminals, and comprehensive tracing of all
recovered crime guns is the first step by
law enforcement in stopping the violence
that plagues many communities inside and
outside the United States."
ATF's new software is an enhancement of the
current English-only version of eTrace and
provides a full language translation
capability to increase the ease of use of
this pivotal crime fighting tool by
Spanish-speaking nations. Previously, ATF's
National Tracing Center (NTC) conducted
firearms tracing for those governments in a
painstaking, manual process. The new
software was produced at the request of
Spanish-speaking countries, so those users
can input and retrieve data in their native
language, in real-time; additionally, that
information will be retrievable and
searchable in English.
ATF's eTrace is a secure, Internet-based
firearms tracing system that is operated by
the NTC, the nation's only crime gun tracing
facility. eTrace allows law enforcement
agencies to submit and monitor electronic
firearms trace requests, retrieve completed
trace results, utilize crime mapping
software and query firearms trace-related
data. NTC provides critical information that
helps federal, state, local and
international law enforcement agencies solve
firearms crimes, detect firearms
traffickers, and track the domestic and
international trafficking of crime guns.
ATF is a law enforcement agency within the
U.S. Department of Justice dedicated to
preventing violent crime. More information
on ATF and its programs is at www.atf.gov.
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