New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez spoke when U.S. Senator Martin Heinrich announced funding to purchase and staff new ballistics testing machines for more law enforcement agencies in New Mexico.
These machines are connected to the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network, also known as NIBIN.
New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez recognized federal help in addressing new Mexico's crime.
“According to the newest UCR Reports, [New Mexico] is the second most dangerous state in the US. According to that same data the unsolved rate of violent crimes is nearly 75%. In response to that, ATF and other federal law enforcement agencies have thankfully deployed a number of NIBIN machines to large metro areas and recently the Albuquerque and others have benefited from that and used that technology to solve some high impact and very important violent crimes cases.”
Attorney General Torrez knows the state cannot only focus on its cities when it comes to crime.
“As someone who's responsible for a statewide law enforcement approach; one that is grounded in new technology and really relies on data, I felt it was imperative for us to come up with a network that covered not just the metro areas but the entire state. I have to say, I heard time and again, from constituents from as far away as Farmington, all the way down to Las Cruces, that often times those communities aren't given the kind of attention, support and resources that they need. In thinking about that technology and data driven approaches that lead us to try to collaborate. We were very grateful to have a willing partner in Senator Heinrich, and we are grateful that he has the ability now with his position to steer really important resources to other parts of the state.”
