Atf’s Bomb And Arson Tracking System Wins E-Gov Award

The Bomb and Arson Tracking System (BATS) developed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has won a 2004 Government Solutions Center Pioneer Award from the E-Gov Institute.

BATS, launched by ATF last year, is an Internet-accessible system that allows state, local and other federal law enforcement agencies to share information about bomb and arson cases and incidents.

The Pioneer Award given to BATS was one of 15 that the E-Gov Institute bestowed this year to federal, state and local agencies. The awards recognize programs with the most innovative practices delivering essential e-government services to citizens, businesses and other public sector organizations.

ATF’s Arson and Explosives National Repository, which Congress has entrusted with maintaining all national information on explosives incidents and arson, developed BATS to serve as a library that state, local and other federal law enforcement agencies could use to manage and exchange information.

“We’re proud to have BATS recognized for the innovative program that it is,” said Virginia O’Brien, ATF’s acting assistant director for strategic intelligence and information. “It, for the first time, provides state, local and federal law enforcement agencies, that have fire, arson, post-blast and explosives ordinance disposal responsibilities, the ability to put in and share information concerning arson and explosives crimes.” The system is limited only to law enforcement agencies.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the PRNewswire (05/27/04) .