Investigating the Ballistics IQ Triage

Abstract

Ballistics IQ (BIQ) is one of several instruments used to assist forensic practitioners in making comparisons about cartridge cases along with indicating the possible number of firearms used on scene. BIQ came to fruition in 2019; however, there are very few published articles discussing its triage capabilities or performance at comparing cartridge cases. With that, this study focused on evaluating the performance of the BIQ Crime Scene Analysis (CSA) Triage Report by using three hundred (300) cartridge cases, ten (10) firearms, and six (6) brands of 9mm ammunition. Each firearm was shot thirty (30) times using five (5) shots each of six (6) ammunition brands. This study started off by conducting several tests on the metadata information that users enter when imaging cartridge cases. After evaluating the metadata effects, the CSA Triage algorithm was tested. A CSA Triage report was conducted for all three hundred (300) cartridge cases used throughout this study and the BIQ Triage concluded that all cartridge cases originated from seven (7) firearms; however, the ground truth was that there were ten (10) firearms. This output caused further analysis to take place which resulted in ten (10) additional CSA Triage reports being conducted. Each CSA Triage report contained thirty (30) cartridge cases from each firearm. Interpretation of these CSA Triage reports concluded that the BIQ Triage had difficulty with three (3) firearms (Ruger LC9, Ruger P89, and Springfield XD9) which resulted in another breakdown. Furthermore, it was concluded that the BIQ Triage had difficulty with cartridge cases of Remington and Winchester ammunition. These results indicate that forensic practitioners should use caution when using BIQ to analyze their cartridge cases as the algorithm had difficulty analyzing ten (10) commonly available firearms, as well as two (2) commonly available ammunition brands, meaning the triage algorithm may provide misleading information.