This report presents the findings and methodology of an evaluation of the Denver (Colorado) Crime Gun Intelligence Center (CGIC), which expanded in 2019 to become the Regional Anti-Violence Enforcement Network (RAVEN), with the goal of increasing the number of regional partnerships that would extend ballistic evidence collection and processing, as well as enabling cross-agency partnerships for strategic violent-crime prevention.
This report presents the findings and methodologies for two types of evaluations of CGIC/RAVEN, a process evaluation and an impact evaluation. The process evaluation focused on CGIC/RAVEN activities and related information from the federal National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) in Denver, Aurora, and Lakewood, along with contextual information provided by interviewees participating in RAVEN. The impact evaluation focused on the observed effects on crime in Denver. This involved determining whether CGIC/RAVEN led to changes in the level and trends of gun crime. Evaluation findings indicate an immediate decline in violent crime with a firearm when CGIC began. There was also an immediate decline in robbery and halting of a pre-existing upward trend in robbery. There was no observed effect of CGIC on homicide with a firearm or aggravated assault with a firearm. There were no significant effects for RAVEN on any outcome variables; however, this may be due to the limited number of post-intervention observations. Study limitations are noted, and implications for future research are discussed. The main conclusion of the evaluation for future policy is that CGICs bring tangible reductions in firearm-related violent crime. 10 tables, 20 figures, and 36 references