NCJ Number
182930
Journal
Law and Order Volume: 48 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2000 Pages: 127-130
Date Published
April 2000
Length
4 pages
Annotation
This article describes the Immigration and Naturalization Service/National Firearms Unit (INS/NFU) protocol for testing border patrol ammunition that may have been used in an officer-involved shooting.
Abstract
The FBI protocol was the starting point for a Ballistic Test Protocol Symposium in 1998. The INS/NFU regards the heavy clothing test as the most significant test in the series and weighted the test protocol accordingly. The INS/NFU estimates that 40 percent of the shootings by border patrol officers involve heavily clothed subjects. Roughly 30 percent of the shootings are against windshields, as aliens or alien smugglers try to run down INS officers or ram through inspection points. This auto glass test is the most severe test that can reasonably be applied to a small-arms projectile. The INS/NFU does not weigh this test as heavily because it might encourage the development of barrier-piercing projectiles at the expense of designs specifically intended to cause immediate incapacitation of a suspect under other circumstances. The INS/NFU rated its five test phases with a 30-percent weighing on bare gelatin, a 50-percent weighing on heavily clothed gelatin, and a 20-percent weighing on the gelatin after auto glass.