The Springfield Police Department will be using a newly-received grant of over half-a-million dollars to help investigators solve gun crimes in the city.
The $700,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice was approved by the Springfield City Council on Monday.
The money from the grant will allow SPD officers to run ballistics tests using the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network, or NIBI, from right here in Springfield.
Currently, authorities must send the information to other labs for testing, which could take weeks to get results back. Now, they will have information in a matter of hours.
The money from the grant will also allow Springfield Police to hire three part-time employees to help investigate gun-related crimes, according to SPD Chief Paul Williams.
It will also allow other law enforcement agencies in southwest Missouri to use the testing equipment, allowing other local jurisdictions to investigate gun-related crimes more swiftly.