How Columbus police use technology to solve crime

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – The Columbus Division of Police is reporting its homicide solve rate for the year is at 78% -- nearly 30% above the national average.

The department said part of what is helping it achieve that rate is technology and partnerships.

The Columbus Police Organized Crime Bureau has recovered 28 guns in the last two weeks; police said officers are now able to link those guns to crimes committed in the city faster than ever before.

“Year to date, we, in the organized crime bureau, we recovered 363 firearms; that's of the 1,490 firearms recovered by the Division of Police,” Columbus Police Deputy Chief Robert Sagle said.

Many of those guns are now evidence. Columbus utilized the crime gun intelligence laboratory, a partnership between the ATF, BCI, Ohio State Highway Patrol and other agencies.

“This has been an incredible partnership that's developed over the last couple of years where it takes our Niben leads, which are basically ballistic evidence that's located at scenes, enters into a national database that allows us to then work backwards to try to identify what crime gun was responsible for the violence,” Sagle said.

Sagle said the partnership, which started in 2023, has really sped up the evidence linking process.

“Before we had this partnership, we were upwards of 45 to 60 days getting information and evidence, and we're now down to two to three days, sometimes the same shift, which has resulted in our solvability rates coming again well above the national average,” Sagle said.

He said just in the last week, police have seen the success of this team putting shooters behind bars. Sagle said one instance happened in the Wedgewood community on the west side, which has a history of violence, but this year, police have seen violence slow in the neighborhood. 

“But there was a slight uptick,” Sagle said. “Our gang enforcement unit and our CGIC officers work together with the criminal investigation subdivision, and they were able to serve a search warrant there. They recovered over four guns and tens of thousands of dollars worth of narcotics, leading to two impactful arrests. All of these arrests have taken actual shooters off the streets, which is what's really important to highlight.”

So far this year, there have been 42 homicides in the Columbus, the lowest homicide rate since 2013.