This is the newspaper article on the computer driven system that photographs and compares rifling signatures. The spelling mistakes are mine. The technical inaccuracies are the reporter's.
NOT ENOUGH CRIME IN CANADA FOR BULLET IDENTIFICATION DEVICE
WATERLOO, Ont. (CP)
A major Canadian crime-fighting advance that has
attracted international attention isn't faring as well at home because
Canada apparently doesn't have enough crime.
The award-winning device - invented by a professor at the University of Waterloo - compares bullets electronically. "Instead of being done by hand and eye, it's the computer that directs the search," said Roman Baldur, the adjunct professor in mechanical engineering who invented the device.
Baldur, 78, has pocketed $100,000 for his efforts. He is a recent recipient of the Manning Innovation Awards highest honour for technical achievement. The awards are given annually by a non-profit, Alberta-based society named in honour of former premier Ernest Manning.
Complete and ready for market two years ago, Baldur's Integrated Ballistics Identification System has been a resounding success, with sales to police forces in the U.S., South Africa, Turkey, Greece and Israel.
Ironically, says Baldur, his invention has not done well in Canada. "There's not enough crime here," he said.
Baldur began work on the system in 1993, when he was approached by a Montreal-based company to see what he could come up with in bullet-detection technology.
At the time he was an engineering professor at the University of Montreal's Ecole Polytechnique, but he took on the project on the side.
Leading a team of researchers, Baldur incorporated a laser-guided microscope and a digital camera to record and store the images and scratches left on the bullet after it has been fired. The camera creates a 360-degree photograph of the bullet, which can be compared to others. Traditionally, police scientists had painstakingly performed tests on bullets fired at the crime scene with those from the gun police suspect was used in the crime.
Baldur's device makes the process fast and easy. And as a bonus, the bullet image can be stored in a computer file for instant analysis by police forces around the world.