NABIS (National Ballistics Intelligence Service)
Definition
The UK agency responsible for managing ballistic evidence including GSR analysis, operated by the National Police Chiefs' Council. Issues guidance on GSR collection, analysis and interpretation for police forces in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.
- Full name
- National Ballistics Intelligence Service
- Jurisdiction
- England, Wales, and Northern Ireland
- Operated by
- National Police Chiefs' Council
- Role
- Manages ballistic evidence including GSR analysis and issues guidance
Common questions
How does NABIS's role differ from a single police force's forensic unit?+
NABIS operates at a national level, pooling and cross-referencing ballistic intelligence across forces so that a firearm or ammunition link found in one investigation can be matched against evidence from unrelated cases elsewhere in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, rather than each force working in isolation.
What kind of guidance does NABIS provide to individual police forces?+
It issues standardized protocols covering collection, packaging, and interpretation of ballistic and GSR evidence, aimed at keeping practice consistent enough that results and intelligence links from different forces remain comparable and admissible.
Does NABIS cover Scotland as well?+
No, its remit is England, Wales, and Northern Ireland; Scotland has its own separate policing and forensic science arrangements outside NABIS's jurisdiction.
Related terms
- 5% HNO3 Swab
- A cotton or polyester swab pre-wetted with 5% nitric acid, used to collect dissolved GSR for atomic absorption spectrometry or ICP-MS. Recovers...
- Carbon-Tape Stub (Tri-Mark)
- A standard SEM-format aluminium or plastic pin stub bearing conductive double-sided carbon tape, used to collect GSR from hands and surfaces for...
- Environmental Control Stub
- A blank carbon-tape stub collected from the collection environment (table surface, custody cell, vehicle seat) to establish background particle levels in the...
- Persistence Half-Life (GSR on Hands)
- The time after which approximately half of the initial particle count has been lost from the hand surface. Published studies (Cardinetti 2004,...
- Secondary Transfer
- The movement of a glass fragment from a primary surface (which contacted the broken glass) to a secondary surface (which contacted the...
- Tertiary Transfer
- Transfer of GSR from a secondary surface (a person who received particles via handshaking) to a third surface. Documented at low levels...