Peoria council accepts $675,000 NIBIN grant and approves $83,950 sole‑source research contract

The Peoria City Council on March 26 approved two police-related items: acceptance of a $675,000 grant for the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) and a sole-source contract with Dr. E. Anthony White for research partner services under a Bureau of Justice Assistance policing innovation grant in an amount not to exceed $83,950.

Police leadership explained the NIBIN award will expand local ballistic-matching capability, support training and the construction or partial build-out of an indoor range or training center, and allow surrounding agencies to submit evidence for matching and receive results via the ATF. "This money will be allowed to build part of a training center or an indoor range... and to expand our NIBIN system and allow access to other agencies," the police chief said.

Crime analyst Jacob Mouchon described the research partner’s role in the grant project and said the study aims to identify a small cohort of habitual offenders whose reduction could have outsized crime impacts. "If we could decrease our habitual offenders by 3%, we could roughly decrease crime by an average of 15%," Mouchon said, summarizing the project’s model. Mouchon credited Dr. White with helping the project overcome COVID-era delays and vendor issues and said a final project report is due in June.

Council moved and approved both items; the contract required a two-thirds vote and the NIBIN budget amendment required a two-thirds vote to recognize grant revenue in the city’s biennial budget. Both passed unanimously.