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Joint Initiatives
Cross Border Crime Forum
In 1997, the Cross Border Crime Forum (CBCF) was established to address transnational crime. The CBCF, which manages law enforcement elements of the Smart Border Declaration of 2001, brings together over 150 senior law enforcement and justice officials from Canada and the United States Forum discussions relate to issues such as smuggling, organized crime, mass-marketing fraud, cybercrime, terrorism and other emerging cross-border issues.
Since its inception, the CBCF has evolved to include subject matter sub-groups such as the Canada-U.S. Consultative Group on Firearms Trafficking. The Canada Firearms Centre of the RCMP and the ATF co-lead the Consultative Group. A joint Canada-U.S. Action Plan guides cooperative law enforcement initiatives aimed at combating crossborder firearms smuggling and trafficking, and raising public awareness about the illegal movement of firearms. For example, in 2005, ATF and the RCMP signed a Letter of Agreement to exchange, when appropriate, firearm crime scene data via an electronic firearms tracing system designed by ATF.
The Canada-U.S. Consultative Group on Firearms Trafficking also supports key initiatives of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America.
Integrated Border Enforcement Teams
The Integrated Border Enforcement Teams (IBETs) concept is a proactive
initiative designed to respond immediately to real-time information and
intelligence from a variety of American and Canadian agencies that
participate in these teams. IBETs enhance border integrity and security by
identifying, investigating, and interdicting individuals and organizations that
pose a threat to national security or that are engaged in other criminal activity.
Integrated Ballistics Networks
The RCMP and ATF currently share some ballistics information accessible by Integrated Ballistics Identification System (IBIS) technology. Real-time IBIS access through CIBIN and NIBIN electronic data exchanges will be made possible upon signing of an agreement between Canada and the United States.
Forensic analysts will then have timely and interoperable access to a base of ballistic information, accessible by using the same technology. This access should enhance the ability of both countries to effectively conduct investigations related to crime guns.
Firearms Tracing
Canadian and American law enforcement officials have a long history of working together to trace firearms found at crime scenes. These traces are conducted in accordance with respective privacy laws.
In recent years, a web-based software developed in the United States has enabled Canadian police to directly submit firearms trace requests directly to the ATF National Tracing Center Division in Martinsburg, West Virginia. Firearms can be traced in accordance with trace protocols in a secure, real-time environment to United States manufacturers, importers and Federal Firearms Licensees (FFLs). United States law enforcement officials contact the RCMP or provincial police on a case-by-case basis to conduct similar trace requests.
Specialized Firearms Training
Each year, NWEST hosts an annual international Firearms Trafficking School in a major east and west Canadian urban centers. The schools provide specialized training for front line law enforcement officers responsible for firearms seizures, recovering crime guns, and conducting investigations. The Provincial Weapons Enforcement Unit (PWEU) of Ontario also conducts similar annual trafficking schools in the Greater Toronto Area. ATF law enforcement officials participate and support joint hosting of each Trafficking School every other year.
Training is focused on trends and patterns of firearms crime, existing or new firearms technology and resources, legal requirements, regional perspectives and investigative techniques.
The trafficking schools provide a unique opportunity for developing firearms training for both Canadian and American law enforcement officials and promoting cooperation to support both domestic and joint investigations.
Attaché Support
ATF offices in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver, working with ATF's field divisions in the United States, provide proactive law enforcement support to Canadian law enforcement counterparts during investigations, such as following up on investigative leads generated by Canadian police agencies.
Project North Star
Project North Star is a bi-national frontline policing forum that is aligned
with the CBCF but is more tactically oriented. It is comprised of police
and other law enforcement agencies on both sides of the border. North
Star is a border management tool that seeks to protect the integrity of the
United States and Canada border without hindering the cross border flow of goods and
people, and ensuring the policy autonomy, sovereignty, and cultural identity of both
Canada and the United States. Additionally, it is a mechanism for enforcement officers
working along our shared border to ensure that cross-border criminal activity is
minimized through committed and measured cooperation and communication.
Law enforcement traditionally has responded reactively, case-by-case or file-by-file, to investigations involving Canada and the United States. Consolidating current intelligence sharing agreements under the umbrella of North Star would foster proactive intelligence-led targeting of border crime groups. Policing of borders in the new millennium will require law enforcement and government agencies to find innovative ways of working together in order to guarantee collective effectiveness.
