U.S. Department of Justice

Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and ExplosivesOffice of Enforcement Programs and Services

Contact the NTC eTraceCustomer Service Group:ATF National Tracing CenterLaw Enforcement Support BrancheTrace Customer Service Group244 Needy RoadMartinsburg, WV 25401Tel: 1-800-788-7133Fax: 1-800-578-7223Email: etraceadmin@atf.gov

eTrace

Internet-based

Firearms Tracing

and Analysis

ATF Publication 3312.9

August 2005

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What is eTrace?ATF extends its ongoing commitment to the lawenforcement community by providing it with apaperless firearm trace submission system thatis readily accessible through the Internet. Thissystem, known as eTrace, provides thenecessary utilities for submitting, retrieving,storing, and querying all firearms trace relatedinformation relative to your agency.The eTrace application lets participatingagencies electronically submit firearm tracerequests. They can also monitor the progressof their traces and efficiently retrieve completedtrace results in a real-time environment.To access and utilize the eTrace application, theonly infrastructure an agency needs is a securecomputer and access to the Internet. Evenagencies with limited personnel cancomprehensively trace their firearms andanalyze on-line data.The focus of the eTrace application is to:enhance current trace protocols; efficientlyfunction in a web-based environment; and,provide for the secure exchange of firearm tracerelated information between the user communityand the ATF National Tracing Center.eTrace also affords law enforcement agenciesdirect access to a historical database of itsfirearm trace related data, enabling aparticipating agency to analyze its trace relateddata through a broad search utility. A search fortheir traces can be initiated on virtually any datafield or combination of data fields. This caninclude individual names, recovery locationaddress, type of crime, date of recovery, etc.eTrace also provides users with the ability togenerate statistical reports regarding the numberof traces submitted by their agency over time,

the top firearmstraced, time-to-crimerates, age of possessors,and more.What Functions are AvailableThrough eTrace?

Enter, validate, and submit comprehensivefirearm trace request data;View a summary listing of recently submittedtraces;View the status of a trace (In Progress,Completed, Delayed);View, print, and download detailed tracerequest and trace result information;Perform a “Quick Search” or a detailedmulti-layer search for traces;Submit Urgent Trace Requests forprocessing;Update a trace (a user may only update atrace for which they were the originalsubmitter);Re-open a trace to provide previouslymissing or invalid data;Online help and frequently asked questionsbulletin board;Access to the Firearms Identification Guide(FIG); and,Ability to generate statistical reports (i.e.,number of traces, top firearms traced, timeto-crime rates, age of possessors, etc.).

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