ATF – eTrace Program
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and explosives (ATF) National Tracing Center (NTC), a service oriented entity, has developed an electronic interface to its firearm tracing services, called eTrace, which allows for the secure exchange of crime gun incident based data. Recovered firearms are traced by law enforcement agencies; a) to link a suspect to a firearm in a criminal investigation; b) to identify potential firearms traffickers, whether licensed or unlicensed sellers, and; c) to detect in-state, interstate, and international patterns in the sources and kinds of gun crimes.
ATF has extended its on-going commitment to the law enforcement community by providing approved agencies with a paperless firearm trace submission system that is readily accessible through a connection to the worldwide web (Internet). The eTrace application provides the necessary utilities for submitting, retrieving, storing and querying all firearms trace related information relative to a participating law enforcement agency. This tool not only provides users with the ability to electronically submit firearm trace requests, but also to monitor the progress of traces and efficiently retrieve completed trace results in a real-time environment.
To access and utilize the eTrace application, the only infrastructure an agency needs is a personal computer and access to the World Wide Web, thus empowering even the smallest of agencies to comprehensively trace their firearms and perform on-line data analysis. eTrace access is achieved by obtaining a valid user ID and password from ATF and authenticated using the eTrace site on the Internet. Each participating agency also enters into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with ATF. The MOU is intended to formalize a partnership between the participating agencies with regard to policy and procedures relative to the access and utilization of eTrace services. Successful access allows users the ability to enter new traces, view existing traces, and run reports on traces for which they are authorized.
To establish an eTrace account or for technical questions regarding eTrace, contact the eTrace Program Manager at 304-260-1540 or 1-800-788-7133, or at
etraceadmin@atf.gov. In addition, an explanation from ATF is included at Law Enforcement Introduction to eTrace .