Colorado State University - Pueblo forensic center to create national pipebomb database 
 
Pueblo- A $36,000 grant from the Midwest Forensic Resource Center will allow the Western Forensic Law Enforcement Training Center (WFLETC) at Colorado State University – Pueblo to create a CD-Rom based digital/information database on pipe and tubing used in explosive devices like those in the most recent London terrorist bombings.
 
James B Crippin, director of WFLETC, identified the need for this resource and will partner with the Lake County Regional Crime Lab in Cincinnati, Ohio and the Missouri State Highway Patrol Laboratory to produce the database, which aims to increase the resolution of bombing cases through data such as manufacturing stamps that can help identify the sale and distribution of such piping. The majority of explosive devices with which law enforcement agencies deal within the United States are known as “Improvised Explosive Devices” or IEDs. These refer to explosive devices that are clandestinely manufactured from materials that can be bought in hardware stores and other common locations.
 
“This project is just another example of how the Center is working with other agencies nationwide in the war on terror,” Crippin said. “Here in the state of Colorado, we are in the forefront of these types of endeavors as well. Personnel from the Center helped develop and teach a large portion of state-sanctioned Weapons of Mass Destruction course offered by TTCI at the ERTC here in Pueblo."
 
According to Crippin, the database will be distributed to law enforcement agencies and crime labs nationwide upon completion in early 2006. From 1992 to 2002, a total of 1,374 pipe bombs were reported in the Midwest Region, which represents 26 percent of the nation’s 5,307 total during the same period. The number of bombing incidents involving Improvised Explosive Devices that can be classified as pipe bombs per state include: Iowa (98), Missouri (241), Wisconsin (67), Minnesota (57), Nebraska (27), Kansas (73), Oklahoma (78), Arkansas (40), Tennessee (111), Kentucky (56), Indiana (106), Michigan (201), and Ohio (219).
 
The project will document all known types of pipes and tubing, the various pipe/tubing manufactures world-wide, manufacturing identification marks on the pipes/tubing, companies that import pipes/tubing into the United States and companies that regularly stock/market each type of pipe/tubing. Compiling this information in a searchable database will reduce time spent searching for information by investigators and forensic laboratories at all levels of law enforcement.
 
After purchasing samples of piping in various regions of the United States and identifying all unique markings, the samples will be measured, digitally photographed, and entered into the database. All companies that import pipes/tubing into the United States and commercially sell piping will be identified and documented.

 
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