Sheriff: county will accept NIBIN grant and adjust budget for ballistics machine

The McLean County Justice Committee voted to accept a National Integrated Ballistics Information Network (NIBIN) grant and the associated Evidence IQ services agreement and approved an emergency appropriation ordinance to add the equipment and funds to the sheriff’s budget.

“...this is a machine. It's a grant through Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board for a machine that will identify shell casings, and tell us for instance, if there's 3 guns used in a crime, there's there's they're all the same caliber, we can tell how many were came from each gun or how many guns there were involved using this machine,” Sheriff Lane told the committee, describing the device’s investigatory purpose. He added that the program was provided “free to us” under the grant and the county is seeking to accept it.

The committee then approved an emergency appropriation ordinance amending the McLean County fiscal year 2025 combined annual appropriation and budget ordinance for fund 0001, sheriff's department 0029, to recognize and spend the grant proceeds for the equipment. The motion to accept the grant and services agreement was made by Member Ziebart and seconded by Member Byrne; the emergency appropriation motion was made by Member Hanson and seconded by Member Strauss. The chair announced the ayes had it.

The transcript indicates staff described the grant as free to the county and that the appropriation adjusts the sheriff’s fund to record the grant revenue and expense. No further conditions or procurement issues were raised during the committee discussion.