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Committee forwards NIBIN modernization grant to council amid concerns over federal immigration wording
Summary
The committee forwarded a DOJ National Integrated Ballistic Information Network (NIBIN) modernization grant application to Thursday’s council meeting without recommendation after debate about immigration‑related language in the federal notice of funding opportunity. MPD described the upgrades as a five‑year, $300,000 package to modernize ballistic imaging.
Commander Chris Brown of the Minneapolis Police Department presented the grant application as a five‑year modernization and maintenance package for local NIBIN (National Integrated Ballistic Information Network) equipment, saying the award would reduce the city’s equipment costs while improving forensic turnaround times. "It's $300,000," Brown said about the grant funding.
The presentation described how NIBIN captures digital images of spent cartridge casings, correlates them across incidents and produces investigatory leads; Brown said the system has been in Minneapolis since 2002 and that upgrades will prevent backlogs and improve investigators' ability to link shootings. He gave a 08/09/2023 case example in North Minneapolis in which a spent casing matched a casing found under a suspect vehicle, helping investigators link a vehicle to a fatal shooting.
Council member Chavez objected to wording in the DOJ notice of funding opportunity that she said referred to undocumented residents as "aliens" and "illegal aliens" and raised the prospect that accepting the grant could implicate the city in immigration enforcement. "I will not be supporting this program," Chavez said, and said she would work with the city attorney to attach a resolution condemning the language and to seek clarifying commitments from the federal agency.
Lead Assistant City Attorney Amy Shutt told the committee her office reviewed the NOFO and related documents. "There are not any and there's no information in it at this point that does require us to act in a way that is violative of the separation ordinance or antithetical to our values," she said, while acknowledging the NOFO contains problematic language referencing undocumented neighbors.
Council members debated weighing the operational value of NIBIN against the NOFO language; some members said the equipment upgrades matter for solving violent crimes, while others said the council needs written clarifications or conditions. Council President Payne moved to forward the item to the full council on Thursday without recommendation; the motion carried on a roll‑call vote with 11 ayes.
Next steps: the NIBIN grant application will appear on the Thursday council agenda with no committee recommendation, city attorneys will continue review and council member Chavez plans to propose a resolution and request written clarifications from the federal agency.
