CFI.co Autumn 2018

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> For the Sake of SDG 16:

ALIAS Gives Law Enforcement Agencies the Tools to Reduce Gun Violence Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16: “Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels.”

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n many countries, firearms represent a significant obstacle to delivering the provisions of SDG 16 – but proper registration, combined with “ballistic fingerprinting” of legal firearms, can have a significant impact on achieving them. SDG 16.1 calls for the reduction of all forms of violence and related death rates; SDG 16.3 appeals for the promotion of “the rule of law at the national and international levels and (to) ensure equal access to justice for all”. SDG 16.4 aims to “significantly reduce illicit financial and arms flows, strengthen the recovery and return of stolen assets and combat all forms of organised crime”. Law enforcement agencies must have, as a priority, the correct legislative tools to reduce gun violence – not only for the sake of victims and

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"In Mexico alone, more than 20,000 firearms have been recorded as missing from state and local police since 2006. Many of those weapons are believed to be in the hands of criminal gangs." their families, but to help create civil societies and to encourage sustainable economic growth. The impact of crime and violence on economic prosperity is the subject of numerous academic papers, and there is no doubt that when violent crime levels increase, there is a corresponding fall in economic activity.

CFI.co | Capital Finance International

A recent paper from Viridiana Rios, at the Wilson Center in Washington DC, analysed the correlation between crime and violence and the way economic resources are allocated. The paper concludes that “increases in criminal presence and violent crime reduced economic diversification, increased sector concentration, and diminished economic complexity”. The Advanced Ballistics Analysis System (ALIAS), developed by Pyramidal Technologies Ltd, helps to deliver SDG 16 by giving law enforcement agencies the proper tools to create an effective firearms registration system – along with a sophisticated forensic capacity to link shell casings and bullets recovered from crime scenes to registered firearms. This enables forensic teams to more swiftly identify the weapon used, leading to higher conviction rates and improved levels of trust in the criminal justice system. Once service weapons have been


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