—Donald Robinson, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
Bomb Arson Tracking System (BATS)—BATS serves as the Nation's repository for incident data pertaining to bombing, explosives and arson incidents in the United States, as mandated by statute and Attorney General directive. Reporting of explosives incidents to the United States Bomb Data Center (USBDC) is mandatory for all Federal agencies, pursuant to the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which established a national repository of explosives and arson incidents. BATS is a secure, Web-based information sharing system that serves as the direct link for Federal, state & local agencies to all of the data maintained by the USBDC. Investigators can use BATS to perform trend analysis and compare incidents for similarities in motives, device components, suspects and crime methodologies for possible investigative leads nationwide. Images of improvised explosive devices, crime scenes, and bombing and arson scenes are shared through the BATS secure Web connection. Investigators are able to capture details of bomb and arson cases, including the area of origin or device placement, casualties, dollar losses, fire descriptors, collateral crimes, device components, and descriptions of how a device was delivered. BATS also features a GIS mapping component, which allows investigators to map any incident or combination of incidents in the system.
BATS communicates Explosives Theft Alerts, and other Advisories and Assessments related to the criminal use of explosives and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) to Federal, state and local agency participants.
BATS also includes a functionality that allows investigators to use the program as a case management system, allowing them to build their investigation in BATS, while maintaining absolute operational security.