National Ballistics Intelligence Service
The National Ballistics Intelligence Service, or NABIS, is a British intelligence service dedicated to managing and providing detailed information regarding firearm-related criminality. The service aims to use its database to store ballistics information about police cases involving firearms, and consequently maintain it for future use and reference. The service operates four facilities to test and analyse firearms evidence to help link it with other cases. These are based in Birmingham, London and Manchester.
The service was officially launched on 1 April 2008 and can be roughly compared to the Integrated Ballistics Identification System operating in the United States.
Four regional forensic hubs operate within four host forces/organisations: Greater Manchester Police, West Midlands Police, Metropolitan Police Service and the Glasgow unit of SPA Forensic Services. The staff are around 40 in number.
