Spanish Language eTrace Soon Available
Posted by John Kullman on January 7, 2010 · Leave a Comment
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) announced that it will soon be testing a Spanish language version of eTrace, the digital system that U.S. police use to trace firearms. Police in Latin America will use the system to hunt down crime suspects and weapons traffickers.
”This is to allow the infrastructure to make it easier for law enforcement throughout Latin America to track the firearms in their own language,” said Scot Thomasson, an ATF spokesman.
The eTrace system has been used for years in other countries but it has always been in English. Many Latin American police forces don’t have the resources to use the program this way. A Spanish version will make expenses far cheaper.
The National Rifle Association (NRA) does have concerns with eTrace. Expanded use of eTrace could lead to private information about gun owners being leaked.
“There’s always a potential, especially when things are online, for errors to occur,” said Andrew Arulanandam, an NRA spokesman. “All it takes is one person clicking the wrong button, and all of a sudden a whole lot of information could be made public.”
Currently, there isn’t any known misuse of eTrace information by foreign authorities. Only a few foreign police officers are allowed to use the system and they have to be carefully screened by the ATF
