Broward Sheriff Al Lamberti unveiled a new program today to target illegal guns. BSO has obtained a system that allows officials to enter images of bullet casings into a database and search for matches to casings found at other crime scenes.
In about a week of searching more than 938 casing, BSO has found one match so far.
Lamberti announced his new ''gun squad'' today as he is fighting with county commissioners about the more than $50 million in budget cuts he wants to make. He refuses to cut that much and says county commissioners should use reserves to fill budget gaps.
The sheriff and county officials can't even agree on how much Broward has in reserves. Lamberti points to a 2008 comprehensive annual financial report on the county's website that refers to nearly $233 million in reserves. But county budget director Kayla Olsen has said Broward has about $100 million in reserves in its general fund.
At a news conference today, Lamberti took a swipe at his predecessor Ken Jenne who traded in the sheriff gig for about a year in prison. Lamberti said when he worked under Jenne he had suggested starting a gun squad but was shot down.
"I'm now in a position where I don't have to ask anybody their permission,'' he said with a smile.
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