Austin PD firearms review unit?

[A-R]

Buried in this Austin Statesman story about police understaffing is mention of a current higher up in the APD union who is returning to active police duty to help fill in for the shortage. Line quoted below mentioned he will investigate people illegally carrying guns.

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/pol ... 24583.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Detective Mike Bowen will work in the department's firearms review unit, which investigates people accused of illegally carrying guns

1. Is it "normal" for a department of this size, especially one with an apparent staffing problem, to assign one detective to do nothing but this job? Since there is a whole "unit" for this, are there other detectives also doing just this job?
2. Is his job basically to take all the illegal possession charges brought in by patrol officers and follow up, gather evidence to present to a DA?