HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC AG PKT 2004-05-24 #Y ■
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AGENDA REPORT
DATE: May 24, 2004
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council
THRU: John Bahorski, City Manager
FROM: Michael F. Sellers, Chief of Police
SUBJECT: Mobile Digital Computers in Police Cars
SUMMARY OF REQUEST:
It is requested that the Council approve the purchase of nine Panasonic Mobile Digital
Computers and authorize the City Manager to sign a contract with the West Covina
. Service Group to provide CAD /RMS service for the Mobile Digital Computers. This
would be paid for with existing grant funds previously designated for this technology
purpose.
BACKGROUND:
In 1998, the Brea Police Department applied for and was awarded a five -year federal
COPS MORE grant on behalf of their agency and 10 other agencies, including the City
of Seal Beach. The City of Seal Beach's portion of the grant provided funds to
purchase Mobile Digital Computers (MDC) and software, five years of maintenance
and operations service fees, connections to Brea Wireless Communications, and
system integration and training.
BreaWireless provides the wireless connections to the MDC's in each of the City's
police cars. The technology only allows for text messaging and queries into the
California Law Enforcement Telecommunications System.
One of the main purposes of this grant was to improve efforts of community oriented
policing and problem solving. This was to occur through increases and advances in
technology, as well as allowing officers to spend more time in the field instead of in the
police station. Unfortunately, the City of Seal Beach could not fully integrate the
technology by linking CAD /RMS and other data to the mobile digital computers.
The West Covina Service Group provides the City of Seal Beach, as well as West
Comm, Cypress, and Los Alamitos with Computer Aided Dispatch and Records
Management System (CAD /RMS). With the current set -up, the West Covina Service
Group system does not communicate with either BreaWireless or West Comm. As a
result, data cannot be transmitted between all the involved participants. This limitation
hampers community and problem oriented policing approaches and the ability to fulfill
the requirements of the grant.
Agenda Item y
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MDC Agenda Report - 2 - May 242004
In order to best fulfill the obligation to provide quality community policing services, a
link needs to be made to the West Covina Services Group. The West Covina Services
Group now offers wireless connectivity between MDC's, West Comm, and all law
enforcement related databases.
It is expected that we can move closer to satisfying grant requirements by providing
CAD /RMS and other related features to police units in the field. The features include
the potential for a community policing database, creation of a paperless system of
report writing in the field, automatic review and records automated data entry into the
records management system, automatic vehicle location (AVL), and mapping
capabilities to increase officer effectiveness.
Hampering this endeavor is the aged status of the current MDC's. The computers are
nearly five years old, having outdated operating systems and software. Staff and
members of the City's IT support staff (QUECORE) have researched and tested
various models of MDC's. Collectively, it was determined that a laptop model would be
the most effective in terms of overall use capabilities and ease of upgrades and repair.
Currently, officers respond to crime scenes, interview victims and witnesses and
manually write notes. They then transfer the written notes to their typed police reports.
The laptop model limits redundancy in report writing, allowing officers to write reports
at crime scenes.
Three bids were procured for a laptop MDC configuration. GTSI Inc. offered the lowest
bid for a Panasonic Toughbook 29 MDC.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The one -time startup cost for the West Covina Service Group is $57,633.50, with
funding coming from CLEEP grant funds. In recent years, CLEEP grant funds have
been designated for CAD /RMS upgrades. The WCSG annual maintenance fees for
CAD /RMS /Mobile Externals interface support costs of $8000 annually will be applied to
the General Fund. The monthly wireless fees totaling $6480 will be applied to the
General Fund; however, the necessity to pay $14,400 annually to BreaWireless will
cease.
To install and outfit all police units with the Panasonic Toughbook 29 MDC will amount
to $68,533. Our existing Supplemental Law Enforcement Services Fund grant will be
used for this purchase and will require no general fund contribution.
RECOMMENDATION:
Approve the purchase of nine Panasonic Toughbook 29 Mobile Digital Computers from
GTSI.
MDC Agenda Report - 3 - May 24, 2004
Authorize the City Manager to sign a service agreement with the West Covina Service
Group to provide CAD /RMS service to the police department's mobile digital
computers.
G174.pd
Michael F. Sel - rs, Chief of Police
Jo B. Bahorski, City Manager