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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/15/2003, C12 - GRANT FUNDED PURCHASE OF DIGITAL IN-CAR VIDEO SYSTEM FOR POLICE VEHICLES � 1 council Mmfi"Dam j Agenda 12EpoRt 1W.Nu.d., C I T Y OF SAN L U 15 O B I S P O FROM: Deborah E. Linden, Chief of Police Prepared By: Joe Hazouri, Lieutenant* - SUBJECT: GRANT FUNDED PURCHASE OF DIGITAL IN-CAR VIDEO SYSTEM FOR POLICE VEHICLES CAO RECOMMENDATIONS: Authorize the CAO to approve and issue a Request for Proposal (RFP), and award a contract for an amount not to exceed $143,000 for a digital in-car video system to replace the existing VHS format system in the Police Department's fleet of marked patrol vehicles. DISCUSSION Background: In October 1998 the City Council authorized the issuance of a Request For Proposal (RFP) for an in-car video system for the Police Department to use in its marked patrol vehicles. Four responses to the RFP were received and in February 1999 the contract was awarded to Kustom Signals. VHS format in-car video units (units) were installed in the fifteen marked patrol vehicles between that date and August 1999. The warranty coverage period was two years from date of installation. During the first two years of operation the units required minimal maintenance and repair. Those that did require specialized repair were shipped back to the factory with a turnaround time of one to two weeks. The patrol vehicle video cameras have proven extremely valuable to the Police Department, the City, and the community by capturing incidents and activity on videotapes, which are subsequently used to assist in the prosecution of suspects, in the investigation of citizen complaints, in the defense of civil actions, and in the training of officers. Because the cameras have proven so important, officers are required to drive a patrol vehicle equipped with a functioning in-car video system unless none are available. Current Situation: All fifteen units have been out of warranty since August of 2001. Due to age of the units, the fragile nature of the VHS system, and the continual use of the patrol vehicles, the video units have required increasingly frequent repair. A Kustom Signal authorized technician from Santa Maria does repairs to the video units that cannot be handled by Council Agenda Reports Grant Funded Purchase Of Digital In-Ca Video System For Police Vehicles Page 2 of 3 Police Department personnel. The minimum lead-time to have him respond to work on a unit is approximately one week, and there are no spare video units available while inoperable units are being repaired. This has resulted in a significant increase in the amount of time units are down for repair. A sampling was recently conducted for the 60- day period from January 25, 2003, to March 26, 2003. During this time period the combined down time for the fifteen video units was 137 days. One of the individual units was down for a total of 35 days and another for a total of 32 days during this time period. During the past two years, a new type of in-car video system has become commercially available which uses a digital video format rather than VHS tape. The digital technology offers many benefits, including the clarity of image capture, the ease of data transfer, the elimination of VHS tape handling and storage, and the potential for interface with the new mobile data computers(MDCs). On March 14, 2003, a Request For Information (RFI) was issued to vendors of in-car video systems in order to identify those who market digital in-car video units and to obtain an approximate cost per unit. The deadline for response to the RFI was March 28, 2003. Eight responses were received, with five of the vendors having a digital system available. Grant Funding Availability: The Council approved Public Safety Mobile Data Computer (MDC) project is now entering the implementation phase. The MDC project has been almost completely funded by law enforcement grant funding. The Police and Finance Departments have determined that there will be a cost savings in the MDC project, resulting in available law enforcement grant funds that can be legally re-directed from that project, and that will be sufficient to completely fund the cost of replacing the failing in-car video units. These funds must be expended this fiscal year to meet the legal requirements of the grant, and they must be used for law enforcement purposes. The use of this grant money for the digital video camera systems meets the intent and requirements of the grants, and by delegating the RFP and award process to the CAO, funds can be expended by June 30'h. Summary: The in-car video units have proven their value to the City and the Police Department. Dependability and cost of maintenance has become an issue due to the age, lack of warranty coverage on the units and the fragile nature of the VHS format. The switch to a digital format would provide a more reliable platform, potential for interface with the Mobile Data Computer system scheduled for implementation in the very near future, lower data storage costs and space needs, and ease of transfer of data for evidentiary purposes. There is law enforcement grant money currently available to fully fund this project. cta-a Council Agenda Report/ Grant Funded Purchase Of Digital In-Ci:Video System For Police Vehicles Page 3 of 3 FISCAL IMPACT Available law enforcement grants money will fund this project with no anticipated impact to the General Fund. By replacing the video units now with the expiring grant funds, there will actually be a future cost savings to the General Fund, since the anticipated replacement costs of the existing units during the next budget cycle will no longer need to come from the General Fund. ALTERNATIVES Phase in the project — This alternative would result in the loss of some of the grant funding available to pay for this project, likely meaning that General Fund money would be required to complete it at some future date. It would also result in two different systems being used for video image capture and the cost, storage and evidentiary problems associated with that alternative. Additionally it would perpetuate the maintenance and dependability problems associated with the remaining VHS format units. Defer the project to a future date— This alternative would result in the loss of currently available grant funding for this project. Indications are that the possible availability of grant funding for this type of technology project in the near future is tenuous at best. This could result in the entire cost of the project having to come from the General Fund. Deny the project - This alternative would result in the serious degradation of the Police Department's ability to video record high risk and high liability incidents. V�O�r V