To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: Robert Plummer, Police Chief
Prepared By: Patrick Manzer, Police Captain
TITLE:
Title
Police Department Body Worn Cameras
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
Adopt a resolution authorizing the Police Chief to execute an agreement with Axon Enterprises, Inc., in the amount of $572,069.70, to purchase body worn cameras and digital evidence storage for a five-year term.
Body
DISCUSSION:
The Napa Police Department in collaboration with the Information Technology Division brought forth a budget request for the purchase of Body Worn Cameras (“BWC”) and a Digital Evidence Storage program. The request was approved for the current 2-year budget cycle. The Napa Police Department has identified the preferred vendor to be Axon for the BWC’s, which includes evidence storage through Evidence.Com.
The Napa Police Department performed an evaluation of the two largest and most used products. We evaluated the Vievu BWC with their cloud based evidence storage system and the Axon BWC with their cloud based evidence storage system. The cameras were furnished for testing by the respective companies and deployed for use by Napa Police Department Officers in the field. Property Room Technicians and Records Bureau Personnel were trained and worked with the officers to insure proper storage and routing of the evidence to the Napa County District Attorney’s Office. The unanimous choice of staff at the end of the test period was the Axon BWC and their cloud based digital evidence storage platform. It should be noted that shortly after we completed our test, Axon purchased Vievu.
Body Worn Cameras are a real part of the world in which we live. The officers involved in the pilot recognized very quickly the positive benefits of using the BWC’s and have commented on how they miss them. On the evidence storage side, the use of one system to store video, audio recordings and photographs will take the pressure off our current system and put all digital evidence in one place. Additional benefits of a robust BWC program are:
• Increased level of transparency, improving relationships with the public we serve.
• Improved behavior among police officers and citizens. Officers become self-aware and so do citizens.
• Decreased citizen complaints. We have utilized BWC’s for our traffic officers for many years. We have been able to use video in our investigations.
• Better evidence. Video used in criminal prosecutions is often the tie-breaker in the court process. Video is hard to refute.
• A cloud-based digital evidence storage platform such as Evidence.Com will allow the department to clear needed space off local servers while maintaining a high level of security.
• All digital evidence will be located in one place improving efficiency for staff processing requests.
• The contract length is 5-years with new equipment provided after 30-months. We will get new and updated equipment included in the contract price.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS:
Under the terms of the attached agreement, The City of Napa shall pay Axon a total price of $572,069.70 spread over 5-years for equipment and storage. The Police Department’s participation in this program was included in the FY1017-18 adopted budget and those funds are requested to carry forward to the FY2018-19 budget.
CEQA:
The Chief of Police has determined that the Recommended Action described in this agenda report is not subject to CEQA, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15060(c).
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
ATCH 1 - Resolution.
ATCH 2 - Agreement
NOTIFICATION:
None