REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
April 28, 2016
FROM: JERRY P. DYER, Chief of Police
Police Department
BY: PATRICK FARMER, Deputy Chief
Patrol Division
SUBJECT
Title
Actions pertaining to the award of a sole source service contract to Vigilant Solutions, Inc. (“Vigilant”):
1. Award a purchase agreement with Vigilant Solutions, Inc., for Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) software and a one-year subscription, for $75,000.
2. ***RESOLUTION - 38th amendment to the Annual Appropriation Resolution (AAR) No. 2015-104 appropriating $28,000 into the Police Department’s FY 2016 budget under the 2014 State Homeland Security Grant Program (Requires 5 affirmative votes).
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that Council authorize the Chief of Police to enter into and execute a purchase agreement with Vigilant Solutions, Inc. for Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) software, including a subscription service, for $75,000 and to adopt the 32nd Amendment to the Annual Appropriation Resolution No. 2015-104 appropriating $28,000 into the FY 2016 budget.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) technology has been widely used by law enforcement since the 1990’s. Today, according to a 2012 report by the Police Executive Research Forum, approximately 71% of all US police departments use some form of ALPR. Mobile ALPR is becoming a significant component of municipal policing strategies, and has been used by the Fresno Police Department for nearly a decade. Historically, the data captured by these ALPRs is stored on police department servers. The private sector also utilizes data captured by ALPRs for business use. Vigilant Solutions, Inc. makes this data available to law enforcement on a subscription basis.
BACKGROUND
FPD currently has three unmarked vehicles equipped with ALPR cameras assigned to the Career Criminal Auto Theft Team. These cameras are frequently out of service due to maintenance needs. Currently, the number of license plate reads from our existing ALPR program is relatively small, since they are only captured while the camera-equipped vehicles are driven by their assigned officers; approximately 40 hours per week. The department also bears all costs associated with this equipment and system maintenance. The data from these cameras is stored on the host server located at Clovis Police Department due to a lack of storage capacity at the Fresno Police Department. Clovis stores this data for one year.
Vigilant Solutions, Inc., a company based in Livermore, California, offers ALPR services to law enforcement. Their license plate recognition intelligence platform, LEARN, is currently in use by over 1,000 agencies, including Clovis PD. ALPR data has become an extremely valuable tool in law enforcement to solve crimes, locate suspects and locate wanted vehicles.
LEARN merges data from fixed LPR, mobile LPR and Vigilant’s own network of private LPR systems. Vigilant currently maintains over 2 billion records, with over 100 million more added each month. Vigilant collects approximately 250,000 records per month in the greater Fresno area. By subscribing to LEARN, FPD can expand on its available ALPR data, with immediate access to the largest ALPR dataset in the nation. There are currently 217,751 agency-to-agency ALPR data sharing relationships in the United States. In addition to the data access, Vigilant will provide the Fresno Police Department with four mobile ALPRs, a software package and associated equipment.
The proposed contract has been approved by the City Manager under the uniquely qualified competitive process exception for service contracts, pursuant Administrative Order 6-19. The City Attorney’s Office has approved the contract for form.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
This is not a “project” for the purposes of CEQA, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15378.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference was not implemented because of state funding.
FISCAL IMPACT
Funding for this program will have no impact on the City of Fresno’s General Fund. Funding for this project will be through the 2014 State Homeland Security Grant Program for $75,000. Sole source justification and preliminary terms have been approved by Purchasing.
Attachments:
Contract with Vigilant Solutions, Inc.
Uniquely Qualified Memo
38th Amendment to AAR 2015-104