REPORT TO THE CITY COUNCIL
December 15, 2016
FROM: JERRY P. DYER, Chief of Police
Police Department
BY: LYDIA CARRASCO, Deputy Chief
Police Department - Patrol Division
SUBJECT
Title
Award a sole source service contract in the amount of $132,000 over five years to West Corporation, a Delaware corporation, for Beware® browser-based software to extract information from public and commercial sources applicable to 9-1-1 calls, providing law enforcement with location-based, incident-related information (Citywide)
Body
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that Council authorize the Chief of Police to award a contract to West Corporation in the amount of $132,000 over five years to provide browser-based software enabling the Police Department to extract data from public and commercial sources applicable to 9-1-1 calls.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The use of public and commercial records in public safety began in the mid-nineties, and has become an accepted and established practice. Most services that aggregate and provide this information are primarily designed to provide information relative to a name, as opposed to a location, and return vast amounts of information in pages-long formats. Such name-based services are very useful for follow-up investigators with time to pore over all of the information, but not for the first responder needing pertinent information quickly. West’s Beware® software quickly provides information for first responders based on the location of the incident to which they’re responding. This information provides them with increased situational awareness to guide their response strategy, which can lead to safer outcomes.
BACKGROUND
Beware® searches and compiles commercial and public data associated with the address of an emergency event in progress from thousands of data sources. From this information, Beware® identifies people associated with an address; delivering a summary on each within a matter of seconds. Beware® uses an algorithm to search, sort and score records about the people, locations, vehicles and properties relevant to a specific event. This data is then aggregated, correlated and presented as incident intelligence in an interactive, web-based format. Beware® is a cloud-based solution that can be securely accessed anywhere with an Internet connection. Deploying Beware® in the Real Time Crime Center allows FPD personnel to deliver pertinent situational awareness alerts directly to the first responders as they respond to events, which can guide the response strategy and lead to safer outcomes for all involved.
Beware® contains data on close to 100% of the adult population, and close to 100% of residential addresses. Both land line and cellular phone registrations to residential addresses are available. Court records are acquired on a daily basis and are available in Beware®.
Beware® complies with all key US laws pertaining to personally identifiable information (PII). In response to feedback from Council and direction from FPD, West developed a solution for FPD which removed from Beware® all scoring, color-coding, and public social media postings attributed to individuals. Beware® results for FPD now simply display an asterisk alongside any name record containing criminal history information.
Additionally, FPD made efforts to educate the public regarding Beware®, and solicit feedback. These efforts included two live, in-studio radio interviews with KVPR, two Chief’s Advisory Board meetings with a focus on Beware®, attendance at a community meeting with Councilmember Soria, as well as several meetings with individual councilmembers and community members. In response, FPD developed proposed policy and procedures governing the use of Beware® to address many of the concerns that were raised.
All Beware® usage and data will be closely safeguarded. User accounts will require approval by the Chief of Police, and will be limited to fully backgrounded members assigned to the Real Time Crime Center. All members designated as system users shall receive FPD-approved training and a unique user identification in order to access the system. All Beware® usage will be logged for auditing. The Office of Independent Review (OIR) may perform audits to be included in its quarterly report(s), and an audit of the system will be included in the biennial Video Policing audit, performed by a retired judge.
A sole source memo for this item has been approved by the City Manager, and the proposed contract has been approved as to form by the City Attorney’s Office.
ENVIRONMENTAL FINDINGS
This is not a “project” for the purpose of CEQA, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines § 15378.
LOCAL PREFERENCE
Local preference was not used because this is a sole source award, and due to conditions of state and federal funding.
FISCAL IMPACT
Funding for this contract will not impact the City of Fresno’s General Fund. The first year of the contract with West Corporation will be funded through the 2015-16 Supplemental Law Enforcement Services Account (SLESA) Grant, and subsequent years will be incorporated into corresponding grants.
Attachments:
Attachment 1 - Service Agreement
Attachment 2 - Sole Source Memo approved by City Manager
Attachment 2 - Proposed FPD Policy 454