TO: Mayor and Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Purchase of Ten Mobile Communication Terminals for the Police Department
DATE: November 24, 2003
The attached budget ordinance would appropriate $50,000 from fund balance in the General Fund to allow the Town to seek financing proposals for the purchase and installation of an additional 10 mobile computer units in police vehicles.
We recommend this action not only because of the need for the equipment, but also because of a favorable fund balance increase that was generated in part by conservative management of Police Department resources and salary savings from Police Department positions in the 2002-2003 budget.
BACKGROUND
Mobile data terminals (MDT’s) were first installed in police patrol vehicles in early 2001. Fifteen vehicles, including the four traffic enforcement cars, were outfitted using grant funds from the Governor’s Crime Commission and Town funds. Five more MDT’s were recently installed in patrol vehicles. They were purchased with a combination of federal grants and Town funds. In addition to the four traffic enforcement vehicles, sixteen of the 36 primary patrol cars now are currently equipped with computer terminals.
DISCUSSION
The use of mobile data terminals in police cars is standard in progressive and effective law enforcement agencies across the nation. They are essential tools for enhancing officer safety, operational efficiency, and effective communications. The use of MDT’s in Chapel Hill police cars has increased the effectiveness and efficiency of the Department’s level of service delivery and has contributed to the safety of officers.
Officers driving cars with MDT’s are able to prepare police reports in the car and submit them directly to the department’s records system. Officers without MDT’s must leave their assigned neighborhoods to enter reports on desktop computers located at substations or at the headquarters building. Officers often spend up to two hours per twelve-hour shift writing reports. Those with MDT’s in their cars can spend those two hours in their neighborhoods rather than inside an office. Also, supervisors can check the reports for thoroughness and accuracy on their MDT’s. This helps keep supervisors in the field for a greater portion of their tour of duty.
Terminals also enhance officer safety. We are now able to transmit pictures of suspects and wanted persons directly from our records system to the MDT in the police car. Officers have access to these pictures within seconds after encountering an individual. Officers with access to an MDT can also quickly check state and local criminal records to determine if someone is wanted by another jurisdiction. They are also able to quickly determine whether someone has a violent criminal history. Officers with MDT’s in their cars are able to run license tags of vehicles they are about to stop. Before getting out of the car the officer can determine whether the car is stolen or the driver is wanted. Without the MDT’s, information requests such as those noted above must be directed by radio to Orange County 911. Responses to radio requests often take minutes rather than seconds. Also, radio transmissions can be heard by any suspect who has access to a scanner (a common tool possessed by drug dealers and break-in suspects).
The use of MDT’s over the past three years has also enhanced the department’s ability to distribute information in an accurate and efficient manner. Because the police report is downloaded directly to the records system from the police car, the information is available without significant delay to other investigators, crisis counselors, crime victims, the media, the courts and the public. Officers who must prepare their reports on desktop terminals typically do their reports at the end of their shift. These reports are often not readily available for public review.
The addition of ten terminals would mean that approximately 75% of primary patrol cars would be equipped with MDT’s. For the reasons noted above our ultimate goal is to have all police cars similarly equipped within the next three years. The addition of ten mobile data terminals would be a major step toward reaching this goal.
A mobile data terminal consists of a laptop computer, a mounting assembly to hold the computer, a radio modem which is mounted in the trunk, and software. The cost per unit is approximately $13,350 each.
Below is the cost for ten systems.
Computer 28 Laptop Computers |
$36,940 |
Computer Mounts |
$10,530 |
Computer Modems and Accessories |
$33,190 |
Computer Software |
$47,070 |
Installation |
$5,780 |
|
|
|
Total |
$133,510 |
We recommended adding these 10 additional computer units to the Town’s established program for computer purchases in which computers are replaced every three years. This addition to the program would allow these 10 units to be purchased through the lease-purchase program for computers and would require additional funding in the current year of about $50,000 (about 1/3 of the total cost of $133,510 for the 10 units plus interest charges on the installment contract). These units would then be purchased in conjunction with this year’s annual computer replacement cycle scheduled for January, 2004. For future years, the Police Department’s base budget would need to be adjusted to maintain and replace these computer units on the regular three-year replacement cycle.
The attached budget ordinance would appropriate $50,000 from fund balance in the General Fund for this purchase, and increase computer use charges in the General Fund and computer purchases in the Computer Replacement Fund budget by $50,000.
RECOMMENDATION
We recommended that the Council enact the attached budget ordinance amendment.
AN ORDINANCE TO AMEND “THE ORDINANCE CONCERNING APPROPRIATIONS AND THE RAISING OF REVENUE FOR THE FISCAL YEAR BEGINNING JULY 1, 2003 (2003-11-24/O-9)
BE IT ORDAINED by the Council of the Town of Chapel Hill that the Budget Ordinance entitled “An Ordinance Concerning Appropriations and the Raising of Revenue for the Fiscal Year Beginning July 1, 2003” as duly adopted on June 9, 2003 is hereby amended as follows:
ARTICLE I
Current Revised
APPROPRIATIONS Budget Increase Decrease Budget
GENERAL FUND
Police 9,840,162 50,000 9,890,162
COMPUTER
REPLACEMENT FUND 411,447 50,000 461,447
ARTICLE II
Current Revised
REVENUES Budget Increase Decrease Budget
GENERAL FUND
Fund Balance 2,506,168 50,000 2,556,168
COMPUTER
REPLACEMENT FUND 411,447 50,000 461,447
This the 24th day of November, 2003.