Approve Agreement M21-0079 between the State of Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs, Cochise County, and the Cochise County Sheriff's Office, in the amount of $675,000, for Pilot Program to Reduce Human Trafficking, effective July 1, 2021 through June 30, 2024.

In March 2021, Sheriff Dannels received a request from Arizona legislators to provide them a list of unmet needs to address border security concerns.  Sheriff staff built a list for additional deputies, additional Arizona National Guard personnel, overtime, vehicles, jail costs for inmates committing border related crimes, optics, and border camera equipment.  During 2021, the Cochise County Sheriff's Office (CCSO) saw a surge of unlawful border crossers along the International Border between Arizona and Mexico.  This surge was confirmed by the increasing numbers of unlawful border crossers images being generated by our border camera system and border calls for service.  Due to this surge, Arizona legislators introduced two bills to help Arizona border counties stem the flow of unlawful border crossers into the United States.  On June 30, 2021, Governor Ducey signed House Bill 2893 and Senate Bill 1823. 

House Bill 2893 amended Arizona Revised Statute 26-105 establishing the Border Security Fund to be administered by the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs.  The Border Security Funds may be used for:

• Preventing Human Trafficking.
• Preventing Entry into the United States of:
  • Aliens who are unlawfully present in the United States,
  • Terrorists and Instruments of Terrorism,
  • Contraband, including narcotics and other controlled substances.

Senate Bill 1823 Established the following Supplemental Appropriation which included Cochise County and CCSO in the disbursement.

• $2,700,000 to operate a pilot program to reduce human trafficking split into $675,000 increments to CCSO, Arizona Department of Public Safety Border Strike Force, Yuma County Sheriff's Office and Pinal County Sheriff's Office.  

Due to Senate Bill 1823 and Arizona Revised Statute 26-105, Arizona Department of Emergency Management (AZDEM) under the Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Management was tasked to be the program managers for this funding. On September 1, 2021, AZDEM had established the application and programmatic requirements guidelines.  On September 22, 2021, AZDEM began a series of online virtual meetings reference Fiscal Year 2021 Border Security Fund Application Requirements and Guidelines.  Over the next 3 months, CCSO staff worked with AZDEM that resulted in this agreement:
  The CCSO Southern Arizona Border Region Enforcement (SABRE) team runs an extensive “real time” game camera network across the Arizona southern border from New Mexico to California. The cameras are employed to detect illegal activities being conducted in the rural parts of the state, with real time intelligence being key. The camera activations allow law enforcement photographic evidence, and real time intelligence for quick responses to address the illegal activities. One of the limiting factors of our system has been monitoring the thousands of pictures received daily. SABRE has researched and worked with several companies to find a solution. The best solution for monitoring “the bottleneck” has been to use a third-party artificial intelligence system.

SABRE has been using a company called COGNIAC for approximately three (3) years. The use of COGNIAC technology has been the key to success. COGNIAC is an artificial intelligence system that can take the raw photos, analyze the photo for “human” characteristics, and return it to their database within seconds, providing SABRE with only the photos that have “human detection”.  It is estimated SABRE receives approximately 30,000-65,000 photographs per week and COGNIAC filters the non-evidentiary photographs down to roughly 3500 human detection pictures per week. Currently, SABRE uses Arizona National Guard personnel to view the 3500 workable photographs distributed by COGNIAC. Without the system, CCSO would need to at least double staffing to view the 30,000-65,000 photographs. This would also introduce a massive amount of human error into the process resulting in a loss of interdiction of human or drug smuggling operators in the field.  

Once illegal activity is recognized by the camera software, SABRE will respond to the location and use optical equipment such as spotting scopes and binoculars to physically observe the subjects conducting illegal activity.  Using enhanced optics, SABRE will then work to intercept the subjects on foot, horseback, or vehicles. These optics allow SABRE members to observe the subjects without being detected and recognize any threats from a safe distance to organize an appropriate response whether it be federal, state or county enforcement actions.

Expenditures:  Optics (Spotting Scopes and Binoculars)           $45,000
                          COGNIAC Software for 3 Years                         $630,000
 





  

The Cochise County Sheriff's Office will need to coordinate with Cochise County Finance and Procurement Departments to determine the best way to meet the terms and conditions of this agreement.   

The COGNIAC software is a three-year contract.  By not approving this agreement, the Sheriff's Office will need to budget $630,000 for the COGNIAC software and $45,000 for advanced optics for SABRE deputies.   

Upon completion of actions, please contact Chief Tom Alinen at 520-432-9509 or email talinen@cochise.az.gov.