Consideration and Approval of a Grant Agreement: between the City of Flagstaff and the Governor's Office of Highway Safety for the Arizona Traffic and Criminal Software (Az TraCS) Implementation.

The Flagstaff Police Department strives to stay up to date with the most efficient and reliable technology available. This technology comes with a cost, but will provide officers and key stakeholders with updated technology and data. 
 
The Flagstaff Police Department serves as a hub for multiple agencies, who utilize and share the same Records Management Software system called Hexagon OnCall.  The Flagstaff Police Department shares this product with Coconino County Sheriff’s Office, Coconino County Detention Facility and Northern Arizona University Police Department.  The Flagstaff Police Department along with the other agencies are working to upgrade to Hexagon OnCall. 
 
The use of the TraCS software would allow law enforcement and first responders to clear crash scenes more quickly and provide more accurate data.  Currently, our Records staff sends over all accident reports via US Mail to the State as required by law.   With the TraCS software the officer will be able to scan and populate the driver and vehicle fields on the accident report electronically.  This allows the officer to process the paperwork quickly and efficiently.  This faster process will allow the officer to clear the scene sooner, reducing the risk of a secondary collision. 

There is no match requirement for this grant. This grant is budgeted for $100,000 in account number 001-04-062-6256-2-4305 for FY 2019-2020.

This Grant would allow us to provide additional funding to assist Flagstaff Police Department in meeting the community's expectations in regards reducing staff time as well as increasing our efficiencies.

Flagstaff Regional Plan Policy PF.3.1 Maintain high-quality effectiveness and efficiency in law enforcement, fire and emergency services to the extent that is consistent with governmental operations, plans, public policies, population served, and monies available.

No.  There has not been a previous council decision on this grant.

1.) Approve acceptance of the Grant from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.
2.) Disapprove acceptance of the Grant from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety.

The Flagstaff Police Department has partnered with the Governor's Office of Highway Safety (GOHS) for the past twenty-five (25) years in efforts to reduce the amount of injury motor vehicle collisions in our community.  GOHS has continuously provided grant monies that have been used to staff details that are focused on finding impaired drivers, thus removing them from our highways and making our community safer.

The Flagstaff Police Department will be working in collaboration with Coconino County Sheriff's Department and Northern Arizona University Police Department to use the TraCS software in conjunction with the upgraded OnCall Records Management software.  All agencies have been granted funds to outfit our patrol fleet with printers and scanners in order to utilize this software.

The TraCS software will allow the agencies the ability to have and use electronic forms such as traffic citations, crash reports and other traffic safety data forms required by the State of Arizona.  This program will also allow the agencies to streamline documents to the Courts for processing, print a copy for the defendant from their patrol vehicle and the required crash forms will be electronically sent to the Department of Transportation for statistical data.

This program will allow for:

• More efficiency for patrol, records and courts
• For every minute an officer is on the roadside the chances of a secondary incident goes up 2.8%.  This program will help reduce the amount of time the officer is on the roadside
• Data driven policing, electronic forms eliminate the need for tedious after the fact data entry
• Fewer errors due to validation rules
• Reduce the amount of storage of paper copies
• Direct accessibility to forms by officers
• Streamline the gathering and sharing of information to the courts
• Legible citations

Grant monies from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety allow us to combine this software with our current Records Management Software upgrade in order to produce electronic citations and crash forms.    

Approval of the grant will give the Flagstaff Police Department $61,002.00 to be spent on purchasing 50 barcode scanners, printers and one (1) server to improve the collection and analysis of statistical data related to traffic safety. 

The use of the TraCS software will allow law enforcement and first responders to clear crash scenes quickly and provide more accurate data.  Currently, our Records staff sends over all accident reports via US Mail to the State as required by law.  With the TraCS software the officer will be able to scan and populate most driver and vehicle fields electronically while on scene.  This allows the officer to process the paperwork faster, reducing the risk of a secondary collision. 
 
 

Inform the Council and public on the application of this grant and intended use of these funds.