Approve Purchase of Video Camera and Server Upgrades for Police Squads and Municipal Center

Purpose:  To purchase a camera system and server system to support the needs of the Police Department, municipal center, parking ramp and City parks in regards to security and backup

Background:
At the work session of May 27, 2014 the vendor from Visual Pro 360 presented the Video Evidence Lifecycle Management (VELM) system to the city council.  This system consists of five cameras on each squad car, four police interview room cameras,  five laptop and docking stations for police squads, 10 utility rockets (GPS system) in squads, centrally located server, and eight additional cameras for locations in parks, municipal center and parking ramp. 

The police chief discussed the need for the purchase of this equipment (copy of work session case is attached).  Short summary:  Current squad car cameras were purchased in 2006 and will not be supported by manufacturer in the future, the current server that stores squad videos is reaching it's end-of-life,  and that there are only two cameras on squads which has the potential for increased liability to city when not able to capture activity on all sides of vehicle.  The new system would provide five cameras per squad, which in addition to the current cameras in the front and backseat, would add cameras on the left side, right side and rear of the vehicle.

Purchasing the one central server will move all captured videos in the police department and parking ramp to this one server instead of the five that are currently used.  With the additional cameras being purchased for the parks and municipal center area (admin/public area of municipal center), this same server will also store this data.  

As the purchase of the camera system is a large, un-budgeted capital equipment expense, staff updated the Council in regards to upcoming future capital needs (2015-2017).  


 

The updated price quote from Vision Pro 360, the vendor selling the VELM system is attached with the 5% discount requested at the work session.  The total price of all features with the 5% cash discount is $192,557.  
 

At the work session, staff was directed to apply available funds towards the purchase and to offset the remaining cost from the Equipment Revolving Fund.  The funding would be taken from the Equipment Revolving Fund with the understanding that the city may choose to fund this purchase from the issuance of Capital Equipment Certificates once the 2015 budget process has been completed.  A reimbursement resolution is attached which will allow the city to pay itself back for this purchase if they choose to issue Capital Equipment Certificate debt at a later date.

Several items of the VELM system are purchased off of the state contract under MN contract #15979.

Funding Breakout:
                 Police Department Small Tools Line Item:  $   8,550  
                 Police Forfeiture Fund:                                $ 10,000
                 IT Small Tools Line Item                              $ 12,000
                 IT Capital Equipment Line Item                   $ 22,000
                 Equipment Revolving Fund
                     (Possible Future Debt)                            $140,007
                       Total Purchase Price                            $192,557


 

At the work session of May 27, 2014, the direction of the city council members was to purchase the entire VELM system as listed, utilize the 5% cash discount and to apply available City funds against the purchase price with the remainder of the funding to come from the Equipment Revolving Fund with a reimbursement resolution put in place to pay back the Equipment Revolving Fund if Capital Equipment Certificate debt is issued at a later date.

Motion to authorize purchase of the Video Evidence Lifecycle Management (VELM) system from Visual Pro 360 in the amount of $192,557,  utilizing the 5% cash discount, and approve Resolution # 14-06-104 establishing the reimbursement guidelines, for use if the City Council chooses to pay itself back at a later date with issuance of debt.