ITEM: 10.3 CONSENT AGENDA- Chris Olson, Police Chief
Title
POLICE DEPARTMENT INVESTIGATION INTERVIEW CAMERA REPLACEMENT AND UPGRADE
Background
Council is asked to approve the purchase of camera recording equipment for the police department interview rooms pursuant to the Blaine City Charter section 6.05, which requires City Council approval of all purchases or contracts in excess of $10,000.
The Blaine Police Departments Investigation Unit is responsible for conducting interviews during the course of criminal investigations. The interviews are imperative for solving crimes and for the successful prosecution of these investigations. Court rulings and procedures adopted for arrests have required that these interviews be recorded. The current system at the Blaine Police Department is over 10 years old and has proven to be outdated. There have been problems with loss of interviews, cameras delivering poor quality and sound problems. The backup system is comprised of VCR Tape technology and will not support higher quality digital cameras that are needed to improve images. In order to make these interviews professional, quality and acceptable for prosecution an upgrade needs to take place to the camera interview equipment.
On January 5, 2012, the City Council approved the Capital Budget which included $11,000.00 for the recording equipment. Below is the equipment that is requested.
Digital Video Recorder |
|
Audio monitoring kit/mixer Cameras |
$10,188.00 |
Cable/Hardware Installation |
|
Tax |
$807.00 |
Total |
$10,995.00 |
Recommendation
By Motion, authorize the purchase of interview camera equipment.