3.6. SR 06-05-2006
City of Elk River Item Number
REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION 3.6.*
Agenda Section I Meeting Date Prepared by
1v1ay 15, 2006 Jeffrey A Beahen, Chief of Police
Item Description Reviewed by
Use of forfeiture funds
Introduction
The police depanment budgeted for three mobile \7ideo cameras in our 2006 budget. The police in-car
v'ideo industry is a rapidly e\/ol\ring market, \vhich is driven by a requirement that the use of VHS tapes as
the primaty\rideo media stop by the end of 2007. As such, all of the prima:ryvendors have developed
digital systems, a much better \\Tay to store and transfer video data from the squad car to the depanmental
property room. This change hO\\7eVer brought about unpredicted requirements for digital media storage,
and it requires an additional investment using existing budget funds and panial forleinrre account
funding.
Discussion
Budget processes that begin over a year before purchases are made can be difficult processes to
implement \\Then technology is changing so fast. \X1hen the initial budget \vas established for digital video,
Vie had no cun"ent operational systems to re"view, no budgets or fixed costs to compare to, and only
v'aried guesses at ,"vhat type of equipment \\TQuld be needed to operate the total system. Some of the
proposed systems incorporated removable hard discs, some had \\rITeless data connections while others
used D\7I)'s to store "videos in the car.
Under the guidance of our IT department, "\\re \\7aited on purchase and implementation of our video
system \"vhiIe other agencies bought, installed and began operation of the ne"Vv style camera systems. Once
this \\/as complete \"ve ,"vere able to detemUne \v-hat type of system offered the easiest system of video
transfer, \\7hile maintaining the integrity of the e\7idence in a manageable storage system.
\X1e disco\7ered that a fairly robust server \\7ould be required to store the digital images. Although we are
starring ,"vith only three cameras, \\re \\rjJ] be transitioning over to the digital systems over the next few
)Tears, and our storage needs \\rill become greater each )'ear. The City's IT Coordinator, Bob Pearson,
began a lengthy research process to identify the equipment required to create the appropriate
infrastlucture for \7ideo storage. Hls primary concell1 ,""vas to build the system robust enough to last for
)'ears. This meant a large server \\ith significant hard drive space, a ll1eans to back that system up on a
daily basis, a means to both input and store the data, and a ll1ethod to retne\7e that data for coun or other
purposes.
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Financiallmpcct
The good nev.rs fiscally, is the Bob Pearson anticipated that this equipment ,"vas going to be needed, and
he has been able to pur~h~~,,~~_5?I~Onsolida~~p~F~_h~?~~~~~lY,,~n to lea,re the maj~!it;y~f ~Q,,~f~,~gi~ "
place for this end of the project. .
I have been able to identify fuTIding \\~thin my cwrent budget to make up pan of the difference, vrith the
remaining part of the cost coming out of one of our forfeiture accounts.
Those allotments are identified as follows
IT Budget Account Amount
4219 $12,000
4560 $7,000
Police Budget Account Amount
210-212-4219 $2,000
210-213-4219 $2,000
(Fleeing Forfeiture) 294-221-223 $5,000
Attachments
Detailed list of project hardv.rare.
Action Requested
Request approval of the purchase of the server and equipn1ent needed for the digital 'Tideo storage system
using available funds in the current budgets as "\vell as the moneya\7ailable in the fOlfeiture account.
Council Action
1\1otion by _
Second by _
Vote
Follow Up
C:\Docun1ents and Senings\jbeahen\Local Settil1gs\ TeInporarylnteIl1et Files\OLK3\REQUEST COUNQL ACTION (3).doc