Recommendation to adopt Specifications No. RFP PD18-090 and award contracts to Axon Enterprise, Inc., of Scottsdale, AZ, and VIEVU, LLC, of Seattle, WA, to furnish and deliver body worn camera equipment, at no cost to the City, for a period of one year, with the option to renew for three additional six-month periods, at the discretion of the City Manager.  (Citywide)
Thank you. Thank you. Public comment saying no members, please get your vote. I'm yes. Motion carries. Thank you. 17, please. Report from police and financial management recommendation to award contracts to two contractors to deliver body worn camera equipment at no cost to the city for a period of one year city wide. Okay, we're a bit out of sorry on this list. I have 15 and 16 on the list, so 16, 17. So we'll go back and pick up some 15 after this. So let's take 17 now. Let's go ahead and hear from staff on item 17. Mr. Mayor, council members were looking at body worn cameras here. We're looking at a potential to go to a new pilot program with a new company. I'm going to turn this over to our chief of police, Robert Luna, to walk us through the contracts. Thank you, Mr. West. Just really quick before I get started. I have Mara Velasco, who's our chief financial officer next to me, and Jason Campbell, our bureau chief over our administration bureau. Mr. Mayor, members of the city council, the body worn camera program was established within the police department to do several things enhance community trust, improve accountability , better document community interactions, believing that the use of body worn cameras would result in a reduction of uses of force and citizen complaints. In January of 2016, the City Council voted to award a contract to Dell Marketing for the purchase of body worn cameras. On November 5th, 2016, the pilot program was officially initiated. The pilot consisted of the deployment of 40 cameras at our West Patrol division. On the afternoon shift, the pilot officially concluded on November the fourth, 2017. West Division personnel continued to deploy body worn technology in the field, given early promising findings and an opportunity to test upgraded second generation technology with the existing vendor. The program was expanded to all sworn personnel at the West Division on February 17th, 2018. After a thorough review, both generation one and two cameras, it was determined that the technology did not meet the needs of our department, believing in the overall value of the body worn camera technology. Another RFP was released on April 3rd, 2018, to test competing technology to find a system that best meets the needs of our department and our city. In total, 5224 potential firms specializing in body worn camera technology were notified. 40 entities downloaded the RFP and five proposals were received. Of those five, the selection committee determined that Axon Enterprises and V view best satisfied city requirements based on established evaluation criteria of the following demonstrated competence, equipment, function, data management and technology support an approach experience with same size police department's expertize and availability of key personnel. Financial stability. Conformance with the terms of the RFP and reasonableness of cost. Originally, the department recommended that both Axon and V view be awarded the contract. However, recent developments have occurred that directly impact the Council decision to award contracts to both Axon and review. On May four, 2018, Axon announced that it agreed to purchase its main competitor V view. As a result, we planned to pursue a contract exclusively with Axon. The Department is prepared to work with our city partners and the vendor on implementation, fill testing and evaluation. Of the new equipment. Every effort will be made to ensure a smooth transition in programs with a planned deployment of approximately 200 cameras cameras covering two geographical divisions. I want to take just a quick second to thank our city attorney's office, financial management and our technology and innovation departments. They worked their tails off to try and get this through in the speed that they did. It was actually pretty amazing in helping us getting it done so quickly. With that, I stand ready to answer any questions or we stand ready to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you. I have a motion and a second Councilwoman Price. Thank you. I want to thank the chief and the police department for the great work that you've done on this. You know, I've been pretty vocal on the Public Safety Committee, and throughout the time that we've been discussing this issue that I think we are past due the time to have body cameras in place. I a while I understand what has taken us so long to get to this point. I'm disappointed that it has taken us this long to get to this point. And I really wish there was a way that we could do a shorter pilot. So I'm going to talk I'm going to ask a few questions about that. But before we talk a little bit about that, Chief, can you share with us what some of the issues with the former deployment were and why we think we might be in a better situation now with the technology or otherwise? And I might jump in here right now. I'd rather we could meet and discuss in private the reasons why the chief of police and the police department has decided that the former companies did not meet the demands of the Long Beach Police Department and not discuss them in an open session. Sure. And let me just rephrase the question. Do we think that from a technology standpoint, the company that we're choosing to enter into a contract with can accommodate the needs that we have and satisfy our needs for a pilot. Councilwoman Price, the RFP set that direction out and we are encouraged by what we see and that's why we need this pilot program as we move forward. We made a lot of demands as a police department and as a city, not just for what the police department needed, but we had to be sensitive to the technological needs of the city. So that's the reason for the length of the pilot program. We want to make sure that when we come back to this council that I am recommending to you through the city manager that this is the best option for us as a city to move forward. Okay. And I appreciate that answer. So the reason for the length of the. Pilot is for us to look at the operational aspects of it. We will be looking at everything. We will be looking at the equipment, the logistics of it, the storage from one end to the other, their staffing considerations that we're looking at. One of the things we learned from the previous pilot program is that, as you know, the men and women of this police department are working their tails off. I have not too much fat even in people. And as we move forward with this pilot program, we hope to introduce more staffing, which is going to be needed and required to effectively run it on our side of the fence. So we'll be looking at that. How smooth is that? And then we'll be working with our partners in the city to make sure the technology works. And that's one thing we're we're asking Axon to do is to come in with a plan on how they're going to operate within the city. As you know, we're geographically spread out and we do have some challenges, some challenges historically in regards to our outdated technology from a city perspective. Okay. And I understand that, Chief, and I appreciate that answer. I guess the question I'm asking is. And so some of the reasons why. Let me let me just say that based on my experience, a one year pilot is a very long pilot with Axon. I work in a county where nine out of our ten agencies are using Axon. And we've where we've talked we've had 30 day pilots. We've had several month pilots. A one year pilot is a long time. And so from an operational standpoint, I think one year I would like us to get the police department as online as soon as possible, because I believe body cameras protect not just the individuals who come into contact with the police officers, but also the police officers who are often alleged to have participated in conduct that in fact, upon viewing the body cameras, they did not. Do so from. A city liability issue. And from a justice standpoint, I think the body cameras, the faster we can roll them out, the better. So what I'm hearing is that in addition to having time to look at the operational aspects, that there may be some staffing needs that might also present a financial challenge for us to get up and running and deploy agency wide. And I'm wondering because looking at the that the proposed contract that we could have, that we can terminate a one year pilot with 30 days notice, is that correct? Approximately. Yes, that's. Correct. Okay. So because I think that's what the the the staff report says. So we could. If we were to bring this back in six months, we could at that point evaluate the city's available resources to augment perhaps the budget in order to allow staffing and roll out an agency, a department wide. Body camera program as opposed to continuing with the pilot for an additional six months. And during that six months that we've done the pilot, we can have the opportunity to evaluate what our realistic staffing needs might be. Because we might have just looking at this and I don't question anybody's judgment, I understand what we think the staffing is going to be, but it could be that we don't have as many praise requesting body worn camera as we're expecting. We don't have as many redactions as we're expecting. It could be that we don't need the number of positions, the eight positions that we've requested in in a pilot would also reveal that information as well. And one of the reasons why we want to do a one year pilot to make sure that we are positive, whether it comes with pre staffing and everything you just mentioned. Okay. So you believe that if resources were not an issue, you believe that a one year pilot would be best for our agency? When I talk about resources, I am very concerned about our internal resources, but I'm also concerned about the logistics from a technology perspective, from a city perspective, just to make sure that we can do that across the board. Okay. I mean, I think there are a lot of cities that are using Axon that are far less sophisticated than we are with technology. So I'm not aware of any technological hurdles. And that's exactly why I want to do a one year pilot program. Could it be less? It absolutely could. But when I come back to this council, I think my job is to provide you with every answer that all of you all answer, any questions that any of you may have regarding every box that I need to check to make sure that we're making a very wise investment because this is expensive. I agree with you. I think it's a necessary tool, but it's going to take some significant funding or a significant budget enhancement for us to make this happen. And I get that completely and I agree with you completely. I guess what I'm trying to say is. As the chief, putting aside budget constraints, putting aside your concerns about where the money could come from, would you want to see this program deployed agency wide sooner than one year? And I understand that, you know, you don't as a as the director of the department, you have to think about policy decisions in combination with fiscal constraints. I get that. But what I'm what I'm trying to do is figure out if we were to come back in a while, in a few months and six months, and we can look at our financial situation at that point and we were able to roll it out agency wide. Is that something that we could do in less than a year? And if the answer to that is no, then I get it. But I will say a yearlong pilot is a very long pilot for a program that agencies far less sophisticated than ours have rolled out very efficiently with zero problems. I met with liaisons today from multiple police agencies in Orange County, much some smaller than are, some around the same size. And the rollout has honestly been flawless. The discovery process, the use of evidence dot com. There have been very few glitches. And so what I'm saying is, assuming we are entering into a partnership with an organization who has learned lesson for within it, with a provider that has learned lessons and we're the beneficiary of the lessons learned , could we implement this agency wide? Because I'll be as clear and direct as I can be. I think we need to have body cameras for all of Long Beach Police Department as soon as possible. And that's what I'm trying to establish with you, Chief, as if finances were not an issue. Could we do it sooner? And if finances are the issue, could we maybe come back in six months and think about whether or not we want to roll it out for the full agency? I can promise you an all out effort in trying to do what we can do, but I would have to reprogram my mind because there's a lot of things I'd like to do that we have money restraints on. So I get it. Thank you. Just one final question. Have we determined whether or not the pilot policy is going to have the activation is going to be a discretionary or mandatory policy for the officers? Our current draft policy, which has been in existence for over a year, mandates that the officers record enforcement contacts. It's not optional. Great. That's very good. A couple of best practice suggestions that I might make is that the policy and of course this would have to go back to. The members to to approve. But one of the things we have found in terms of best practices is there are times when officers will have to deactivate their body camera, whether it's for a restroom break or whether it's because a victim or someone has asked that they be allowed to do so by indicating such by speaking into the body camera before they disengage. And I don't know if we have something like that in our policy, but to allow for that flexibility such that in those situations, the officer can articulate why they're turning off the camera by speaking into the body cam before turning it off. Is that a policy that we have or could look into as part of the pilot? Yes. Okay. The other thing lessons learned is that we have several agencies who entered into an agreement with Axon not anticipating some of the storage issues that might come up. So I don't know what the terms of our contract will be, but if we can try to get an unlimited storage with Axon, I don't know if that's possible , but I think that would be good because some agencies are finding themselves having to recategorized their body cameras so that the retention they fall into a certain retention policy. So if that's something that we could fold into the contract, I think that would be good for us too. Since we're going to do a pilot, we may as well get the most out of our policy. But those are just my suggestions, just from lessons learned and a few articles that I was able to find online today from experiences other agencies have had. Axon has already offered that as part of their proposal. Great. Thank you very much, Chief. Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilmember Price. I'm sorry, Councilmember Pearce. Two years later, still Price. I want to thank you, Police Chief, for your efforts on this. I know we've had some conversations in the past. I've had other conversations outside of our office as well. And honestly, I think that I was going to ask many of the same questions that Councilmember Price was going to ask and just stress that I know that a lot of costs with data storage and that there are a lot of unknowns. But I would support coming back in six months. You know, if we could come back in six months and evaluate where we're at, I think that that would be great for the council, whether or not we are identifying the cost and how much we need to to really plan for. But as six months return, I think would be appreciated. So I'll just echo my my colleague and leave it there. Thank you very much. Thank you. Is your public comment? Please come forward. Maybe my mom to. Very good. Hugh Clark is the address. Let me make this suggestion. Let's get a body camera. That will be worn by the mayor. Given the fact a mayor has a salary of $400,000. A pension that goes with that. So he should have no problem. A wearing. A body camera, just like the police do. As well as as well as his staff members. As long as they're in this building or working on city business. If he has nothing to hide. There should be no problem with that. And I think it would benefit this city. We had that long ago he probably would not be going to prison. But for any man, given the size of the salary, the size of the pension. He should have no problem of wearing. And his staff members. Body cameras. Unless. Unless they have something to hide. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. Stephanie Dawson So Democratic Socialists of America, Long Beach Branch. I just wanted to voice I supported this particular measure. Body worn cameras are a good faith, albeit imperfect, standard operating practice that's made it better for, as the chief said, to the restoring faith within the community and frankly, protecting cities from crippling civil lawsuits. As a criminal defense attorney myself, body worn cameras have made my job eminently harder because it shows that the vast majority of police interactions with people are overwhelmingly positive. And they and they keep to the restrictions, put on the word to them by the Constitution. That said, they are not a panacea. We today just approved a slew of new people for the PCC. Robert, I remember through what, four years ago now when you told me directly that the PCC has no teeth, that has not changed statutorily. We need major charter reform to be able to make it so that we can have actual accountability for when officers do not abide by the high standards that we have set for them. Furthermore, as Councilwoman Pryce alluded to, the issue with a lot of these body cameras is storage and retention. You know, there are many times when I come in my own practice, when I've been looking for discovery matters. And a lot of the necessary records have been lost in the course of a case that's only a year old, which is not that long in the grand scheme of things, with criminal justice issues, we just ought to think it was a month ago ordered the destruction of years of use of force records from the Internal Affairs Division of the police department. Obviously this is an ongoing problem if we are not able to physically keep these records or do so on a permanent basis so that they could be used in discovery for for lawsuits or anything else for that matter. This is a matter of of significant public interest. And I think that it really demands a further look at it. Thank you. Have a good day. Thank you, Mr. Parkin. Thank you, Mayor, and members of the council. I just want to clarify the motion that's on the floor as this motion was placed on the agenda prior to the city, knowing that Exxon had purchased view, we'd like some flexibility to be able to enter and enter into the contract with Exxon and then discuss with them the availability of the Veeva, if I'm saying that correctly, camera and operating system and give PD the flexibility if available to test both of those and then come back with their recommendation on which technology meets their needs the best. So it kind of follows the spirit of what the letter and the council recommended action is today. And we would have to have some additional conversations with Axon to make sure that that second technology remains available. Thank you. And just before we go on to the I want to just clarify also where I think the motion is at is the motion is presented by the city attorney. I think there's also an interest that while this is a year long pilot that Chief, I know you regularly give updates obviously on it on big projects and that there'll be a formal one. I think it's six months I think is kind of what I'm hearing just to make sure, you know, the council's abreast at that point. That would be I think that'd be a good update for the council to have this a formal six month presentation on the pilot and with that, Councilwoman Gonzales. Seeing no other. Just had a couple of questions. Sorry. Our names. Just Scott. Oh, sure. Councilwoman Gonzalez. Okay, just thank you so much, Chief, for the update. And I appreciate the questions from my council colleagues. Just one clarifying, clarifying question for the fiscal impact. It states three positions now for the testing efforts and then eight down the line. And that's the are those technical positions that's just overseeing the the back end work for the actual technological aspect? Is that correct? Those are estimates at this point. Again, what we learned from the the first pilot program, we try to do it with one person. It just was not working. Okay. There's a lot of work that needs to be done behind the scenes. So we fully implement the program. We're looking at approximately eight positions that can be adjusted down the road depending on workload. I hope it's not that much work. Maybe Axon will do such a great job. We don't need anybody. I doubt it. But we'll see what we that's what the pilot programs for. We want to make sure we're bringing you the best possible scenario that our community expects from us. Great. Thank you. And I would just also include in that I know Axon, just from knowing them from my technological job, I know that they're looking to incorporate possibly facial recognition, which I know is something for us to just think about. But it is, you know, very controversial. I know that there's a lot of issues around that. So it's just something I wanted to throw out there. But I will say to that, I know every city is a bit different, every county is a bit different. I will say, you know, we're I'm so glad we have a different direction now. And when it comes to technology, we were on Lotus Notes not too long ago. I just want to remind everybody. So we're a little antiquated on that side. But I know I said it. I didn't even remember we had Lotus Notes, but we did. So I just want to say we're moving ahead and I really appreciate it. Thank you. And I would like to add, mayor and council, that part of the investment that you've made in technology is what makes this possible. So we were running the old system because we did not have a fiber network that we could actually rely on to do this. And so by investing in that fiber that's part of the status update will give you is how are we doing with fiber? Where is it? Because that's going to determine how far we can get for a citywide pilot. So with that investment, that's how we're able to move forward. Councilman Price. So I have a follow up on that. So it. Is our. Position that we need to have fiber throughout the city in order to roll out this technology. Yes, I understand, especially the accent system. It requires a lot of bandwidth and it needs to go back to the station in order to be uploaded as one of the ways to do it. And so we do not have fiber to all of our police stations currently, but Caitlin can give additional info if we need it. Get them on. There we go. Honorable mayor and members of the city council. The the technology behind Axon does require higher bandwidths, but there's also a intermediate intermediary approach we can take where city council already approved in. On March the 20th, a telecommunication network expansion. And that that expansion provides us the immediate capability to expand bandwidth to each of the substations. With through the installation of fiber. Or. Correct fiber fiber with the telecom providers eventually being sunsetted. And moved to city owned fiber. I see. So at all the police stations. Correct. So we have that now. We have the contractual authority to do that, and we're currently in negotiations with the telecom providers. Great. Okay. Thank you. Great. Thank you. And there's no other further comments here. So please, members, go ahead and cast your vote. And as we do so, I just want to, you know, just to the chief and to the technology team, I know this is this is an important issue. I know you guys have been working very, very hard on this issue. Just the whole staff. And I think we're obviously the council is as anxious and supportive of moving forward. And so we look forward to all the results. So just thank you and your team chief. And with that, we will move on to the next item, please. That motion carries that go up on the board. Yes. Thank you very much. Next item, I believe is. Item 15th October 2015.