City of Oak Creek

Common Council Report

Meeting Date:  12/19/2006

Item No.:        

Recommendation:  That the Common Council approve the purchase of a integrated digital interview system for the Detention Center Interview Room, the Detective Bureau Interview Room and the CVSA Voice Stress Analysis Room at the Police Department.

Background:  In the 2007 budget, the Common Council approved the purchase and installation of audio/video equipment for specific rooms at the Police Department.

The Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled in a recent decision that confessions without an audio recording may not be upheld in cases presented to them in the future.  Wisconsin Legislature then passed Wisconsin Act 60, which has mandated that all custodial interrogations be audio recorded by January 1, 2007. 

The Supreme Court intimated in their decision that video recording of custodial interrogations was highly recommended in addition to the audio.  They did indicate that the legislature should address this before another case is presented to them and potentially lost.  It was determined by our Council at CEP review that it was logical to comply now with recording video as well.

We have been fortunate to find our solution for recording the interview rooms tied to the in-car video project that we are also seeking approval of at this meeting.  Our IT Department was adamant that whatever equipment selected to record the interview rooms be integrated with the same server as that used to store the in-car video files. The system selected by our department and highly recommended by IT satisfies the Supreme Court mandate.

We have also submitted and are awaiting an expected approval of $3,000 in grant funds provided by the State of Wisconsin to offset costs associated with the purchase and installation of recording equipment mandated by Act 60.  The equipment quoted by BSG Solutions meets the specifications as identified in the grant application.

Attached is a somewhat comparable bid from Engineered Security Solutions of Oak Creek.  While we would like to conduct business with this fine Oak Creek company they do not offer an in-car video system, and subsequently they cannot offer the much more cost effective integration of those systems which results in significant cost savings. 

The recommended BSG Solutions bid includes the following:

Main Interview Room                          $3,522

CVSA Interview Room                        $2,018

Detention Area Interview Room          $2,137

Cell Block Audio                                  $   583

TOTAL                                                $8,260

Fiscal Impact:  There was budgeted $13,700 for this equipment in the 2007 CEP budget.  Funds for the server needed for storage have been addressed in the 2007 IT budget.

                                                                  Respectfully submitted,

                                                                  Patrick DeGrave

                                                                  City Administrator

Prepared by:

Thomas P. Bauer

Chief of Police

Review by:

Caesar Geiger

Information Technology

Fiscal Review by:

Beverly A. Buretta, CMC

City Clerk