Memorandum
Date: June 1, 2021
To: The Honorable Bruno Sabatier, Chairman, Lake County Board of Supervisors
From: Brian L. Martin, Sheriff/Coroner
Subject: (a) Waive formal bidding process pursuant to section 2-38.2 of the County Purchasing Policy due to the unique goods and services, (b) approve a two year lease of twenty-six (26) Automated License Plate Reader Cameras from Flock Group Inc., 1170 Howell Mill Rd NW Suite 210, Atlanta, GA 30318 in an amount not to exceed $65,000/year and (c) authorize the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors to sign the agreement
During the 2020-2021 Mid-Year budget review the BOS approved allocating $81,500 from the Cannabis Grant Program to the Sheriff’s Office for an Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) project. The Sheriff’s Office began exploring ALPR technology in an effort to improve our technology based investigative capabilities. It was determined Flock Safety Group could provide wide scale deployment of solar powered ALPR cameras to the County.
ANALYSIS:
During the 2020-2021 Mid-Year budget review the BOS approved allocating $81,500 from the Cannabis Grant Program to the Sheriff’s Office for an Automated License Plate Reader project. The Sheriff’s Office began exploring ALPR technology in an effort to improve our technology based investigative capabilities. It was determined Flock Safety Group could provide wide scale deployment of solar powered ALPR cameras to the County.
Flock Safety presented staff with a desirable approach to deploying ALPR cameras throughout the county. The Flock program is an all-inclusive model for deploying the ALPR cameras. Flock Safety is the sole manufacturer and developer of the Flock Safety Camera. Flock Safety is also the sole provider of the comprehensive monitoring, processing, and machine vision services which integrate with the Flock Safety Camera. Flock's cameras capture date, time, location, license plate (state, partial, paper, and no plate), and vehicle details (type, color, bumper stickers, and roof racks) based on image analytics and not registration data, which is unique to the Flock system.
The key benefits of Flock are that they charge an annual flat rate lease per camera of $2,500, which is wireless, free of infrastructure setup, and has the option for solar power. They also include a two year warranty, Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS) compliant cloud-based hosting, unlimited user licenses, ongoing software enhancements, camera setup, mounting, shipping, handling and a cellular connection. The Flock lease program prevents the County from being burdened with maintaining costly equipment. The Flock program is being utilized by more than 600 law enforcement agencies across the U.S. and just recently partnered with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to broadcast vehicle information to Flock cameras in the event of an Amber Alert.
The Flock system is also a unique service as Flock currently has cameras operating in Lake County. The Clearlake Police Department has been utilizing the Flock system for the past nine months and have had success in solving crimes and recovering stolen vehicles. Clearlake Police Department has been able to grant deputies with the Sheriff’s Office access to their cameras through the Flock system. This is a unique option and benefit for the Sheriff’s Office. Utilizing the Flock system, the Sheriff’s Office will be able to grant officers with the Clearlake Police Department access to cameras within the county. Both agencies will be able to work cooperatively across jurisdictional lines to solve crimes and protect the community.
At the end of the two year lease period, staff can assess the benefits of the program and determine whether to recommend continuing or discontinuing the program.
The Sheriff’s Office will request continued funding from the Cannabis Grant Program for year two of this agreement.
If not budgeted, fill in the blanks below only:
Estimated Cost: _65,000__ Amount Budgeted: __81,500__ Additional Requested: ________ Future Annual Cost: _65,000__
Consistency with Vision 2028 and/or Fiscal Crisis Management Plan (check all that apply): ☒ Not applicable
☐ Well-being of Residents ☒ Public Safety ☐ Infrastructure ☒ Technology Upgrades
☐ Economic Development ☐ Disaster Recovery ☐ County Workforce ☐ Revenue Generation
☐ Community Collaboration ☐ Business Process Efficiency ☐ Clear Lake ☐ Cost Savings
If request for exemption from competitive bid in accordance with County Code Chapter 2 Sec. 2-38, fill in blanks below:
Which exemption is being requested? 38.2
How long has Agreement been in place? N/A
When was purchase last rebid? N/A
Reason for request to waive bid? Due to the unique nature of this service
Recommended Action: (a) Waive formal bidding process pursuant to section 2-38.2 of the County Purchasing Policy due to the unique goods and services, (b) approve a two year lease of twenty-six (26) Automated License Plate Reader Cameras from Flock Group Inc., 1170 Howell Mill Rd NW Suite 210, Atlanta, GA 30318 in an amount not to exceed $65,000/year and (c) authorize the Chairman of the Board of Supervisors to sign the agreement