Fixed Automatic License Plate Readers on Monday’s Council Consent Calendar

As part of Monday’s consent calendar, the City Council will consider a contract of not more than $631,350 with Flock Group Inc. for the leasing and installation of permanently installed automated license plate reader camera systems in 17 local intersections.

“The Pasadena Police Department has identified the need to procure a fixed Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) camera system,” according to a City staff report. “This need is in alliance with our mission of increasing public safety through the use of technology.”

The company’s ALPR cameras capture vehicle license plates and associated vehicle characteristics, not people or faces. 

The cameras are also used to prevent crime by sending real-time alerts to law enforcement when a stolen vehicle or a vehicle associated with a wanted fugitive has been detected.

The cameras also send real-time alerts when vehicles associated with abducted/missing persons are detected (Amber/Silver Alerts), giving law enforcement the ability to react more quickly to possibly save a life.

The ALPR camera system will also support detectives conducting criminal investigations by providing critical information that will generate almost immediate actionable leads; leads that can result in quicker apprehensions and improved recovery of crucial evidence.

“The Police Department prioritizes the fundamental right to privacy,” according to the staff report. “Every search conducted in the Flock system requires a specific reason, creating a traceable audit trail which can be reviewed. Flock does not store data beyond 30 days and possesses an automatic deletion function. The short retention period ensures that all data not associated with a crime is automatically deleted and unrecoverable. PPD owns all the footage captured, ensuring customer data is never shared or sold to third parties outside of law enforcement investigating a crime.”

The consent calendar allows the Council to streamline meetings by condensing routine points of discussion into a single agenda item. The bundled items can be approved collectively with a single sweep motion and vote.
Here are the other items on Monday’s consent calendar:

• A contract increase with Heritage Clinic, Inc. to increase the not-to-exceed amount by $1,031,000 from $2,361,800 to a revised amount of $3,392,800 and extend the term through December 31 , 2024 for case management, housing navigation, and outreach services. Ace Construction and Maintenance, ACME Auto Leasing, LivHome Inc., Select Patrol Agency and Williams Scotsman Inc. also received contracts for services as part of this item. In August 2018, the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (“DMH”) awarded the City of Pasadena Public Health Department (“Department”) a grant funded through the Proposition 63 Mental Health Services Act (“MHA”) to provide supportive services to people experiencing homelessness. With support from the grant, the Department established the Transitional Age Youth (“TAY”) Link Program serving youth ages 18-24 and the Geriatric Empowerment Model (“GEM”) Link Program serving seniors ages 60 and above. The programs provide intensive case management, housing navigation, and outreach for these respective age groups. In addition, the programs jointly provide basic needs support services to unhoused individuals of all ages. These services include shower access, laundry, food, clothing, and linkages to other community resources. The programs also strive to employ people with lived experiences to build relationships and address social isolation through outreach and special events.’

• Rejection of bids for citywide tree and stump removal services. At its January 9, 2023 meeting, the City Council formally rejected bids received late last year in response to the Notice Inviting Bids for Citywide Tree and Stump Removal Services. Staff determined that the bids were too high. With nearly 64,000 City trees to maintain, the Department of Public Works is also responsible for removing dead, dying, diseased, and hazardous trees. 

• Contract awards to Reward Strategy Group, Inc; Gallagher Benefit Services, Inc. Iopredict Benefit Services, Inc. and Sloan Sakai Yeung & Wong, LLP for classification and compensation services for an amount not to exceed $1,000,000. The Labor Relations Division of the Human Resources Department partners with classification and compensation firms to conduct a variety of tasks including: desk audits for reclassifications requests, development of new classifications, extensive salary surveys with multiple survey agencies, organizational analysis and other ad hoc work as needed. This supports the department’s mission to attract, retain, and develop a diverse and highly qualified workforce for the City of Pasadena. 

• A contract with Impex Technologies for the purchase of Nutanix Server nodes for the City’s building security management and access control system. The City owns and maintains critical assets across many facilities that need to be protected and secured. Security at these facilities is also paramount for employee and public safety. In Fiscal Year 2016, an Enterprise Building Security Management (BSM) Capital Improvement Program (CIP) project was created to provide a citywide enterprise standard for facilities access control and security camera systems. The project was fully funded in Fiscal Year 2020, and the BSM program is currently managed by the Department of Information Technology (DolT). To date over $6.3 million has been appropriated for various BSM initiatives, which have been implemented at over 20 City facilities including the City Hall, Police, Public Health, and Hale buildings, community centers, libraries, parks, and public utility sites among others.

•  Contract awards to Iopredict Inc; Donnoe & Associates Inc; Matthew L. Gruver and Cooperative Personnel Services for testing & assessment services for an amount not to exceed $875,000. The Employment Services Division of the Human Resources Department partners with firms to provide testing and assessment services for employment selection examinations. This ensures the City is using the most up-to-date examination questions and assessment standards when testing candidates and supports the department’s mission to attract, retain, and develop a diverse and highly qualified workforce for the City of Pasadena. On May 24 a new Request for Proposal (RFP) was issued and the City received five responses. All proposals were evaluated by an internal panel consisting of representatives from Human Resources. The scope of work divides the testing and assessment services into five groups for awarding contracts: 1. Online unproctored written tests for a variety of job classifications, competencies and skills 2. Multiple Choice Written Examinations for a variety of job classifications, competencies and skills 3. Police Assessments for sworn Police positions and Dispatchers (POST approved written multiple choice, interview questions, assessment centers, training/orientation for raters) 4. Fire Assessments for sworn Fire positions (written multiple choice, interview questions, assessment centers, training/orientation for raters) 5. Written examinations for Police and Fire Trainees.