Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: CONSENT CALENDAR (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: Purchase of a Three Dimensional (3D) Scanner technology/equipment/software to record and document crime scene and accident investigations.
Date: March 28, 2023
Written by: Michael Parish, Chief of Police
Recommendation
It is recommended that the Cotati City Council by motion approve the purchase of a FARO Focus Core USA Model LS9-LU-TAA 3D Crime Scene/Accident Investigation Equipment and Associated Software, authorizing the City Manager to execute all documents necessary to complete the purchase.
Background
Law Enforcement is required to accurately document crime and traffic collision scenes to record evidence for criminal prosecution purposes. Currently traffic and crime related incidents and scenes, such as homicides, assault with deadly weapons, sexual assaults, major injury, and fatal collisions, take several hours to document and investigate. This commonly creates extremely prolonged road closures which cause traffic circulation impacts within the City and surrounding areas as well as impacting police personnel availability time where staff is unable to respond to other calls for service. Historically, the processing of these scenes required law enforcement to manually measure and diagram crime scenes using measuring tape, photography, and hand drawn diagrams. Manually documenting crime scenes and collisions scenes is laborious and time consuming, contributes to significant traffic delays impacting the community and the environment, and exposes staff to hazardous conditions, including exposure to bodily fluids and other hazardous materials.
The newest technology crime scene documentation involves 3D (three dimensional) laser scanning with a laser 3D scanner mounted to a tripod. The 3D scanner uses laser technology to scan an entire scene and everything within that scene as it measures almost a million points per second in a complete 360-degree scan. The scan of an entire scene can be completed in 15 minutes versus four, six, and sometimes twelve hours.
This technology will decrease officer overtime expense, free up officers to perform daily duties and it will open roads for traffic and allow citizens and business to resume their normal activities faster. This procurement further coordinates with the Cotati Council Goal 3: Provide core services consistent with best-in-class community service levels and Objective 3a. Pursue opportunities to improve service delivery, including joint procurement, leveraging internal and external staffing resources, and developing systems, policies, and procedures to streamline processes and expand capabilities of staff.
Analysis/Discussion
The Cotati Police Department seeks to become more self-sufficient and efficient in serving our community. Our Police Department does not currently have a contract for investigations to be performed by a larger law enforcement agency. As such when such events happen it can come at a much higher price tag using the outside agency or with required staffing overtime. By procuring the proposed 3D Laser Scanner as proposed our department can complete crime scene documentation from start to finish more effectively and enhance prosecution of crimes and allow for better documentation of serious or fatal collisions. The Cotati Police Department can also deploy the 3D scanner during mutual aid investigations.
The 3D scanner has historically been most commonly used in the construction industry but has been adopted by law enforcement for forensic investigations. Laser scanning technology is revolutionizing many aspects of surveying a scene and applying measurements to criminal and traffic forensic investigations. The 3D scanner is a high-speed laser that offers the most efficient method for 3D measurements and 3D imagery. It has become apparent that this level of highquality 3D data is expected to properly conduct thorough investigations. Currently this technology is in use at use at Petaluma Police Department, Santa Rosa Police Department who both use the scanner from FARO Technologies. Sonoma County Sheriff Office use 3D scanning hardware from Leica Geosystems which is significantly more expensive and is primarily focused on surveying for construction and as such would not provide simple support for Police reporting.
The need for a modern 3D laser scanner has now become critical to preserving the evidence of a scene and providing professional police services in today?s age. Law enforcement investigations, both traffic and criminal are often complex in nature and investigators only have one opportunity to accurately record the scene. Not only are law enforcement officers expected to capture and document scenes with precision and accuracy, but the documentation is also expected to happen with urgency while minimizing the impact to the community. Over the course of the last several years, the City of Cotati traffic collisions and violent crimes have increased along with the demand for detailed forensic and crime scene analysis.
This technology will provide decreased officer overtime expense, free up officers to perform daily duties, as well as reduce community impacts due to extended road closures for investigations. This technology will open roads for traffic and allow citizens and business to resume their normal activities faster.
Financial Considerations
The total cost of the FARO 3D Laser Focus LS9-HU is $44,263.17 which includes all the equipment hardware, design software, 3-year warranties on both the hardware/software, and training. City staff further believes that this unit could be used outside of the Police Department to serve other City Department needs including Community Development, primarily for Code Enforcement, as well as Public Works primarily for projects. Included within the quote provided are two three-year subscriptions services called Zone Expert and Scene. It is expected that these two products will merge and as such future subscription costs would be reduced.
The Police Department budget accounted for funds to cover this purchase within Small Tools and Equipment account 101-23-80645-000000. As such no additional appropriation is required.
Environmental Issues
This action is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) because it is not a project which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, pursuant to CEQA Guideline section 15378.
Attachments:
Cotati PD-CORE-Q02300290 (PDF)