November 19, 2024
Police Department
DATE: November 19, 2024
TO: Mayor Martinez and Members of the City Council
FROM:
Bisa French, Chief of Police
Subject:
Sanctuary City Compliance Exception for software
applications by LexisNexis
FINANCIAL IMPACT: No financial impact for approval of the waiver.
PREVIOUS COUNCIL
ACTION:
None
STATEMENT OF THE
ISSUE:
LexisNexis acquired three software applications currently used by Richmond Police Department Staff. LexisNexis
is now the only software application provider. LexisNexis stated that they cannot comply with our Sanctuary City
Compliance requirements; therefore, Richmond Police
Department staff is requesting an exception waiver that only the City Council can approve granted no alternative service, or product, exists.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
APPROVE a request for LexisNexis to waive the
requirement to sign and comply with the Sanctuary City
Compliance form, in order for LexisNexis to provide
software application services to Richmond Police
Department staff – Police Department (Chief Bisa French 510-621-1802).
AGENDA
REPORT
November 19, 2024
DISCUSSION:
The Richmond Police Department (RPD) is currently using software to assist with analyzing cell phone data, traffic collision report and collision report fulfillment services, and an online reporting system that allows citizens to file a report for insurance purposes. The use of these software applications has drastically reduced staff time and effort which is helpful for a department struggling with hiring enough staff to maintain minimum staffing levels. By shifting the otherwise manual work to an electronic self- reportable format, staff can address other urgent community and safety concerns.
The three (3) programs impacted are:
Accurint TraX
Accurint TraX is a software tool to assist law enforcement and investigative professionals in processing and analyzing call detail records and cell site locations from mobile phone data. The tool can import various large formats of call detail record data obtained through legal process, making it easier to interpret the data from different phone carriers. The tool allows users to filter and search through large datasets efficiently, enabling targeted investigations. The system can help create a timeline of events by showing when calls were made and is critical in helping to establish an offender’s whereabouts during a crime and assisting in public safety on locating missing persons.
Accurint TraX is essential in assisting with generating detailed reports that are used in court expert testimony to explain the findings from the call detail record analysis including cell site locations of offender’s whereabouts during the time of the crime.
Proper handling and analysis of call detail records are crucial for ensuring that the evidence is admissible in court, requiring clear documentation of how the data was obtained and analyzed through the software program. Accurint TraX serves as a powerful tool in the judicial process, providing data-driven evidence that can significantly influence the outcome of cases including prosecution of offenders. The findings are also crucial in emergency situations such as assisting in locating an at-risk missing person.
Without Accurint TraX, it would be challenging to analyze the large amount of data of call detail records in a timely manner to assist with locating offenders’ location during the commission of a crime or locating an at-risk missing person. Cell site data can be extensive and manually processing this data is time-consuming and prone to error.
Presenting data in an easily interpretable format like maps, is challenging without visualization tools. Using Accurint TraX can significantly simplify these challenges, providing tools for analysis, visualizing, and modeling.
Coplogic
Coplogic is an online reporting tool that allows citizens to submit an online report (where there are no suspects) and print a copy of the police report for free. This essential tool enables citizens to quickly file a police report for insurance purposes, or to report a financial crime where there are no known suspects. In addition, citizens can also use
November 19, 2024
this system to request a collision report online for a nominal fee, instead of coming to the Hall of Justice Records Division and manually requesting a copy. Fees are collected from the requestor and the fees are used to offset the cost of the software and services.
Crossroads
Prior to Crossroads, Officers that must respond to collisions were required to handwrite a paper form. Crossroads is a digitized version of this electronic form that meets the requirements for documentation. In addition, Crossroads has electronic validation that minimizes errors improving accuracy, and is quicker and more readable than its handwritten predecessor. The Crossroads system has a collision reporting system that allows a supervisor to electronically review and approve the report and is integrated into the Police Department’s Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and Records Management Systems (RMS). In addition, citizens can also use this system to request a collision report online for a nominal fee, instead of coming to the Hall of Justice Records Division and manually requesting a copy. Fees are collected from the requestor and the fees are used to offset the cost of the software and services.
BACKGROUND:
Sanctuary City Ordinance No. 12-18 N.S:
RPD staff has been using these three Software as a Service (SaaS) providers noted above for the last few years to help combat low staffing and to provide quicker response times through automation. Recently, LexisNexis completed the purchased with the individual company owners, consolidating them under one parent company. While discussing a contract with LexisNexis for these services, LexisNexis informed RPD staff that they would not be able to sign the Sanctuary City Policy Form because Lexis Nexis’s current customers include Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Ordinance No. 12-18 N.S, known as the Sanctuary City Contracting and Investment Ordinance, prohibits any officer, employee, department, board, commission, City Council, City Manager, or other entity of the City to enter into a new, amended, or extended contract or agreement with, any Person or Entity that provides ICE with and “Data Broker” or “Extreme Vetting” services, unless the City Council makes a specific determination that no reasonable alternative exists, taking into consideration the following:
a) The intent and purpose of this ordinance;
b) The availability of alternative services, goods and equipment, and c) Quantifiable additional costs resulting from use of available alternatives.
As noted above, RPD staff uses three software services recently acquired by LexisNexis; Accurint TraX, Coplogic, and Crossroads. The intent and purpose of using the software is to ensure investigators have access to relevant “real” data, to allow citizens to file police reports for insurance purposes timely, and to eliminate paper and
November 19, 2024
bottlenecks when authoring, approving, or requesting traffic collision reports. There are no known alternatives viable for use by RPD staff and therefore there is no quantifiable cost that would be incurred using an alternative (there are no alternatives – the information and platforms are proprietary).
RECOMMENDATION:
The Police Department has been using Coplogic and Crossroads for over 5 years, but recently both companies were bought out by LexisNexis. There are no other known providers of this service. The Police Department is recommending City Council approve an exception request for LexisNexis in order to continue providing automated services and access to a proprietary database on accessible by a contract with LexisNexis.