Agenda Packets - 2012/09/24 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Item No: 7G Meeting Date: September 24, 2012 Type of Business: Council Business Administrator Review : ____ City of Mounds View Staff Report To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From: Thomas Kinney, Chief of Police Item Title/Subject: Resolution 7992 for Approval to Enter Auto Theft Prevention Grant Agreement with Minnesota State Department of Commerce Introduction: The Minnesota Auto Theft Prevention Program is intended to reduce motor vehicle theft and its effect on victims throughout the state of Minnesota. This program is being administered through the State Department of Commerce by offering funding to agencies to aid in the reduction of vehicle thefts, increase education and awareness of the public, improve response to vehicle thefts and prosecute offenders. The Mounds View Police Department made application for this grant with the focus to reduce auto thefts through the acquisition of an automatic license plate recognition/reader (ALPR) system. An ALPR is a mobile camera system designed to take images of license plates, process that information with specific software and compare the results with a database of stolen/wanted vehicles. A mobile ALPR is mounted on a squad car and captures license plate images with both a color overview and infrared camera which then processes these results through an algorithm program. These systems can capture up to 1800 plates per minute, even while traveling at high rates of speed. Discussion: The goal of this system will be to identify more stolen vehicles in a quick, efficient and safe manner, as the officer will not have to manually enter the vehicles information to conduct queries. By identifying higher numbers of stolen vehicles, more offenders can potentially be arrested, thus reducing the numbers of individuals involved in this criminal activity. Before implementation of this system, the department intends to have a policy in place to govern the operation and the collection and retention of data. The police department has received approval for funding in the amount of $20,500 to purchase one Elsag MPH-900 ALPR system, which also includes the cost of consultation, installation and training from the Elsag representative. Elsag is the leading manufacturer of license plate reader systems in the area. As the grantee, the police department will be reimbursed the total amount of $20,500 after the submission of an itemized invoice. In addition, the police department is also an agency designated to receive one ALPR unit, at a value of $18,150, in conjunction with an auto theft prevention grant awarded to the Ramsey County Sheriff’s Department. The Sheriff’s Department made application for the grant not only to receive an ALPR unit for their own use, but also on behalf of other cities which include, the Maplewood Police Department, the White Bear Lake