Committee backs $4.5 million to expand statewide law‑enforcement data‑sharing pilot

The Senate Public Safety Committee voted to give House Bill 2455 a due‑pass recommendation after hearing testimony that the measure would appropriate more than $4.5 million from the state general fund in fiscal year 2026 to expand a law enforcement data‑sharing pilot.

The bill, as described to the panel, would direct the Arizona Department of Administration to distribute funds to law enforcement entities statewide, including $574,000 to the Arizona Department of Public Safety, more than $2.6 million to 27 municipal police departments, over $1.2 million to eight county sheriff's offices, and more than $180,000 to state university police departments.

Supporters told the committee the project links agencies that today operate in separate computer aided dispatch (CAD) and records management systems, allowing near real‑time searches across agencies. Marcy Cox, a former Arizona Department of Public Safety captain now with Peregrine, said the product "connects law enforcement agencies that exist in silos today" and described it as "almost like an on your laptop fusion center at all times" that can help identify patterns such as organized retail theft or auto‑theft rings.

Pinal County Sheriff Lamb, who described Pinal as the first county in the state to implement the system, said the funding helped smaller agencies join and "gives us more ability to have real time information with who we're dealing with on the streets, case wise, criminal history wise." He emphasized the program preserves local autonomy over records and dispatch systems while enabling information sharing.

Committee members asked about procurement and whether the bill favored a particular vendor. Senator Leach asked how the vendor was selected and how auditing would occur. Sheriff Lamb said Peregrine was the vendor Pinal County used with the prior funds but testified the bill is not vendor‑specific and agencies would be able to compete through an RFP process. Cox added that the systems and data shared through the product are "considered CJIS data" and said the product is CJIS certified and hosted in the AWS GovCloud to meet those protections.

The committee recorded a roll call and, by a vote count reported to the committee clerk, gave HB 2455 a due‑pass recommendation (6 ayes, 1 nay, 0 not voting).