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Council approves expansion of ALPR camera network and six-month public-art maintenance contract
Summary
Palm Desert approved an amendment to expand its automated license-plate reader (ALPR) system with Flock Safety and authorized a six-month interim contract for El Paseo public art maintenance while staff solicits new bids.
The Palm Desert City Council approved two consent and action items Thursday: an amendment to expand the city’s automated license-plate reader (ALPR) network with Flock Safety, and a six-month interim contract for El Paseo public-art maintenance while staff re-solicits bids.
Danielle Hurtado, public-safety analyst, presented the ALPR expansion under amendment No. 1 to contract C47070 with Flock Safety and noted the request included appropriation and use of Citizens’ Option for Public Safety (COPS) and Supplemental Law Enforcement Services funds. The council authorized the contract amendment by a 5-0 vote.
Lieutenant Porras of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department told the council the technology has produced investigative leads for multi-jurisdiction investigations. “It wasn’t until they came to Palm Desert that we actually had leads, and we were one of the agencies the main agency that ran the investigation,” Porras said, referring to a series of robberies across Southern California. He also described how ALPR helped locate missing persons and credited the system with catching suspects who traveled into the city from other areas.
Council members asked technical questions about deployment. The sheriff’s lieutenant confirmed the system adds 44 additional cameras to the existing network of 13 units, and that some of the newly purchased cameras are higher-speed-capable units intended to capture plates on vehicles traveling at high rates of speed.
On a separate but related consent question, Public Art staff requested authority to negotiate and execute a six-month contract with Rice Construction for El Paseo sculpture maintenance while the city reopens the procurement process. Staff said Rice’s negotiated hourly rate would be $90 per hour, with $95 per hour identified as an upper parameter discussed in the report. Council approved that interim maintenance authorization 5-0 as part of the same vote.
Council also asked staff to provide periodic reporting on the ALPR system’s operational impact, including recoveries and investigative outcomes. Hurtado said she will coordinate with the sheriff’s department to provide those statistics to the council.
