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Long Beach staff recommend 365 Labs records and dispatch system as legacy RMS support ends
Summary
City police staff recommended buying a cloud-based records management and CAD system from 365 Labs, citing end of support for the current vendor, improved mobile capability and a first-year implementation cost of about $199,000 with roughly $175,000 in annual costs thereafter. Council and public questioned security, access and GPS use.
Long Beach police officials presented a proposal to replace the department’s aging records-management system and add a computer-aided dispatch (CAD) platform, saying the current vendor’s product is no longer supported and that a cloud-hosted solution would improve security, mobile reporting and integration with e911.
Lieutenant Rocco Walsh, who led the briefing, said the department evaluated multiple vendors and selected 365 Labs as the best fit after testing for data security, CAD integration and mobile on-scene reporting. He said the recommended contract would require an initial implementation payment of about $199,000 and an estimated ongoing annual cost of about $175,000; the city currently pays roughly $60,000 a year for the incumbent system, which will not be supported going forward.
Walsh told the council the system would centralize dispatch, case records, citations, property and evidence and would allow officers to prepare reports on a mobile device and issue digital tickets on scene. He said the new platform would be hosted in Microsoft’s Azure Government cloud and that role-based access would be implemented so divisions and administrators have appropriate permissions.
Council members raised cybersecurity questions, including denial-of-service risk and who would have access to sensitive records. Walsh and IT staff said Azure GovCloud meets a high government security profile and that administrative access would be granted from the police commissioner’s office with tiered levels by rank and unit. Walsh said the system can integrate local enforcement flags and parking-ticket history into officer workflows if the city configures those features.
Public commenters sought clarification about who can view records and whether officers would be issued phones. Mike Deloria of Long Beach asked whether the parking-ticket module could alert officers to scofflaws; Walsh said the system could be configured to surface local flags. Wanda Brooks asked whether each officer would receive a phone; Walsh said officers would need assigned devices to use mobile features. Brian Clyman asked about GPS and noted county vehicles have outdated GPS units; Walsh said phone-based GPS would improve location accuracy and continuity during emergencies when fixed servers might be offline.
The presentation emphasized potential savings from eliminating on-site servers and vehicle upfit costs, offsetting but not fully eliminating the higher annual software fee. Walsh said removing three servers, lower vehicle upfit needs and avoided cooling costs could reduce costs by an estimated roughly $123,000 per year in various line items over time.
The council did not vote during the presentation; staff said they would be available to answer further questions as the procurement and contract details are finalized.
