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Police department outlines records‑management upgrade using regional Blue Shield grant
Summary
The police department described replacing an end‑of‑life records system with Central Square RMS and combining regional Blue Shield grants (~$29,000 per city) to fund software; staff said the system will consolidate reports, speed evidence sharing and connect to CAD and e‑ticketing.
The Odessa Police Department presented a proposal to replace its aging records‑management system with Central Square software that would integrate records, CAD and e‑ticketing and reduce manual data entry across multiple systems.
A presenter from the department said the current system is at end of life and no longer supported, forcing staff to maintain separate places for probable cause documents, K‑9 reports and vehicle maintenance. The recommended system, Central Square, was selected after vetting several vendors and would be procured regionally by combining Blue Shield grant awards from designated cities (Concordia, Lexington, Higginsville and Odessa).
The presenter said combining the roughly $29,000 grant each city receives would allow the agencies to buy a regional license and share integration benefits; initial hardware costs (mobile printers, car connections) remain and annual subscription fees will apply to each jurisdiction after the first year. “Central Square takes all of that, and I can do it all in one system,” the presenter said, describing potential time savings when sending reports to prosecutors’ offices and reducing duplicate data entry.
Board members asked whether fire districts and dispatch would benefit; staff said the software is public‑safety focused and fire agencies can subscribe. Questions covered how the city will encode billing features (if block rates are adopted) and whether the vendor provides necessary features; staff said the city would work with the billing vendor and the RMS purchaser to test and implement changes.
Next steps: staff will proceed with the grant‑combination approach, finalize hardware needs and present any subscription or CIP impacts for budget approval.
