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CITY OF LODI-
COUNCIL COMMUNICATION
AGENDA TITLE: Donation of Cellular Telephones for the Police Department
MEETING DATE: November 2, 1994
PREPARED BY: Police Chief
RECOMMENDED ACTION: That the City Council authorize the Police
Department to accept an offer from Cellular One
to completely equip all marked patrol units with
digital cellular telephones at no cost to the
City. In addition, that the City Council authorize the Police
Department to enter into a two-year agreement with Cellular One to
purchase air time solely from Cellular One in recognition of their
donating this equipment to the City of Lodi.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The Lodi Police Department currently has 19
patrol units, three motorcycles, and a new
surveillance van that we would like to equip
with cellular phones. In addition, Cellular
One has agreed to replace all of our existing telephones with digital
cellular phones.
We have computed a monthly phone cost of approximately $36.00 per
phone. It is anticipated that the funding For the remaining 1994-95
fiscal year will be approximately $6,600. The source for this
funding is the Asset Seizure account.
If the City of Lodi were to purchase these cellular phones, the cost
would be approximately $22,000.
This is a unique opportunity to provide our personnel with
state-of-the-art technology that will provide the following benefits:
1) Digital phones cannot be monitored. The transmissions are
scrambled and would give us complete privacy for sensitive issues.
2) Police Officers are constantly required to phone the Dispatch
Center and many of the phone booths in our City no longer allow that
capability because you cannot receive calls.
3) The use of cellular phone technology will greatly expedite our
officers ability to follow-up cases.
APPROVED
THOMAS A. PETERSON
City Manager
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Cellular Telephones for the Police Department
November 2, 1994
Page Two
4) The use of cellular phone technology will enable our officers to
spend more time on the beats rather than coming into the police
department to make follow-up phone calls.
The Katie Romanek kidnapping case was the most extreme example of the
police department need for private communications. As the Council is
aware, the news media was able to monitor most of the radio traffic
and this presented some problems with the investigation.
To have scrambling capabilities on our entire radio system would cost
in excess of a quarter of a million dollars. This cellular phone
technology addresses that issue with the most economically feasible
solution.
FUNDING: Asset Seizure $6,600 (refer to above narrative).
Larry D. Hansen
Chief of Police
cc: City Attorney