City Goes Outside for Police Data Processing System

Though Councilwoman Eva Miner Bradford said she has misgivings, the City Council has approved a $98,000 contract with West Covina for police data processing.

Under the yearlong contract, the city in Los Angeles County will computerize La Palma Police Department records. La Palma Police Chief David S. Barr told the City Council that his department’s own automated system is outdated and has had “countless maintenance problems.”

Barr said that contracting with West Covina is an economical way for La Palma to get better data-processing equipment and services. He said the West Covina system also will give La Palma access to information from many other cities.

But Bradford said she was concerned that “so much money” was involved in the contract and that the job had not been competitively bid.

Barr responded that the police department specifically asked for West Covina because that city “is one of the major providers of this service in Southern California.”

The police chief also said that La Palma would pay for the current fiscal year’s contract with money seized from drug-related arrests, so there will be no strain on the city budget.

Bradford said she worried about future years, however. “So we will always be using the asset seizure fund?” she asked.

Barr replied, “I don’t know if we are going to seize that kind of assets in the future.”

Other council members praised the arrangement, and when the vote was taken, Bradford joined her four colleagues in approving the contract unanimously.