McComb police and city court may be in for some upgrades soon.
Police Chief Damian Gatlin and city Judge Brandon Frazier asked selectmen Tuesday night to consider several purchases for their divisions during the city board’s work session.
Gatlin presented quotes on several brands and types of police vehicles, including Dodge Chargers and Durangos, and Chevrolet Tahoes. He said the department had recently gotten a new Charger, but is down four cars because three were totaled by a tree limb that fell during a storm and one needs repairs that are too expensive to be worth it.
“We’re in danger of not having enough cars if we need to call in another shift to respond to a major event,” Gatlin said.
Gatlin said Tahoes that the department has in service now have proven themselves, outlasting Chargers and needing fewer repairs, while also being easier for officers to enter and exit.
However, the Tahoe is also the most expensive vehicle on the list, at about $10,000 more than the Charger, Mayor Quordiniah Lockley said.
“You can almost get three Chargers for what you’d spend on two Tahoes,” Lockley said.
“I’ll take quantity over quality,” Gatlin replied. “That’s where I’m at now.”
Public Works Director Alice Barnes, who oversees the city’s maintenance facility, said the Chargers are frequently in the shop, and Lockley said a maintenance employee had recommended Tahoes to him for future city purchases.
Gatlin assured board members that any new vehicles purchased would go to the patrol division and not be kept by himself, Assistant Chief Rodney Nordstrom or other supervisors.
“The department is behind the eight-ball majorly,” Gatlin said. We need to catch up on vehicles, equipment and programs to bring us into the 21st century. That’s my priority.”
Gatlin also requested consideration of new body cameras and supporting software and equipment.
He called the new system and equipment he is seeking the “Cadillac of body cameras,” with a cost of $117,000, half due upfront, but added, “you get what you pay for.”
He said the new system, including body camera and dash cameras would be more reliable, offer 24-hour tech support, and be more durable.
The department can also get uniform shirts with pockets designed to better hold and protect the new cameras, which are shaped like a cellphone.
New capabilities include the ability to track officers if necessary, send alerts if an officer is hurt and automatically begin recording if an officer starts running or enter an area designated as high-crime or of special interest.
While expensive, “the cost of doing something is less than the potential cost of doing nothing,” Gatlin said.
The chief added that he has been seeking donations to the department for various things, including vehicles and materials to renovate the department’s building, and Selectman Cameron suggested that the city could fund the upfront cost for the first year, with Gatlin seeking donations to fund the about $15,000 needed for each of the next several years.
Gatlin said he wouldn’t stop trying to get funds or other items just because the city stepped in with funding for certain items, and said he would also examine the budget to see where he might be able to make cuts of 5 to 10 percent to fund other priorities.
Gatlin and Frazier both pitched a software upgrade that would help to integrate the police and court systems with each other and with other jurisdictions.
The chief said a report management system for his department provided by the current computer-aided dispatch provider, Caliber, was quoted at $77,964 plus a monthly $1,450 maintenance fee.
The report system would allow dispatchers to see information from officers’ reports such as if people mentioned by callers had been arrested before, or if police had been called to addresses before.
Gatlin said another company, Southaven-based ADSI, provided dispatch and reporting programs to Lincoln County in the past year, and offered to install the programs for a $1,450 monthly maintenance fee and no upfront cost.
Because the programs would be integrated and involve the central dispatch, used by all agencies in the county, Gatlin said the cost would be shared with Pike County, Magnolia, Summit and Osyka if they choose to participate.
He said he believes all the other agencies are on board, though none have gotten approval from aldermen or supervisors yet.
Because of the low cost, compared to the existing service and to what ADSI could charge beyond a monthly maintenance fee, “we’re not getting what we pay for, we’re getting more,” Gatlin said.
Frazier said the system in city court works well, but dates to the 1980s and is not as user-friendly as it could be.
“It looks like it’s from the 1980s. If you’ve seen green letters on a black screen, you’ve seen what this program looks like,” Frazier said.
The judge said everything its gets from the police department has to be retyped into the court computer system, whereas the court management program offered by ADSI will allow the police department information to feed directly into the court system.
The upgrade can also help the court start to take debit and credit card payments, which could help the court immensely in collecting fines and fees.
“I had a college kid in the courtroom, and I told him he’d have to go get a money order,” Frazier said. “He said, ‘What’s that?’”
Frazier said the ADSI system, if installed, would also allow him to see if someone before him in court had any court proceedings or convictions in other jurisdictions, like Brookhaven and Vicksburg.
“We can get a low price on this because it’s bundled with the CAD system,” Frazier said. “It has great capabilities.”
Tommy Alderman of ADSI, a former Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department captain, said the company’s servers, based in Starkville, are secure enough to allow the company to serve “federal agencies with initials I’m not supposed to say.
“Our price is absurd because we’re trying to build a model system,” Alderman said. “We want to sell it in other states for more money. We’re a Mississippi company that wants to support Mississippi agencies.”
Selectmen will start considering the police and court requests in Tuesday’s board meeting.
