TO: Members of the City Council
FROM: Mayor Angela Birney
DEPARTMENT DIRECTOR CONTACT(S):
|
Police |
Chief Darrell Lowe |
425-556-2529 |
DEPARTMENT STAFF:
|
Police |
Cori Baker |
Police Support Services Supervisor |
TITLE:
title
Approval of a 2022-2023 Washington State Archives Local Records Grant Award in the Amount of $40,132
OVERVIEW STATEMENT:
recommendation
The Redmond Police Department (RPD) has approximately 311 reels of 16mm microfilm dating from 1977- 2000, which is becoming brittle as it ages, with 2 reels having torn in the past year. Conversion will secure the data, make it searchable, and allow us to purge eligible records. The Washington State Archives has awarded the RPD a $40,132 grant to cover the cost of conversion.
body
☒ Additional Background Information/Description of Proposal Attached
REQUESTED ACTION:
☐ Receive Information ☐ Provide Direction ☒ Approve
REQUEST RATIONALE:
• Relevant Plans/Policies:
Redmond Police Department Policy 804, WA State Archives Law Enforcement Records Retention Schedule 8.1 - 8.3, WASPC Accreditation Standard 5.6
• Required:
Council approval is required to receive a grant.
• Council Request:
N/A
• Other Key Facts:
Existing microfilm is becoming brittle as it ages, and 2 reels have torn within the past year which makes them unsearchable.
OUTCOMES:
The Redmond Police Department (RPD) received 38 Public Records Requests during the past year for which responsive records were located on microfilm reels. There were 1,094 separate pages on microfilm that wereprinted and then scanned in order to fulfill the Public Records Requests. The Department also received 6 vacate and/or juvenile seal notices which required research on microfilm.
Two reels of microfilm have torn in the microfilm viewer machine in the past year. At this time, we are unable to view records on those 2 reels. The Department is currently unable to manage or destroy records on microfilm, as there are approximately 3000 images (pages) per reel, and each reel contains many separate records. Digitizing the microfilmed records would allow for a direct link to the digitized documents to be created in the Spillman RMS. The documents would also be searchable by case number or by Optical Character Recognition (OCR) within our ILINX database. Searching digitized documents would be a much faster process than searching via microfilm reader. Digitizing the documents would allow the Department to manage the records in a manner consistent with the records retention schedules published by the Washington State Archives and would allow the Department to apply retention schedules to individual cases and record categories.
Redmond Police Department (RPD) proposes to have a vendor scan 311 reels of 16mm microfilm at 200dpi in grayscale with jpeg compression, index the records by case number, and handle approximately 20 hours of repair on over or under-exposed film or processing errors. One PDF image per case file or record will be created as part of the scanning process. The project will also include Optical Character Recognition (OCR), DVD backup, and 100% image review with blank page verification. The digital files will then be imported into RPD’s existing database, ILINX, which links digitized documents to the RMS system, Spillman.
COMMUNITY/STAKEHOLDER OUTREACH AND INVOLVEMENT:
• Timeline (previous or planned):
Work to be completed by May 1, 2023
• Outreach Methods and Results:
N/A
• Feedback Summary:
N/A
BUDGET IMPACT:
Total Cost:
$40,132, reimbursable by grant award
Approved in current biennial budget: ☐ Yes ☐ No ☒ N/A
Budget Offer Number:
N/A
Budget Priority:
Safe and Resilient
Other budget impacts or additional costs: ☒ Yes ☐ No ☒ N/A
If yes, explain:
An additional cost of approximately $6,000 - $8,200 has been identified as a potential cost if additional work by or with Image Source is required to upload and/or assign metadata to the converted data files.
Funding source(s):
Grant
Budget/Funding Constraints:
Work must be completed by May 1, 2023
☐ Additional budget details attached
COUNCIL REVIEW:
Previous Contact(s)
|
Date |
Meeting |
Requested Action |
|
1/17/2023 |
Committee of the Whole - Public Safety and Human Services |
Provide Direction |
Proposed Upcoming Contact(s)
|
Date |
Meeting |
Requested Action |
|
N/A |
None proposed at this time |
N/A |
Time Constraints:
Work must be completed by May 1, 2023
ANTICIPATED RESULT IF NOT APPROVED:
If this grant award is not approved, the City would lose the grant, and bear the $40,132 cost for digitizing. As the funds have not been included as a budget request, it is more likely that the project would be paused, the records would not be digitized, and the potential for damage to the physical microfilm reels would continue. Response times for public records requests and other requests would continue to increase and the Department would not be able to destroy records eligible for purging.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment A: Redmond Police Department Policy 804 - Records Maintenance and Destruction Attachment B: Washington State Archives Law Enforcement Records Retention Schedule 8.1-8.3 Attachment C: Washington Association of Sheriffs and Police Chiefs Accreditation Standard 5.6