(7)AR 102108 Law Enforcement Medical Services

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CITY OF COLTON AGENDA REPORT FOR COUNCIL MEETING OF OCTOBER 21, 2008 ITEM #7 TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY C UNC j FROM: BOB MILLER, CHIEF OF POLICE J� SUBJECT: APPROVAL OF CONTRACT WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT MEDICAL SERVICES, INC. FOR BLOOD WITHDRAWALS, SAMPLE COLLECTIONS, SEXUAL ASSAULT EVIDENCE COLLECTIONS, AND COURT TESTIMONY IN AN AMOUNT NOT TO EXCEED 33,500.00. DATE: October 7, 2008 BACKGROUND: The Police Department has a need for on-call collection of medical evidence on a 24 hour basis. Law Enforcement Medical Services, Inc. (LEMS) provides licensed and certified employee's who respond to the Department, or other designated locations, within 20 minutes of contact for the purpose of obtaining medical evidence. This evidence is imperative in the prosecution of criminal cases. DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS: The ability to have licensed and certified responders who can conduct on-site medical evidence collection represents a tremendous time and financial savings to the Department. Currently, the only other means of obtaining medical evidence would be through Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC). This would require police personnel to transport prisoners to ARMC, maintain their security while at the location, and wait for an available, qualified staff member to collect the medical evidence. Police personnel would then have to transport the medical evidence back to the department for immediate storage due to the nature of biological substances and prior to transporting the prisoner to the appropriate county facility. These steps could add as much as 2-4 man-hours per incident. Additionally, to subpoena ARMC personnel would require a Departmental subpoena service, an additional manpower cost, with far less assurance that the person served would actually appear in court for testimony. The proposed cost per blood withdrawal is $40.00, which represents less than one hour of manpower at a police officer's salary and benefits. LEMS has been servicing the Police Department for over 10 years and is familiar with our evidence procedures and storage facilities. Their personnel are trained to provide courtroom testimony. Use of LEMS has greatly reduced the amount of man-hours spent on evidence collection. Additionally, LEMS has a reputation in the law enforcement field for providing scientific testimony that is integral in the prosecution of criminal cases. This represents a benefit to the Police Department. Section 3.08.070 (G) of the Colton Municipal Code provides that subsequent contract awards to the same individual or entity for the same or similar services that will result in the city paying an aggregate amount of more than twenty-five thousand dollars require City Council approval. Section 3.08.140 (E) allows the City to dispense with the bidding requirements for professional services when the City Council determines that it is in the best interests of the city and its administrative operations to dispense with public bidding. In this case, the staff recommends that the City Council waive the bidding requirements due to the substantial level of service that LEMS offers, and because the contract represents tremendous manpower and financial savings to the Police Department.