pinion Letter: BPD's Proposed Expenditure of Federal Funds

Dear Mayor Poston,

As a City of Bradenton resident and successful businesswoman, I recently reviewed the Bradenton Police Department’s proposed plan (pdf) for utilizing the 2015-2016 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant allocated funds of $24,124.00, and I am astonished that Chief Michael Radzilowski would incautiously expend these funds for surplus office equipment. This proposal in and of itself is redundant, and even more puzzling, due to the fact that Chief Radzilowski is purchasing an additional five individual scanners for each of the Records Clerks.

It is clearly stated in the JAG Priority Areas, that “Reducing Gun Violence,” and “Body-Worn Cameras, Storage, and Policies,” are at the forefront of funding priorities for local law enforcement agencies across the United States. I would expect our Chief of Police to not only recognize the JAG Priority Areas, but to also consider what is best for the citizens of Bradenton. Allow me to digress to the requested items of office equipment; there are four “Ricoh” industrial-size copiers, scanners, fax machines already in place within the Police Department. Specifically, one of these industrial-size scanners, which can scan up to 300+ pages at a time, is centrally located within the Records Unit of the Bradenton Police Department.

My research indicates that a Records Clerk can use the existing “Ricoh” scanner, simply go to the specific drive on their desktop computer, and then mail the document as a PDF to the Clerk of Court, State Attorney Office, or citizen, so why does Chief Radzilowski see this expenditure of funds as sensible, or acceptable? Does Chief Radzilowski realize that there is actually a minimal amount of hard-copied documents that are stored in the Police Department’s Records Division? All Police Reports, Field Interviews, and Traffic Crash Reports that are generated by the Bradenton Police Department within the OSSI Database have an existing PDF tab at the bottom of the screen, which allows the Records Clerk to automatically save, and send the document to an outside entity without having to conduct a scan task.

In actuality, I would like Chief Radzilowski to state what documents are actually still hand-written, and would necessitate the need for this office equipment to members of the public and City Council. Chief Radzilowski will not be able to cite one example of how the proposed scanner with a 500-page capacity per single use is a priority to the City of Bradenton Police Department. Furthermore, I would like Chief Radzilowski to explain to the citizens of Bradenton at the June 24th City Council meeting how a $19,237.00 industrial-size scanner, and $2,475.00 in five desk-top scanners all within the same four person Records Unit benefits the safety of our 50,000-plus citizens.

Additionally, this equipment does not even have the ability to serve as a photo-copier, so it will not negate the lease costs of the same industrial-size “Ricoh” photo-copier that has the full capability of serving as a multi-page scanner for the minimal amount of records that are sent out to the different entities. Can Chief Radzilowski justify this request with factual measurable numbers, along with accompanied public record requests? Additionally, I would like to know how Chief Radzilowski plans on measuring the performance of these scanners to justify the expenditure of funds.

I strongly believe that the City of Bradenton Police Department would be better served by utilizing these critical funds for either of the two aforementioned Department of Justice priority areas—Gun Violence, and/or Body-Worn Cameras.

This time last year, Chief Radzilowski was aggressively pursuing federal and local funds for the “ShotSpotter Gunshot and Detection System,” based on the amount of gun violence, and homicides that have occurred within the City of Bradenton. It seems that Chief Radzilowski has abandoned this project, which would have actually been in-line with a Department of Justice priority area.

On April 19th, 2015, Bradenton Police Officers responded to a shooting in the 1500 block of 14th Avenue East where a victim was transported to the Blake Hospital Trauma Unit with life-threatening wounds, then just as recent as June 14th, 2015, Bradenton Police Officers responded to a shooting in the area of the public-housing community of Bradenton Village, where two subjects were shot, and transported to the Blake Hospital Trauma Unit with life-threatening wounds. Is preventing a similar violent offense, or solving one of these recent crimes not a priority for our police department, or for which these Federal funds could be better spent?

In wake of the controversial Police shootings that have occurred across the nation, why wouldn’t the Bradenton Police Department take the pro-active approach of equipping their Police Officers with Body-Worn Cameras in order to prevent similar riots that have occurred in other similar sized municipalities? I believe that we owe it to every one of our ninety (90) Road Patrol Officers to supply them with this advanced modern technology, as they are facing even more public scrutiny than ever before. It is not only an officer-safety tool, but it is also beneficial in prosecution proceedings.

A body-worn camera captures a suspect’s true character and behavior, which is invaluable; it serves as an unbiased witness. It is also fact that many agencies that utilize this technology have seen a remarkable drop in brutality complaints against their officers. I believe it is also important to implement this form of transparency to further advance our relations with our community’s minority leaders, such as the NAACP, and local church ministers who are trying everything they can to make the City of Bradenton a safe place to live, visit, or conduct business.

If the aforementioned examples do not make you as the Mayor and Police Commissioner question the validity of the request for surplus, unnecessary office equipment, then I will remind you of the fact that we have an epidemic in our city. In recent months, it has been heavily publicized that there are a large number of heroin overdoses occurring within the City of Bradenton. Why isn’t Chief Radzilowski considering the utilization of these funds to strategically combat this problem within his jurisdiction?

These funds can be used to pay for undercover operations, task-force operations, officer overtime, and/or preventive measures that could be coordinated with Manatee Glens. I have not yet read of a “scanning document” epidemic, nor has there been loss of life, due to not having a sole industrial-sized scanner for the Records Unit, along with then redundant individual scanners for each of the Records Clerk.

Additionally, the same author of this proposal, Lt. Jeremy Giddens is fully capable of filing the necessary reports, such as the award acceptance, monitoring of the award, quarterly performance reporting, semi-annual performance reporting, grant reimbursement expense requests, and grant close-out. Lt. Giddens is registered in the Office of Justice Grant Management System, and there is online training available at grants.ojp.usdoj.gov/gmsexternal, along with technical assistance in regard to the reporting process.

This $2,412.00 sum is instead being paid to a retired City of Bradenton Grants Administrator, who by all of my research is not registered as a for-profit corporation or business entity with the State of Florida. How often does the City of Bradenton pay an unincorporated business to conduct city business? How was this consultant selected? Was there a request for proposal (RFP) submitted to the City Clerk for consideration? If an outside consultant is necessary, wouldn’t it be more prudent of a municipality to have this process be conducted by a reputable accounting firm at the same expense of $2,412.00?

Concluding, I hope you and members of the City Council strongly consider my serious concerns with Chief Radzilowski’s proposal for the overall expenditure of $24,124.00 of critical federal funds for surplus, and unnecessary office equipment. I additionally request that a copy of this letter be attached and sent to the U.S. Bureau of Justice Assistance, as required on page 7 of this proposal, so they may scrutinize future funding opportunities provided to the City of Bradenton Police Department.

Sincerely,

Devon Davis
Concerned City of Bradenton Resident