421 N. COUNTY FARM ROAD

WHEATON, IL 60187

DU PAGE COUNTY

www.dupagecounty.gov

Police Records Management System

Oversight

Final Summary

Wednesday, April 3, 2024

2:00 PM

503 N. County Farm Road, Room

3-C-030, Wheaton, IL 60187

CALL TO ORDER

2:00 PM meeting was called to order by Chair Berlin at 2:00 PM.

ROLL CALL

Berlin, Conroy, Franz, Martynowicz, McPhearson, Mendrick,

PRESENT

Sennett, and Zerwin

Ritz

ABSENT

Scalera

REMOTE

CHAIRMAN'S REMARKS

Chair Berlin welcomed everyone and offered a brief history of the DuJIS system. He

emphasized the importance of working as a consortium. He then discussed the contract

restatement approved in June 2022 that goes through June 2027 and the intergovernmental

agreement, which expires April 30, 2024, but automatically renews for another year for those

agencies who did not give notice by November of the previous year. He said Addison is the only

agency to have given notice, which occurred in October 2021. Chair Berlin said he hopes to gain

a consensus about how this group would like to move forward. In terms of the IGA, he said it is

our hope that we can come to an agreement to get an IGA in place through June of 2027, when

the contract expires.

PUBLIC COMMENT

DISCUSSION

Member McPhearson stated that one of the reasons we invited mayors, managers, and police

chiefs was to get their input on the IGA consortium.

Chief Schar said he has more knowledge due to being on the executive committee, and he feels it

is important for the consortium to stay together. He said, to date, there have been no significant

issues with the system and any that have arisen have been addressed.

Chief Fleury said he has been through an RMS rollout before, which took about six years to work

through issues, and there were still issues. He said he agrees that the consortium should stay

together. He said while Axon does offer a lot of bells and whistles, we should wait to see if they

deliver on the promises that were made. He said no system is without its issues.

Chair Berlin said it is prudent to look at all available systems to compare them and see what they

offer. He said it takes time to move to a new system and get it up and running with all of the

integrations, particularly with 37-plus agencies. He said he does not see any system being up and

running before 2027.

Chief Varva said he wants to make sure every agency understands what our goals are, such as

remaining as a consortium. He said moving into silos would be a step in the wrong direction.

He said there is no perfect system. He said Axon does not currently serve DuPage County's

needs, though it may in another two to three years. He said he is unclear as to what the issues are

with the Hexagon system because no major issues have been brought forward. He said the

Hexagon system does what it is supposed to do.

Chief Pederson (FPDDC) noted that if other agencies choose to leave, it affects the user cost and

cost to taxpayers. He said the County IT department has purchased a lot of hardware for this

system as well.

Chief Youker asked any agencies who have been looking at Axon or other RMS systems what

the driving force is behind it. He said the committee can address those issues and we can

proceed as a consortium. Member Maranowicz said he respects everyone's opinion and work in

this group. He said Addison gave notice of separation in October 2021 due to frustrations with

the system. He said there is a cost factor and there will be integration issues. He said as village

manager, he must look at the cost and what we are paying for. He said he spoke to agencies

around the country and they loved Axon. He said we currently do not have a body camera

integration, which is offered through Axon. He said it is about $60,000 less per year plus

integration costs. Member McPhearson commented that his team has worked around the clock

to work through issues and better support all of the agencies across the board. He said there has

been a huge difference in support and the application between 2021 and 2024. He said no matter

how cost-effective Axon is, you will always get a better deal as a consortium. Member

Maranowicz said he agrees. He said Axon may or may not be the best option, but the consortium

can learn from Addison's experience. Julia Taglia with Addison said Lafayette, Indiana has been

using Axon for over three years and it was functional and NIBRS compliant for two years. She

said Axon has delivered on all of the promises they have made so far. Member Maranowicz

agreed and said Axon's reputation was very appealing. Don Ehrenhaft said if the consortium

stays together, they can learn from Addison's experience and perspective after some time on the

new system.

Member Franz asked for a timeline for the OCR10 upgrade. Member McPhearson said we have

started the implementation activities and are currently working on setting up the test environment

so we can get agencies set up for testing. He said we want to give agencies currently on

MFR/OCR an opportunity to test it so we can avoid patches later. He said we want to go slowly

to make sure everything is working correctly. He said we are looking at a summer 2025 go-live,

though they are looking at ways to shorten that time frame. Mr. Ehrenhaft provided examples of

what work has been done so far. Chief Vavra said the delay was due to the chiefs and County IT

team asking to slow down the process to make sure everything is done correctly.

Chief Johnson said the experience in Hanover Park has not been great overall with this system.

He said the feedback he receives is that the system is not user-friendly. He said one particular

point of frustration is that this system was supposed to reduce redundancies, but that never

happened. He said if they were able to see what the new upgrade is able to offer, that

information would have been helpful, but at this point they are looking at Axon and other

alternatives available. He said no decisions have been made. Member McPhearson asked that

Chief Johnson share in writing specific issues they have encountered. He said he believes the

new upgrade should offer resolutions for many issues agencies have encountered.

Member Franz suggested the County team set up a demo of the new release with Hexagon so

agencies can compare to other alternatives. Member McPhearson said the team has

demonstrations set up with both Hexagon and Axon. He said we are pushing for the consortium

to stay together, and the entire group should look at different solutions available and make a

decision together.

Chief Pappas said he understands everything Member McPhearson and Chief Vavra have done,

but they have always had to push Hexagon to get things done, adding that it is a sub-par product.

Chief Dzugan said the current IGA includes an auto-increase that takes the agencies through

April 2025 and a new IGA would go through 2027. He said what happens if other agencies

move on and others stay in the consortium as far as cost. Chair Berlin said there would be some

cost adjustments made if agencies left. He said there is money in the equipment replacement

fund, which could be used to offset those costs. He said the restatement involved hardware

costs, which have been paid for, and it is unclear what the financial obligations would be for

those who stay or for those who leave. He said any agencies leaving would create a lot of

problems, including having agencies on different systems and a lack in communication. Chief

Dzugan asked if there would be information or evidence that the consortium looked at another

product and determined the best way to proceed. Chair Berlin said we can start that process at

any time. Member Maranowicz said if Addison can go live over the summer, the consortium can

use them as a test case as to whether or not the system works well. Chair Berlin said we can see

demos from multiple vendors of different systems and make an informed decision as a group.

He reinforced that there is tremendous value in working as a consortium.

Member Fieldman agreed that there is value in working as a consortium. He said we have a

seven-month period for agencies to decide to opt out, during which time it is important how we

proceed. He said it is imperative that this group approach Hexagon with agencies' concerns and

explore our options for termination of that contract prior to its expiration date or reducing the

contract costs. He said while we appreciate the efforts to make sure the upgrade works, it is

interesting that it launches after the termination of the current IGA. He said he would be nice to

see how the upgrade works in the field before agencies have to make a decision whether to stay

or leave. Member Fieldman said the per user cost in the next IGA should have a limit, and if the

shared costs go over that, Hexagon should cut us a break or any of the agencies participating

should step up and pay for it. He said without those protections, there is no reason for agencies

not to leave.

Member Franz said if there are agencies seriously contemplating moving away from the

consortium, we should ask them to provide a list of issues and give this team a chance to address

and resolve them before they leave. Member Blumenthal said the new IGA includes language

that offers us a chance to review the issues. Member Franz asked if this committee should ask IT

staff to put together a revised schedule for implementing the OCR upgrade. Mr. Ehrenhaft said

he is comfortable doing that. He said an alternate approach would be to have end-users try it in

the test environment. Member Fieldman asked how quickly the test environment could be

launched. Mr. Ehrenhaft and Member McPhearson said it could be built within the month.

Member McPhearson said the team is looking at starting a formal RFP soon to do our due

diligence and see what else is available, noting that the process takes time, and we should have

some answers by the spring of next year.

Member Scalera said the Village of Bloomingdale is committed to the consortium. He said

although they have had some issues, they have not encountered significant issues, but they would

be interested in exploring any alternatives to the system and whether they might be beneficial to

the group.

Member Franz said he has heard some concerns about interfaces, and there are some interfaces

that make sense for the entire consortium but others that do not, so those types of issues should

be brought to this committee so they can be looked into. Member Sennett said it is important to

remain in the consortium because the agencies are able to help the public by viewing data from

other agencies.

Chief McLean said for Elmhurst, this is more a question of sticking with the consortium or not,

which he feels is important to do. He said exploring other systems are better done together.

Chief Vavra said he has talked with a lot of agencies over the past few months who have

expressed frustrations with misconceptions about County IT dictating how things are done. He

said County IT always looks to agencies for direction and ask us what we want to do, which is

very effective in getting things done. He said at the beginning of this project, that

communication did not exist, but with Member McPhearson and Mr. Ehrenhaft, communication

has greatly improved.

Chair Berlin said, in terms of direction, everyone would like a demo of OCR10 sooner than later,

to start looking at other options available, and to bring Hexagon to the table to clear up any

uncertainty. Member Blumenthal asked if it would be beneficial to draft a new IGA with these

comments that clarifies everything to offer more certainty, and re-ratify it with the new end date

of June 2027. Deputy Chief Vavra expressed his concern that we are relying on the current IGA

to roll over to next year, so what would happen between now and November, as timing is an

issue. Member Blumenthal said we could supersede what is currently in place. Chair Berlin

asked if there is anyone who objects to that process or if we have a consensus to move forward.

With no responses, Chair Berlin said there is a consensus to proceed.

5.A.

5.B.

24-1106

PRMS Consortium

24-1107

IGA Open Discussion