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TO: Mayor Richard C. Irvin
FROM: Lt. William Hull / Cmdr. Jack Fichtel
DATE: 12/29/17
SUBJECT:
Resolution to purchase eight work stations to be placed in the Special Operations Group Office at the Aurora Police Department to house federal task force officers.
PURPOSE:
To request authorization from the Aurora City Council to purchase eight work stations to be placed in the Special Operations Group Office at the Aurora Police Department to house federal task force officers.
BACKGROUND:
The Aurora Police Department for many years has been teamed with our federal law enforcement partners to work cooperatively in a task force role to combat drug and gang related crimes. These officers, primarily from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and from the Office of Homeland Security are currently housed in an independent office within the Aurora Police Headquarters facility. This office is currently equipped with eight workstation, which is specifically designed, constructed, and erected to the parameters of the work space. The department is seeking to re-locate these task force officers (TFO) into the office of the Aurora Police Special Operations Group (SOG). The task force officers and SOG work closely together and often share information, much of which is confidential. It is imperative that the TFOs have a secure work environment and the SOG office presently has a significant amount of open and unused space to accommodate this function.
The current task force office will be used for housing a new and innovative social media unit. The law enforcement community has found that being able to gather timely and relevant information from open source networks and putting that information into chronological, easily understandable format is critical for early resolution and intelligence. The personal that will comprise the unit will be pulled from existing assignments and will utilize this work area..
DISCUSSION:
The Aurora Police Headquarters was designed with future growth and expansion of services in mind. The Special Operations Group office has open space for such growth and will accommodate eight complete work stations for TFOs to continue to investigate and enforce drug and gang crimes.
The Special Operations Group is primarily responsible for the prevention, education, and enforcement of gang and drug related activities. During the enforcement of the duties, they on occasion, have the opportunity to legally seize monies that are connected to narcotics related crimes. These funds are then awarded to the department and placed into a State Forfeiture account for permissible uses. As outlined in the “Illinois Asset Seizure and Forfeiture” Manual (page 24), it clearly outlines under “Permissible Use Examples” that the monies can be used “to provide necessary field or office equipment to support a drug task force.”
In keeping with the aesthetics of the original furniture, the supplier and builder that initially manufactured, and installed the workspaces, were contacted to maintain continuity. The company, Henricksen of Itasca, Illinois, provided an office layout and quote for the work, which was $23,090.80 for all office furniture that was priced using cooperative contract minus the work surfaces (desk tops). A separate quote for the custom work surfaces (to match the existing desk tops in the building) was $5,460.80. Giving this project an overall total cost of $28,551.60.
A budget transfer to the correct account will be submitted. The monies for this project will be utilized from the State Forfeiture account, more specifically account 217-3536-421.61-41.
IMPACT STATEMENT:
If this project is not approved it will have a detrimental impact on the cooperation of task forces to work in conjunction with Aurora Police Special Operations Group.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
I am recommending that the City Council authorize the release of funds to purchase eight work spaces to be located in the Special Operations Group Office.
cc: Alderman O’Connor, Chairman
Alderman Mesiacos
Alderman Bugg
Alderman Mervine, Alternate
CITY OF AURORA, ILLINOIS
RESOLUTION NO. _________
DATE OF PASSAGE ________________
title
A Resolution authorizing the purchase of eight work stations to be placed in the Special Operations Group Office at the Aurora Police Department to house federal task force officers.
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WHEREAS, the City of Aurora has a population of more than 25,000 persons and is, therefore, a home rule unit under subsection (a) of Section 6 of Article VII of the Illinois Constitution of 1970; and
WHEREAS, subject to said Section, a home rule unit may exercise any power and perform any function pertaining to its government and affairs for the protection of the public health, safety, morals, and welfare; and
WHEREAS, The Aurora Police Department for many years has been teamed with our federal law enforcement partners to work cooperatively in a task force role to combat drug and gang related crimes; and
WHEREAS, These officers, primarily from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) and from the Office of Homeland Security are currently housed in an independent office within the Aurora Police Headquarters facility. This office is currently equipped with eight workstation, which is specifically designed, constructed, and erected to the parameters of the work space; and:
WHEREAS, The department is seeking to re-locate these task force officers (TFO) into the office of the Aurora Police Special Operations Group (SOG). The task force officers and SOG work closely together and often share information, much of which is confidential; and
WHEREAS, It is imperative that the TFOs have a secure work environment and the SOG office presently has a significant amount of open and unused space to accommodate this function; and
WHEREAS, The Special Operations Group is primarily responsible for the prevention, education, and enforcement of gang and drug related activities. During the enforcement of the duties, they on occasion, have the opportunity to legally seize monies that are connected to narcotics related crimes. These funds are then awarded to the department and placed into a State Forfeiture account for permissible uses; and
WHEREAS, It is outlined in the “Illinois Asset Seizure and Forfeiture” Manual (page 24), it clearly outlines under “Permissible Use Examples” that the monies can be used “to provide necessary field or office equipment to support a drug task force”; and
WHEREAS, The company, Henricksen of Itasca, Illinois, provided an office layout and quote for the work, which was $23,090.80 for all office furniture that was priced using cooperative contract minus the work surfaces (desk tops). A separate quote for the custom work surfaces (to match the existing desk tops in the building) was $5,460.80. Giving this project an overall total cost of $28,551.60; and
WHEREAS, The monies for this project will therefore be utilized from the State Forfeiture account, more specifically account 217-3536-421.61-41.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City of Aurora, Illinois, as follows: It is the desire of the Department to purchase eight work stations to be placed in the Special Operations Group Office at the Aurora Police Department to house federal task force officers.