The California Identification System (Cal-ID) is the automated system maintained by the California Department of Justice (DOJ) for retaining fingerprint files and identifying latent fingerprints. Cal-ID monies are collected from the fees from each non-commercial and commercial vehicles registered, and are used to fund programs that enhance the capacity of the state and local law enforcement to provide automated mobile, fixed Livescan fingerprint capture stations and Thales Automated Biometric Identification System (TABIS), formerly known as Cogent Automated Fingerprint Identification System (CAFIS), that allow identification of individuals involved in motor vehicle crimes. The California Department of Justice has established the Remote Access Network (RAN), which is a uniform statewide network of equipment and procedures allowing local law enforcement agencies direct access to the Cal-ID System. The Contra Costa County local RAN board determines the placement of RAN equipment within the County, and coordinates the acceptance, delivery, and installation of RAN equipment. Acting as the local RAN board, mobile fingerprint identification hardware has been distributed to local law enforcement agencies within the County pursuant to the criteria specified in the Penal Code. Under the proposed contract, a dedicated support engineer will provide to Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office and its client agencies high availability of support for the Thales Automated Fingerprint Identification System (TAFIS), the mugshot server, Latent Gateway, WebID, 31 Livescans, and the 350 Mobile ID devices throughout the county. A dedicated support engineer will provide continuity to the support needs, develop more personalized technical support relationships with users, perform proactive maintenance to reduce technical problems and downtimes minimizing disruption to the daily business for the law enforcement officer.

If the Office of the Sheriff is not allowed to contract with Thales DIS USA, Inc. for the dedicated support engineer, Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office and its client agencies will experience support engineers that are not familiar with the configurations and components of our systems which slows the support response. In addition, Contra Costa County and its agencies vie for support time with the Thales support engineers with many other counties and police departments throughout Northern California. Delayed support response can translate into the inability to identify unknown subjects on the street with Mobile ID or the inability to capture fingerprints at booking facilities with a Livescan for mandated reporting to the California Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigations. The delay to fix failures of the aforementioned systems could lead to the release of subjects on the street or from booking facilities because they have not been identified and may be wanted for a more serious offense under another name. In addition, the lack of ability to identify an arrested subject may detain an individual that is not the person sought in a warrant or an investigation.