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Community Interest
Police Chief Gamez Receives 2013 Computerworld
Premier 100 IT Leader Award
IDG’s Computerworld announces Redwood City Police Chief JR Gamez
as a 2013 Premier 100 IT Leaders honoree. This year’s Premier 100 IT
Leader Awards honor individuals who have had a positive impact on their
organizations through exceptional technology leadership and innovative
approaches to business challenges.
“The Premier 100 awards program showcases the exceptional work of a
dedicated group of technology-savvy business leaders who are driving huge
change in their organizations through IT,” said Scot Finnie, editor-in-chief of
Computerworld. “Every day, these exemplary business leaders make strategic
technology decisions that track to their organizations’ top priorities. These
100 men and women keep a keen eye on the changing landscape of political,
economic, regulatory and technology trends that are driving significant
shifts in IT. We are very pleased to recognize the leadership and honor the
achievements of the 2013 Premier 100 honorees.”
In June 2012, the Redwood City Police Department took public
engagement to the next level when it launched Netop’s “Live Guide” video
and text chat to allow community members the opportunity to have realtime,
interactive video chats directly with a Redwood City police officer.
The Live Guide service utilizes the latest technology for two-way text
messaging with audio and video chat features that offer another way for the
community to connect with the Police Department. Members of the public
can use Live Guide to receive live online assistance with any concerns
or questions they may have about police services or to receive help with
reporting crimes online. This emerging technology placed the Redwood
City Police Department on the leading edge of customer service strategy by
providing a new standard of “community-centric” policing and making the
department the first municipal law enforcement agency in the United States
to provide such video interactivity directly between its police department and
its community.
Gamez noted, “It is truly an honor to be recognized as a Premier 100 IT
Leader by Computerworld. The need to embrace emerging technologies is a
priority for our department because it allows our officers to provide a smarter
and a more efficient manner of interacting with our residents while presenting
timely information to our community. The Redwood City Police Department
remains a forward-thinking agency committed to embracing innovative
technology partnerships that provide our residents with the highest level of
customer service.”
The Premier 100 program was created in 2000 to spotlight individuals who
have had a positive impact on their organizations through technology. These
are individuals who manage internal IT organizations, mentor and motivate
their IT teams and business colleagues, create a positive work environment,
envision innovative solutions to business challenges and effectively manage
and execute IT strategies. Each year nominees are invited to complete a
survey that addresses a number of topics, including their background and
experience and their attitude toward risk and innovation. Computerworld
uses its IT Leader Index, which is a measurement of how closely an
individual matches the definition of the IT Leader, to analyze the data. Each
year, 100 honorees are selected to receive this lifetime-recognition award.
Redwood City Awarded Grant to Upgrade Software to
Analyze Traffic Collision Data
The City of Redwood City has been awarded a $28,000 grant from the
California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) for a traffic collision database
and mapping system software package. The software will be used to more
effectively and efficiently pinpoint and analyze high-collision locations
throughout the city and provide more usable information to help reduce the
frequency and severity of traffic collisions. The system will provide the city’s
transportation engineers and department managers with more timely and
accurate data upon which to base engineering, enforcement and other trafficrelated
safety decisions.
The grant will fund a fully automated, geographic information system
(GIS)-based traffic collision and analysis system, and includes the purchase
and installation of the software, labor to incorporate collision and street data,
and training of traffic engineering personnel in the use of the system. This
software will replace the city’s existing system of hand-logging each collision
and will convert the manual collision map to an interactive mapping solution,
automate the production of collision history diagrams, generate periodic
or specific reports and allow staff to search collision records by location,
primary collision factor, involved vehicle or party types, time of day or other
factors. Using this system, staff will be able to query and map information
from the database to easily identify high-frequency locations and collision
patterns so that those areas can be further studied and appropriate action taken.
Funding for this grant program is from the California Office of Traffic
Safety through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Visit Redwood City’s award-winning website at www.redwoodcity.org
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Recology San Mateo County Collected Used Coats for Kids
Recology San Mateo County concluded its annual Coats for Kids program
to collect new and gently used coats to donate to those in need of a warm
coat during the cold weather season. Recology San Mateo County collected
coats curbside from homes on their collection day from the areas of Atherton,
Belmont, Burlingame, East Palo Alto, Foster City, Menlo Park, Redwood
City, San Carlos and San Mateo.
“Recology has been providing our Coats for Kids program for many years
in the communities we service. It has proven to be a great program helping
those individuals and families in need,” said Recology San Mateo County
General Manager Mario Puccinelli.
Collection containers labeled “Coats for Kids” were also placed at various
locations throughout the participating cities noted above and at Recology’s
offices where residents could, and did, drop off coats.
Recology San Mateo County collected 1,021 coats this year and would like
to thank all that contributed and donated coats for this worthwhile cause.
Coats this year were donated to the St. Anthony’s Clothing Center and the
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