2011 Annual Report final - City of Pittsburgh

county agencies, Court Administrator’s Office, DA’s Office, Public Defender’s Office and the variousprivate agencies involved in court proceedings and processes. The Court Liaison supervisors:• Ensure constant communications among the various agencies for successful prosecution andpositive outcomes.• Manages court time for officers.• Assigns a liaison officer to Traffic Court for disposition of traffic citations.• Logs and processes traffic/non-traffic citations generated by city officers through the courts.Summary Warrant Squad: The Summary Warrant Squad (SWS) is comprised of four officers andone sergeant whose mission is to address outstanding summary warrants in which violators have failedto respond to the courts to answer for their violations.In 2011, the SWS cleared 2,037 summary warrants:• 776 were cleared in person by the officers resulting in $107, 892.97 being brought directly toarraignment court in guilty and not-guilty pleas.• 1,261 warrants were cleared as a result of direct and indirect efforts by the squad with theirvarious notification processes.To date, 95% of the 2,037 warrants have gone to summary trial, resulting in $303,974.31 in fines beingcollected.Computer Operations Liaison Unit: The Computer Operations Liaison Unit works directly with CityInformation Systems to develop, implement, and maintain the various computer systems andapplications being used by the Bureau. The unit provides support and innovative electronic upgradesand innovations to both the sworn and civilian personnel of the Bureau of Police. In 2011, the unitworked on the following projects:• Community Safety Web Site Enhancement: The Community Safety Website is a tool the Bureauof Police uses to provide timely and accurate information to the public related to safety and lawenforcement operations. Upgrades to the system allow the Bureau to send out alerts via textmessage to subscribers. The upgrades also allow users to text crime tips to the Bureau.• Citywide Camera Project: Pittsburgh started its Citywide camera system in 2009 working withbusinesses, community leaders and other law enforcement agencies. Currently, we have 92cameras located in and around the Port of Pittsburgh on various streets, bridges and otherstructures as a tool to aid in the safety and security of the port and the surrounding area. Thesecameras are complemented by our access to other business and government cameras. Since itsimplementation, we have augmented the Citywide camera systems with the addition of morecameras. This will continue in 2012 and be enhanced with the addition of license platerecognition systems.• In-Car-Camera Project: In 2010, the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police started the installation and useof in-car cameras for marked police vehicles. These cameras will assist in the documenting ofpolice-public encounters. Currently, four of our six police zones have the cameras installed intheir marked vehicles. Deployment to the two remaining zones should be completed in 2012.34