DATE: September 16, 2026
TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers
FROM: Police Department
TITLE: PURCHASE ORDER FOR REPLACEMENT LAW ENFORCEMENT RECORDS MANAGEMENT SYSTEM FOR THE POLICE DEPARTMENT
RECOMMENDATION
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Staff recommends that the City Council approve a five-year purchase order in the amount not to exceed $1,600,799. to CentralSquare Technologies for the purchase of a Law Enforcement Records Management System for the Police Department; and authorize the City Manager, or designee, to execute the purchase order. An appropriation of $302,000 is requested from the Information Systems Restricted Software Fund and an ongoing annual appropriation increase of $220,000 is requested from the General Fund.
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BACKGROUND AND ANALYSIS
A Law Enforcement Records Management System (RMS) serves as the primary repository for police records including, but not limited to, reports, historical records, master indexes (persons, vehicles, property) and arrest records. Additionally, the system is routinely updated with the most current offense codes for state and federal reporting of crime statistics. The Department’s RMS is connected to the Automated Regional Justice Information System (ARJIS) which permits invaluable data and narrative sharing among agencies in San Diego County. The RMS is utilized by staff from all divisions of the Police Department.
The Police Department currently utilizes the Motorola NetRMS platform which is hosted by the San Diego Sheriff’s Office. NetRMS was implemented in 2008 through a regional partnership between agencies in the county. While NetRMS has met the Department’s needs, it is slated for replacement due to the end of product development and support in 2027.
The Sheriff’s Office began researching replacement options in 2017 and ultimately selected a platform known as Niche RMS365 for the region’s new RMS solution; implementation at the Sheriff’s Office began in 2019. The City appropriated funds in Fiscal Year 2024-2025 to be paid to the Sheriff’s Office to cover the Oceanside Police Department’s portion of implementation costs; those funds were carried forward to the current fiscal year’s budget. The Sheriff’s efforts were delayed multiple times due to challenges encountered during implementation. On June 13, 2025, the Sheriff’s Office announced its decision to terminate the transition to Niche and it has yet to select a new vendor.
Since the termination of the Niche project, most agencies in the county have elected to procure an RMS solution independent from the Sheriff’s Office. Police Department staff explored options for alternative records management solutions, including products with successful track records within other California law enforcement agencies. Department staff also facilitated and attended demonstrations from several RMS vendors to determine the best solution for the organization.
CentralSquare’s Enterprise RMS meets the needs of the Department and it fully integrates with the Department’s current Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD) and Mobile Data System (MDS) as part of a public safety software suite. Information entered into call for service records through the CAD or MDS would be automatically imported to the RMS. Standard integrations, combined with interfaces to other programs such as the body-worn camera platform and the analytics database utilized by the Automated Regional Justice Information System (ARJIS), would unify otherwise disparate systems. CentralSquare’s RMS solution is designed to streamline and optimize report processing while greatly improving efficiencies throughout all divisions of the Police Department.
The system would be hosted on an Amazon Web Services (AWS) Commercial Cloud platform which is approved by the California Department of Justice (DOJ). A subscription would be paid to the vendor for all cloud fees, maintenance, updates and security. The agreement with the vendor would permit the City to share system access with the Sheriff’s Office or any other eligible agency, should those organizations select CentralSquare for their RMS solution. The vendor would assist all parties to identify and provide cost allocations and breakdowns to define each participating agency’s costs.
FISCAL IMPACT
This five-year purchase order is in the amount of $1,600,799. First year costs of $720,799 include fees for software, subscriptions, data conversion and implementation services. Recurring costs of $220,000 for each subsequent year (years 2-5) include fees for software and subscriptions and require an ongoing annual appropriation increase of $220,000 from the General Fund.
|
Description |
Account number |
FY 2026-27 Amount |
Available balance with requested appropriation |
|
CentralSquare RMS |
OPD Support Services Capital Outlay 500526101.5704 |
$234,191 |
$720,799 |
|
|
OPD Support Services Software Renewals 500526101.5355.0009 |
$486,608 |
|
|
Total |
$720,799 |
$720,799 |
|
|
|
|
|
Staff is requesting to use software reserves in the amount of $302,000 and appropriate $234,191 to 500526101.5704 and $67,809 to 500526101.5355.0009. Funding source is Information Systems Restricted Software Fund 841.3100.0039 which has a current available balance of $1.27M; therefore, sufficient funds are available. A transfer of $302,000 is needed from 1841.6900.0101 to 500526101.6800.0841. The procurement of the Records Management System will be through an existing cooperative purchasing agreement awarded to CentralSquare Technologies by Sourcewell - contract number 030425-CNSQ.
COMMISSION OR COMMITTEE REPORT
The Police and Fire Commission will be informed of this item during its regularly scheduled meeting on October 13, 2026.
CITY ATTORNEY’S ANALYSIS
The referenced documents have been reviewed by the City Attorney and approved as to form.
end
Prepared by: Paul Bradley, Police Services Administrator
Reviewed by: Taurino Valdovinos, Chief of Police
Submitted by: Jonathan Borrego, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Sales Order
2. Sourcewell Contract