City may sue over police computer system
By Johnny Brannon
Advertiser Staff Writer
Part of a $12.5 million police computer project that auditors say was poorly managed by city officials does not work as designed and may wind up in court.
The mobile data computer system was supposed to increase the amount of time officers spend in the field, by allowing them to file incident reports from their patrol cars rather than a station house.
But software included with the project would not allow officers to print reports properly or save them to a computer disk, according to the audit.
And a new $40 million digital radio system the computers were meant to transmit information through can't handle the data load and must be augmented by a new system, officials say.
The problems are the latest in a long series of glitches that have hampered expensive efforts to upgrade public safety communications in Honolulu, using an 800 megahertz radio system and digital technology.
Engineers have struggled to identify and eliminate "dead spots" in radio coverage, background noise problems and dispatch system failures.
Despite the setbacks, officials say police communications are better and more secure than ever, and that improvements continue.
Using digital technology, voice transmissions are encoded in a way that prevents casual eavesdropping by civilians — or criminals — that was possible under the old analog system. Police can also communicate by radio from places where transmissions used to be difficult or impossible, such as tunnels.
"There's some failures in the 800 megahertz system, but it's way better than the analog system," said Maj. Daniel Hanagami, who heads the Honolulu Police Department's Information Technology Division.
But the difficulties with the mobile computers resulted in a contract dispute that is headed toward litigation. The City Council recently authorized the hiring of private attorneys to sue the system's supplier, Verizon Hawaii Inc.
The city's contract with Verizon grew from an initial $1.4 million in 1998 to nearly $10 million after it was amended to include additional computers and related equipment, records show. The $12.5 million overall project is being paid for in part by a $9.3 million federal grant.
Neither the city nor Verizon would disclose the amount that is disputed, but a spokeswoman with Verizon said it is "significantly less than the total contract amount."
Verizon says the problems with the computer software are not the company's fault.
"The field reporting software meets the specifications of our contract with HPD and was delivered to them," company spokeswoman Ann Nishida said. "We have met our contractual obligation. If HPD would like to change the specifications or decides not to implement the software, Verizon should still be paid for the work completed."
According to a performance audit of the city's Department of Design and Construction, the computer project suffered from "serious problems with project management."
The department's project manager simply abandoned responsibility for the project when difficulties began to mount, according to the audit by the Office of Council Services.
The manager would not return phone calls or respond to e-mail messages, the audit says. And police "never received either a verbal or a written explanation from the department, nor any indication that a new project manager would assume those responsibilities."
But the construction department remained in charge of the contract, leading to additional problems and a breakdown in oversight, according to the audit.
Frustrated with the delays, police hired their own consultant to provide technical guidance and assist in enforcing the terms of the contract, at an added cost of $81,312.
Meanwhile, the Department of Design and Construction "surprised HPD by granting a contract extension to the contractor without first discussing the status of the project with the police department."
City Managing Director Ben Lee did not return repeated calls from The Advertiser last week. Newly appointed design and construction director Timothy Steinberger did not return calls Friday, but has said that officials are working to address issues identified in the audit.
In the meantime, the hundreds of computers that have been installed in police cars are far from useless, police say. Officers are able to check suspects' "rap sheets" and vehicle license plates by computer, rather than requesting the information from others over the radio, Hanagami said.
Officers can also save information to disks and download the data at police station computers. In about six months, the mobile computers will be able to transfer information to a number of "hot spots," or data ports set up in public buildings and other locations in each police district, which will connect with police station computers, Hanagami said.
But a solution to the larger issue of the radio system's data jams will take more time and money.
"It has been determined that the 800 megahertz radio system currently used by the city does not have sufficient data capacity to support island-wide deployment of automated field reporting" and other police functions, according to a city project summary. "The use of data on the 800 megahertz radio is being limited at this time, in order to prevent any interference with voice communications."
It was a lesson that didn't come easy. Officers have complained that the mobile computers are sometimes excruciatingly slow to transmit and receive information, and data clogs have forced police to revert temporarily to analog radio channels to speak with dispatchers.
The city hopes to set up a separate radio system to handle public safety data communications so the 800 megahertz system can be devoted to voice transmissions.
That is expected to take several years, and officials could not immediately provide any cost estimates.
Reach Johnny Brannon at jbrannon@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8070.
