Town of Ayden Police Technology Equipment Enhancements

The Town of Ayden (NC) is a municipality in southern Pitt County that encompasses approximately 4 square miles and has a population of approximately 5,000 residents. Ayden has a poverty rate of 23.2 and a Per capita income of $23,154. The violent crime rate is 25.8 which is above the national average of 22.7 while the property crime rate is 51.3 compared to the national average of 35.4. The Ayden Police Department has 24 full-time employees, 20 of which are sworn law enforcement officers. Over the past 3 years, the police department has responded to 4 homicides and 120 gun shots heard in the area calls. Nationally shots heard calls are under reported with only 12% of actual occurrences report. These types of calls continue to increase.

The police department currently has 10 wireless CCTV cameras placed in and around high crime areas which have helped in solving some of the crimes that have occurred, but they do not have the capability to capture license plates on suspect vehicles. The Town wishes to add an additional 10 wireless CCTV cameras along with 14 ALPR (Automated License Plate Readers). The additional cameras will allow visual coverage in more areas of town and the implantation of ALPR (Automated License Plate Readers) at entry points into the city limits will allow us to track suspect vehicles on entry and exit.  The total cost is estimated at $192,100.

The town would also like to deploy Audio Detection Devices (Gun Shot Detection) tandem with the Automatic License Plate Reader (ALPR) camera to deliver the objective evidence officers need to respond to gunshots quickly, preserve critical evidence, and clear more cases. Raven recognizes gunshots, logs the location, and alerts law enforcement to the scene. The total cost is estimated at $560,000

The Police Department needs several patrol vehicles.  The current vehicle fleet is on average 10 years old with an average of 80,000 miles. Seven of these vehicles have in excess of 100,000 miles. We currently have 6 Ford Crown Victorias that are between 12 to 17 years old.  We also have 5 Ford Taurus that are newer than the Crown Victorias but require more maintenance than the older vehicles in the fleet. We wish to purchase 11 new patrol vehicles at $40,000 each, totaling $440,000.00.  These 11 vehicles would then require an upfitting cost of approx. $10,000.00 each.  The total cost is estimated at $550,000.00.