American Rescue Plan Act grant funds will be used to purchase a $188,000 body scanner with a thermal reader for Mesa Police Department to help reduce the flow of drugs into the city’s inmate holding facility.
The Mesa City Council on Aug. 29 voted unanimously on a consent agenda that included authorizing the purchase using the OMNIA Partners/Port of Portland cooperative contract with Safeware Inc. for the scanner.
Presently inmates are pat-searched by Mesa Police Department personnel. The full-body scanner will detect concealed narcotics and weapons and can detect substances if they are concealed under clothes, in body cavities or in prosthetic devices, Business Services Director Edward Quedens and Procurement Administrator Kristy Garcia said in a memo to the council.
