The bidding process

Two cops were employed by company seeking contract

to supply police body cameras in Orlando has been restarted amid ethics concerns.

After Orlando police filed ethics complaints against two officers who were also working for a company trying to supply the department with body cameras, the city has decided to start the bidding process over, a spokeswoman said Friday.

City spokeswoman Heather Fagan said the city decided the scrap the bids out of “an abundance of caution.”

“Our initial review indicates that the procurement process wasn’t compromised in any way, however, in an abundance of caution and to eliminate any questions about the solicitation of bodyworn cameras, the city will cancel the current solicita- tion and reject all proposals,” Fagan said.

It’s not clear when the new bidding process will begin or if it will delay the deployment of the new cameras. OPD planned to outfit the first 100 officers with cameras by July.

The city received a matching $500,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to pay for 450 cameras.

It received nine bids from companies that wanted to supply the cameras.

But ethics concerns arose when OPD learned that the department’s body cam guru, Master Officer Brian Cechowski, was also working for Taser International.

Taser was one of the companies that put in a bid and also supplied the body cameras for a study with the Uni- versity of South Florida.

Cechowski and Officer Anna Melnick are paid by Taser to train other law enforcement agencies to use the company’s cameras.

State ethics laws prohibits city employees from also working for companies that are or may be doing business with the city.

Fagan said the city will now require bidders to disclose any personal or business relationships with city employees or elected officials.

Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer ordered a review of the process after Cechowski’s relationship was revealed.

On Monday, OPD Internal Affairs Manager Dwain Riv-

ers filed sworn complaints with the Florida Ethics Commission.

If found in violation of the ethics code, the officers could each face a $10,000 fine.

Chief John Mina also asked for an internal investigation and ordered Melnick and Cechowski to stop working for Taser until the investigation was complete.

Cechowski did not influence the bidding process and did not write the requirements for the bids, according to Mina.

Mina said Cechowski was originally asked to be a nonvoting member of the commit- tee that would have selected the bid when it was formed in mid-February. But Cechowski was removed before the committee met after he replied “yes” on an ethics policy form that asked him if he was employed by any entity that may submit a proposal.

He was then asked to fill out an outside employment form, which he submitted Feb. 22, Mina said.

Before that OPD did not know of Cechowski’s outside employment, Mina said.

All city employees must have their outside employment approved by their superiors.

Cechowski, who has worked for OPD since 1999, has been reassigned to the patrol unit

If found in violation of the ethics code, the police officers could each face a $10,000 fine.

and is no longer part of the body-camera program, Mina wrote. Melnick, a three-year veteran with the department who works in the motors division, has not been reassigned, a spokeswoman said.

They have not responded to requests for comment.