Saturday, November 9, 2013

What's a few lies among friends?

It's no secret the cars used by the Hinds County Sheriff's Office are not equipped with dashcams. Well, Hinds County Board of Supervisors never lets an opportunity to rip off the taxpayers go to waste. Watch the video below. Some vendor pops up at the board meeting last Monday and makes a presentation to the board. His name was Tarrien Williams of Venture Technologies. He claimed his company was affiliated with Oracle.

Apparently his little company can provide the cameras and other technology.... for $1.2 million per quarter.  Mr. Williams claimed his company will also provide live video streaming from patrol cars  so supervisors can monitor events as they occur in real time. Mr. Williams said his company will provide cameras that employ license-plate recognition technology. Mr. Williams said his company wanted to present a "proposal" to the board but the county first needed to sign a non-binding agreement that would allow the county to obtain interest-free financing from Oracle.

There was a push that morning to enter into a contract to purchase the system. Don't worry about the $5 million. Mr. Williams assured everyone the company has a professional grant-writer on staff who can obtain federal dollars to pay for the purchase. Just one problem. The rep lied to the board. Supervisors Robert Walker and Peggy Hobson-Calhoun asked if he discussed this project with the Sheriff (see 11:00 of the video, it gets very interesting). Mr. Williams replied he had done so with the Sheriff and his staff. Sheriff Tyrone Lewis bluntly told the board Mr. Williams had not talked to him or any member of his staff. One source informed JJ he left a message on voice mail at HCSO. Upon hearing there were no discussions between HCSO and Venture Technologies, the board delayed taking any action until a later date. Board Attorney Pieter Teweissen advised the board not to sign any documents that morning. Supervisor Calhoun pointed out to Mr. Williams who the Sheriff was so he could actually talk to him.



Kingfish note: Law enforcement sources told JJ this purchase should cost between $1 million and $1.5 million.

32 comments:

Anonymous said...

Do you know who this person claims to be representing?

Anonymous said...

Nothing like getting called out in front of your potential customers.

Around 10:30 the guy claims that Oracle is involved with the Obamacare website like that's a GOOD thing.

Anonymous said...

GKR SYSTEMS, INC.

https://business.sos.state.ms.us/corp/soskb/Corp.asp?144999

Page 65 here www.its.ms.gov/Procurement/Documents/ithardware/3658-sellers-07112011.pdf

Anonymous said...

Why is it Hinds County attracts all the scam artists? Like attracts like maybe?

Anonymous said...

his name is Tarrien, not Terry, and he's a snake oil salesman from Venture. same clown that sold them a video arraignment system ($130,000+, no bid contract-go figure). it's touted on venture's website as saving the county money, but as NEVER been used by the circuit court!!!

Anonymous said...

lol someone needs to check for campaign donations and brothers in law

Anonymous said...

Probably saw what a deal Airwave got and decided he should get in on the action. Too late now, the tide has turned on the board governance.

Anonymous said...

Everybody is a 'close cousin'. But don't ask one to define that.

Anonymous said...

Why is it Hinds County attracts all the scam artists?

Do you really not already know the answer to your own question?

When on the Hinds Board sits one Supervisor who has openly and fraudulently passed himself off -- for decades in MS and nationwide -- as a sworn police officer (when he is not and never has been) then of course every scam artist and charlatan under the sun is going to beat a path to Hinds County.

AND if it wasn't for Kingfish none of these massive ripoffs of Hinds County taxpayers would ever be exposed to the public because the mainstream media -- and the little Fondren entertainment weakly, er, weekly that doesn't hold govt accountable -- never report on these misdeeds and scams.

Anonymous said...

10:49 True words. True words.

Anonymous said...

tried to sneak this in before the 'changes' had been made...glad he was called out!

Anonymous said...

I thought Venture tech was an honest bunch, must not be.

bill said...

Venture is a good company, even if one of its account representatives may have been a bit aggressive. We used them for years and they always provided us good service at a fair price.

Anonymous said...

JSU hosts a technology incubator on its campus for start-ups. The idea is to help local companies establish a presence, and one day leave the nest.

Venture Technologies operates their NOC (data center) on JSU's campus. For roughly ten years, Venture has hosted their "cloud services" from this facility.

Only minimal fees are collected. Taxpayers provide the utilities, rent and so forth. To be fair though, Venture does, supposedly, absorb the employee payroll and associated taxes.

When Venture relocated their data center to JSU, they had been a successful, established company for over fifteen years.

Venture also functions as the primary service provider for JSU. Not for free. Not for a reduced cost. No, their largesse doesn't extend that far.

Anonymous said...

I looked at the video several times. I think the Sheriff may be lying about having conversations with Tarrien Williams. It would not be the first time Tyrone denies doing something or saying something that is not true. He said "we have not sat down with". That does not mean he or his staff did not have conversations about this deal.

Anonymous said...

Hinds doesn't have the dinero to fix the f'ing jail.

Dash cams are a luxury and in light of Hinds' massive financial challenges not remotely a funding priority.

Hell, think about it. Graham and Stokes want to consider dash cams while they stiff Byram for radios to benefit public safety there at every turn. OUTRAGEOUS.

Anonymous said...

No way Hinds county will do business with an honest company. Payoffs required!

Kingfish said...

I spoke to the Sheriff and several members of his command staff. They all said the same thing: They never spoke to Venture. Mr. Williams called and left a message but no one actually spoke to him.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Williams said his company wanted to present a "proposal" to the board but the county first needed to sign a non-binding agreement that would allow the county to obtain interest-free financing from Oracle.

A highly suspicious contingency.

Set craps detectors to full alert.

Anonymous said...

I also thought was illegal for a vendor to provide grant writers for a public entity to procure a grant the proceeds of which would be used to purchase goods and services from the same vendor. But Synergetics has been getting away with this for years.

Anonymous said...

For $1.2m/Qtr or $400k/mo I could provide a a WHOLE lot of video. Hell, there is not telling what you could do for that amount of money. Thanks for posting KF, this is a good lead. I will have my people calling on the BOS tomorrow. Did you see how Peggy Calhoun teed dude up with good questions and then when the Sheriff didn't know him she threw him under the bus, just standing there.

Anonymous said...

The Board can enter a contract! However, they can not force or require the Sheriff to use or install in any of the Sheriff's Department vehicles! That is strictly a law enforcing decision that would be made at the descression of the Sheriff! The Board would not even be involved in this type transaction, unless the Sheriff was looking for additional funding! Thus, if the Sheriff was going to purchase he would do out of his budget using normal purchase procedures. This is nothing more than an attempted shakedown!

Anonymous said...


Sure hope Graham enjoys the short end of the stick he's about to receive.

You're next in 2015 Graham. Not even your gerrymandering is going to save your impersonating ass.

Anonymous said...

I find it odd that no one asks if this company has provided this type of service to anyone else, if they have recommendations from other users or that the BOS failed to open the issue up for competitive bids. Just a bunch of dolts.

Stick It To Me said...

So, is it true that my tax dollars are paying the utilities of a private company located on the JSU campus?

Kingfish said...

What is interesting is why a company co-owned by a big time Republican is playing footsy in this manner with Graham.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a financial windfall for the company. That the reason?

bill said...

The politics of the company's owner shouldn't have anything to do with it. It's a technology company, not a political consulting firm.

Anonymous said...

Do municipalities not fall under DFA and ITS? Especially for a purchase this large?

Anonymous said...

As I understand state purchasing statues, all public entities are required to follow state statutes. Local public entities, (city and county) do not have to go through DFA/ITS, bu they "can" purchase off existing contracts or pay ITS to publish an RFP on their behalf. Services on the other hand are another matter. If you add the grant factor then it's another matter. There are ways to "get around" certain statutes if the public entity goes along with the deal, but they do so at their own risk. An AG's opinion would tell if the deal is good or not, but asking forgiveness is practiced in many of these instances.

Anonymous said...

I've been in enterprise hi-tech for over 20 years, venture was started mainly comprised of formerly the old Ikon/Unisys staff of Jackson out on Robinson Road. They never really recuperated after the Novell Netware junk fell by the wayside. Garbage tech and the sales force has always had a sense of entitlement despite basically being a bunch of luddites. If HC does business with this bunch they get what they deserve.

Anonymous said...

Hey 9:53, if you've been in hi-tech for over 20 yrs , you are a Dummy. Your description of Venture as starting from Ikon/Unisys on Robinson is so far off, it's ludicrous. You are obviously confused with another company.


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