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Mobile command unit makes its debut
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Cullman County Sheriff Tyler Roden, right, and Sheriff’s Office Lt. Ed Potter discuss the department’s new mobile command unit on Thursday. The trailer was formerly used to house Hurricane Katrina evacuees. By Amanda Shavers-Davis
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Add a comment on this storyA trailer formerly used to house Hurricane Katrina evacuees has been transformed to provide the Sheriffs Office with its first mobile command post, Sheriff Tyler Roden said.
The Sheriff’s Office purchased the trailer about two months ago for $2,000 from the Alabama Department of Surplus Property through a Homeland Security grant. Roden said the trailer was gently used and in “excellent shape.”
“They had a lot of these left over and made them available for government agencies,” Roden said.
The mobile command unit, which made its debut Wednesday during Independence Day festivities at Smith Lake Park, can be used during emergencies requiring a large number of personnel, such as a natural disaster, school shooting, a hostage situation or for proactive situations like checkpoints. The unit will be used later this month during a simulated school shooting in Hanceville, Roden said.
“We’re excited about it,” the sheriff said. “It will be a great tool for public safety in Cullman County.”
The command unit has three work stations, a separate station for a hostage negotiator, Internet and telephone access, supplies, and other communication equipment that allows officers to book inmates and correspond with other law enforcement agencies, including the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the Alabama Bureau of Investigation. The unit’s computer system is equipped with Google Earth, which is a broadband 3D application that allows users to view three-dimensional maps by combining satellite imagery with the Google Search engine.
Beds that were inside the trailer were deconstructed using inmate labor and recycled to build officers’ work stations, while the kitchen area and restrooms were left intact.
“This is something that this county has needed for a long time,” Lt. Ed Potter said. “I think this is a great asset, not only to the Sheriffs Office, but to the county as well.”
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