By Martin Couch
On Tuesday morning, the Bryant Police Department unveiled its Mobile Command Unit.
"I've talked to the other chiefs around the area and we meet once a month to share information and I'm here today with our mobile command unit," Bryant Chief Tony Coffman said. "It all started from the Saline County Sheriff's office which donated the vehicle title to us. We took it over and had it redone. The vehicle itself is for anybody in the county. It comes with a driver to bring to those who requested it and it has the capability to run license plates from inside."[more]
The vehicle, with the help of vendors like Sally's Body Shop, Fleming Electric, L Graphics, WalMart and Best Buy, that donated the equipment, time and labor to make the project happen, will also have two dispatcher work stations with radios to monitor all the emergency frequencies. It will also have wireless Internet that is connected to the Bryant Police Department server.
"I hope we only have to use it for parades and festivals, but unfortunately, that is not the case," Coffman said. "Disasters happen whether we like it or not. Tornadoes and hostage situations — we will bring it out for things like that, but it has all types of purposes."
There are storage areas on the outside of the truck and the inside is set up for at least two people with a full battery charger and Verizon phones for emergencies. It has a scanner, copier and printer connected to the computers and an LCD screen television to monitor weather.
It took nearly a year to get the title for the vehicle and only three months to get it ready for action.
"This is our emergency command center and we are very proud of it," Coffman said. "It's the only one like it in the county."
It was a joint effort of all the law enforcement agencies in the county.
"We gladly gave the vehicle to Bryant to refurbish because they had the means to do it," Saline County Sheriff Steve Pennington said. "Again we have united our effort.
The Mobile Command Center came as a result of Coffman working with the Saline County Emergency Management and Judge Lanny Fite.
"We got it updated and a trailer for the equipment, so when we have a disaster we will be able to respond immediately," Bryant Mayor Larry Mitchell said.
