Fremont Unveils High-Tech Police Mobile Command Center
FREMONT (KCBS) - A vehicle long enough to be an 18-wheeler, with a cab like a firetruck and a body like an 18-wheeler, could soon become a fixture at major disaster scenes and police incidents around the Bay Area.
The new mobile command center unveiled Wednesday in Fremont is outfitted with 27 television monitors, three dispatch centers, seven miles of cable connecting enough electronics and scanners to fill a Radio Shack, plus DirecTV.
"I've been here 33 years with the city of Fremont and we've never had anything like this before," said Capt. Dan Cardenas with the Fremont Fire Department.
City officials described the 14-by-44 foot behemoth as the most technologically advanced communications vehicle in the Bay Area, packed with enough batteries and gas tanks big enough to run continuously for three days without refueling.
Because the command center has been paid for primarily with a federal homeland security grant, it will become a resource for the entire region, Cardenas said.
"Part of the stipulations from the federal funds is that we make it available to other jurisdictions in the Bay Area," he said.
The only thing the vehicle does not have is a name. The Fremont Police Department is soliciting suggestions from the public via Twitter.