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 January 26, 7:01 PM  Philadelphia in Pictures Examiner  Alex Lloyd Gross

 

Visitors to City Hall today got a glimpse of the new Mobile Command Post, which was on display  on the north sidewalk around the building.  In simple terms, a Mobile Command Post  is a large trailer or mobile home that is specially outfitted for public safety communications. Inside, there are  numerous radios that can be manned by representatives from  various city agencies.

 

In the instance of a major planned event, such as the Live 8 concert , or victory parade, police, fire and EMS, along with  different departments can communicate more effective.  For example, The traffic division can relay that there is no more parking in a stadium lot and additional resources have to be used.  If the traffic officers see someone acting suspicious, they can instantly communicate with Homeland Security Officers to check the individual out.  Subsequently,  an officer can radio  the need for an ambulance and the location needed, without having to go through 911, which will save precious seconds in a true emergency.

 

This vehicle cost $472,517.00 and was funded by  a U.S. department of Homeland Security  Urban  Area Security  Initiative (UASI) grant through the Southeastern Pennsylvania Regional  Task Force.  No city money was spent.  During the ribbon cutting ceremony  attended by Mayor Michael Nutter, and  Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers and Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey,  various city workers and the media were given a tour of the vehicle.  The mayor  was clueless when asked about the extra lighting on the vehicle and gave a flippant answer when asked about it. . First responders will need to know that  the vehicle does not provide lighting for a scene however, the surrounding area can be lit by several high powered LED lights on all fours sides of the vehicle, as well as several lights that are  on a platform that can be raised several feet into the air.

 

This vehicle is equipped with infra-red technology,  audio and video recording. This means that an incident can be monitored by broadcast cameras in a different location and beamed back to the command post.  This works well with the police helicopter in knowing where to fly for trouble spots.Inside this unit was a huge printer that is capable of printing poster sized maps of an area, showing  ingress and egress traffic patterns,  business and residence driveways along with best evacuation routes  if needed.While at city hall  barricades surrounded the vehicle and officers from the Homeland Security Unit did not allow the general public to tour the vehicle.