LPSO rolls out heavy-duty mobile command vehicle

The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office proudly displayed its newest addition last week at the Criminal Operations Center in Lockport: a heavy-duty mobile command vehicle.

Good timing and a federal grant helped Lafourche get the vehicle for a fraction of what other agencies have paid for similar mobile units.

“It is a culmination of many years of planning and hard work that has allowed us to have a capacity that ducktails into why we need it when you look at the potential for storms and emergency response,” Lafourche Sheriff Craig Webre said. “The mobile command vehicle has been much needed. We could have used it during [hurricanes] Katrina, Rita, Gustav and Ike.”

Webre said his office got serious about purchasing a mobile command center about three years ago, sending delegations to tour other mobile units in the area.

“Every time we would visit one, we would take our note pads and ask them what they would do to improve their command center,” the sheriff said. “They would tell us what worked well and what didn’t work, so our list began to grow.”

The price tag of a center outfitted with all the bells and whistles was deemed out of reach.

Webre said Custom Truck and Body Works in Woodbury, Ga., submitted a bid to build the sheriff’s office a mobile center for $455,194 – $100,000 less than the next lowest bidder.

“Our initial reaction was this has to be a flawed bid,” Webre said. “We sent a contingency of officers to drive out to Georgia to meet with the people there and review the bid in order to see that they had the capacity to build this vehicle.

“If you’re going to spend half a million dollars, you’re going to make sure that they spend those public dollars correctly,” he added. “Much to our surprise, this company had the capacity to do everything and more.”

Construction of the vehicle took six months; the unit arrived earlier than expected and under budget.

Webre’s good news didn’t end there. A 2007 Port Security Grand via the U.S. Department of Homeland Security funded 75 percent of the vehicle’s cost.

“We are proud to have found a way to provide the citizens of Lafourche Parish with the very best that is currently available in the marketplace at such incredible savings,” the sheriff said. “This is a heavy-duty vehicle that can withstand any kind of terrain or conditions that might exist.”

The vehicle is designed to withstand a hurricane. A pair of generators could maintain power and satellite communication capabilities, Webre explained.

“We would like to think that we had all the disasters we would have for the rest of our life, but we certainly live in an area where disasters are a way of life, and our anticipation is why we are going to use that,” he said.

Webre said locals could expect to see the vehicle at large spectator events.

“It has a large telescopic camera system, so if there’s a large crowd, we can have someone in there monitoring the crowd,” he continued. “If an event starts to occur – like a fight – you can pan into that crowd and you can videotape that entire incident.”

Webre said, a hint of a smile evident, he wouldn’t be surprised to hear from other law enforcement agencies interested in touring his agency’s mobile unit.

“Now people are going to come see us to see what they can to do make theirs better or more sophisticated,” he said. “We feel like we’ve raised the bar and now they’re going to have to raise theirs.”

The Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office shows off its new heavy-duty mobile command vehicle at the Criminal Operations Center in Lockport. RICHARD FISCHER