GREAT FALLS — The Cascade County Sheriff's Office has a new tool in providing public safety. It's the new incident command vehicle.
The CCSO has had the new incident command vehicle for nearly a month.
Sheriff Jesse Slaughter says it’s made for more than just one jurisdiction.
“This vehicle is not just a Cascade County asset,” said Slaughter. “It's a north central Montana asset as well.”
Undersheriff Scott Van Dyken led the charge for securing the highly competitive grant, about 700-thousand dollars, from the Department of Homeland Security a couple years ago. Slaughter says no tax dollars were used to pay for the vehicle.
The new 32-foot rig is a step up from previously rented mobile command centers which often resembled construction site like trailers.
“This gives us another level of better technology, cameras, radios, everything that you'd need to run a major incident in pretty much any environment,” said Slaughter.
The rear of the vehicle can function as a backup 9-1-1 center.
“There are three stations. You'll see radios and everything we could in an emergency. We could run 911 from this vehicle,” said Slaughter.
Towards the front, sliding doors separate a conference area for up to 10 people.
“This would be a vehicle where we would have command come in and talk about various operations, make planning decisions, and whatnot,” said Slaughter.
The vehicle, which was manufactured by Kalispell based Nomad GCS, has built in wi-fi with a star link connection on the way for cell service from almost anywhere.
Information is gathered through a mast surrounded by infrared cameras.
The vehicle has yet to be deployed but has been used for training purposes.
It can be used in multiple situations such as SWAT and major tactical operations, like standoffs.
It can also be deployed for wildland fires , search and rescue operations and more.
“Let's say there's a lost child in the community, we could this would become our incident command post,” said Slaughter.
While space inside may be limited, people can gather around a fully enclosed weatherproof monitor outside for briefings.
“So you can stand out here and have a tactical brief or a fire brief or a search brief, whatever it is,” said Slaughter.
