Fayette County's public

safety agencies now have a new tool at their disposal thanks to the Fayetteville

Police Department and a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The police department recently

received a Mobile Command Unit, which is similar in size to a large recreational

vehicle but was specially designed for law enforcement and emergency uses.

The command unit has a video

camera that extends 30 feet into the air to provide a eye-in-the-sky view

that's fed to three TV monitors inside. There are also video camera

on the inside of the vehicle so the decisions made by personnel can be

recorded if necessary.

The vehicle also features a

number of radios to communicate with Fayette County's emergency dispatchers,

the capability to add land line, cellular and satellite phones to enhance

communications.

The vehicle also has weather

monitoring equipment that can monitor barometric pressure, wind speed

and wind direction.

The cabinets in the vehicle

have dry-erase marker surfaces so they can be written on, and the command

room that features a dry erase board that can be linked to a computer

laptop.

The vehicle was paid for with

a $348,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and additional

funds for more equipment were taken from the Fayetteville Police Department's

drug seizure fund.

"This is at no cost to

taxpayers at all," noted Police Chief Johnny Roberts, who is vice

chairman of the Region 7 All Hazards Council, a group of public safety

agencies in metro Atlanta who work to insure plans are in place should

a terrorist attack or other large-scale tragedy occur in the area.

The vehicle will be availble

to all Fayette public safety agencies, the nine metro Atlanta counties

and agencies all over the state if necessary, Roberts said.

Roberts said he and the city

council agreed to provide police staffers to man the vehicle and drive

it where needed by other agencies. The department will also be responsible

for maintenance on the vehicle.

"My philosophy is if we

don't work together, we're not going to get it done," Roberts

said.

Jack Krakeel, Fayette County's

director of public safety and the chairman of the Region 7 All Hazards

Council, lauded the Fayetteville police department for stepping up and

applying for the grant. The unit will enhance the region's response

capabilities to handle large-scale situations such as a weapons of mass

destruction or terrorism incident or a natural disaster, he said.

The grant was a "shining

example" of how the federal government is making sure local communities

are better prepared to respond to such events if necessary, Krakeel said.

The unit can also be used in

everyday police activities, Roberts said. Officials say the unit will

come in handy for a variety of applications from investigating serious

traffic wrecks at night, crowd control at large events and scenes like

murder investigations where officials need to maintain a presence for

hours at a time. The police department is already receiving requests to

show the vehicle off at public relations events.

The Fayetteville Fire Department,

for example, runs its operations for fires out of a sport utility vehicle

currently, so they could also benefit from using the command center, Roberts

said.

None of the county's public

safety agencies had anything similar to the command post, Roberts said.

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