Police Will Describe Need for New Mobile Community Center at Public Safety Meeting

The Pasadena Police Department will report Wednesday on a project to acquire a new Mobile Command Center truck that will replace the Department’s outdated and obsolete command vehicle that’s been in service for over 20 years.

The report will be provided through a presentation to the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, which is holding a special virtual meeting starting at 4 p.m.

Costing about $2.2 million, the new vehicle will have newer technology to maximize efficiency, functionality and officer safety, and can serve and support all city departments and agencies as well.

The new MCC truck will also contain an actual dispatch center, and have better connectivity and better video downlink capabilities from the police helicopter camera and other aerial platforms, including drones, a preliminary report by the Police Department showed.

The cost will also cover design and construction of a new hangar at the Police Department’s heliport where the MCC vehicle will be housed, the report showed.

According to the report, the new MCC vehicle is envisioned to be so equipped that it would be able to provide a wide range of services so that the Police Department can be ready 24/7 to respond to critical incidents, public safety emergencies and civil unrest.

The new truck can also be deployed from 20 to 24 times per month, as opposed to the current vehicle’s record of up to 12 deployment per month, the report showed.

Deployments may include command post operations, the New Year Tournament of Roses and the Rose Parade, other events at the Rose Bowl, car shows, scheduled Coffee-With-A-Cop community engagement events, neighborhood meetings, vaccination site support, and sustained crime scene investigation or mutual aid.

A description in the report said the current vehicle is unreliable and has serious maintenance issues, repair parts are becoming unavailable, and contains no mobile technology, computer, telephone or dispatch equipment.

When a new MCC is acquired, the old vehicle can be repurposed for use as a mobile library by the City, the report said.

Funding for the acquisition of the new MCC vehicle is expected to be sourced from the fiscal year 2022 Capital Improvement Program budget, according to the report.

Wednesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting can be accessed through http://pasadena.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?publish_id=9 and www.pasadenamedia.org.