With ingenuity and volunteer work the Newberg-Dundee Police Department converted a 1999 retired Newberg Fire Department rescue unit into a mobile incident command vehicle.

While the vehicle is no longer suiold swat 002.jpgtable as an ambulance it will fill a need for the police department. The new command unit will replace an older and smaller police command unit (Picture to the right) that was also acquired from the fire department nearly ten years ago and is currently not operational.

The original pBefore.JPGrice of the rescue (picture to the left) was $140,000.  The police department purchased it from the fire department for $18,500. The lighting equipment needed to be replaced after 14 years of service.  Officer Steve Schoening and Captain Jeff Kosmicki started pricing updated LED light bars for the Rescue.  The price for the front bar alone was going to be about $2,700.00.

The police department was able to utilize E-Bay to replace a lot of the emergency lights and then be creative on the front of the box by using individual lights rather than the expensive replacement light bar.  Had they not shopped around and been creative, the bill would have been over $6,000.00.  By shopping around Officer Schoening and Captain Kosmicki were able to keep the cost down to a little over $2,500.00.

The new mobile command unit (Picture to the right) houses all the necessary supplies, tools, evidence kits and weather protection equipPicture for article.jpgment necessary for the police department to preserve, process and investigate any crime scene, major incident,search warrant or natural disaster. Additionally, the mobile command unit can be used to plan and execute operational logistics, secure evidence and interview witnesses, suspects or victims in a private, secured area.

The command unit will also be parked and present at community events such as the Old Fashioned Festival and Special Olympics so our citizens can locate an officer for help, report lost items, missing children or report a crime.

The re-use of this vehicle is an excellent example of fiscal accountability using tax payer money in a responsible manner. The final cost for the re-purposed vehicle is $29,000.00 vs. buying a new vehicle at $140,000.00.