PUBLIC SAFETY

Police hope 38-foot bus will help protect Indy

By Bill McCleery
bill.mccleery@indystar.com

It looks like a big bus.

Indianapolis officials call it a "mobile incident command vehicle."

However you label it, the 38-foot rolling compound is intended to provide authorities another tool to help keep the city safe and respond to emergencies.

The $500,000 vehicle, paid for with a U.S. Department of Justice grant, contains state-of-the-art technology that allows officers to work in a full-service office environment at any major scene, whether an unexpected mass casualty or a planned event such as the Indianapolis 500, Super Bowl or Final Four tournament.

Last year's explosion in the Richmond Hills subdivision on the city's Southeastside was a prime example of the kind of emergency in which such vehicles prove their worth, said Al Larsen, Department of Public Safety spokesman. Officials used an old mobile command vehicle in that case, he noted, using it as a station from which to monitor everything happening in the neighborhood in the days after the blast.

Among the high-tech highlights of the new vehicle are video cameras with powerful zoom lenses mounted around the vehicle's exterior. The cameras can magnify an image of a person a half-mile away to the point where it appears the person is standing just outside the vehicle.

The vehicle, built by Ohio-based Farber Specialty Vehicles, is satellite-equipped and has 4G cellular capability, said Tim Baughman, the city's chief of public safety communications. It allows broadband wireless networking and videoconferencing.

The city owns two other similar vehicles, Larsen said, but they are 9 and 20 years old. For now, the department intends to keep all three vehicles.

"The new unit will have a police focus," he said. "The 9-year-old unit will have a fire focus. And the 20-year-old unit will be repurposed for Indianapolis Emergency Medical Services."

Capt. Joe Finch of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department was among several officials checking out the vehicle recently at the city's police training facility at 10th Street and Post Road on the Far Eastside.

"These things cost a lot of money, but they're not luxuries," Finch said. "Work gets done in here, and it helps the guys out in the field stay safe and do their jobs."

Call Star reporter Bill McCleery at (317) 444-6083. Follow him on Twitter: @BillMcCleery01.