New Mobile Command Center for Boone County Law Enforcement

By Anne Eickstadt

COURTESY PHOTO Belvidere Republican
The new 2018 Command Vehicle is much larger than the old 1974 Command Vehicle.

Editor

Visitors at the 2019 Boone County Fair were able to have a look at the Boone County Sheriff’s Department’s new Mobile Command Unit.

“We’d been looking for a long time to find another command vehicle,” said Sheriff Dave Ernest. “We had a 1974 camper converted to a command unit. It was really ahead of its time in the 1970s and 80s. It’s become rusty and has been leaking transmission oil. We have used it for over 40 years. We really got our money’s worth out of it.

“It’s been used on crime scenes and at special events. We were limited as to what we could do with it due to its size. It had become impractical due to its size. We were all working right on top of each other. We were beginning to be afraid that someone would fall through the rusty floor, it had gotten so bad.

“However, a command vehicle is extremely expensive. Typically a command vehicle the size of our new one is half a million dollars, so it is extremely hard to justify the expense when we still have deputies to put on the street.

“We got really lucky. A member of the community found this vehicle at an auction site in Wisconsin and let us know. We got in on the bidding process but I wasn’t willing to go high enough and win the auction. We were a few thousand short of the winning bid.

“A few days later, the auction site called us. The winning bidder had failed to complete the process and actually pay for the vehicle. They offered to let us purchase it for the price of our final bid.

“So, for a fraction of the cost, we paid in the vicinity of $62,000 for a vehicle worth half a million. We got a real steal. Better yet, no tax dollars were used for this vehicle. It was paid for with…

For complete article, pick up the Aug. 15 Belvidere Republican.