Newport police to buy smaller, cheaper mobile command post

Newport Beach police are getting a smaller, cheaper replacement for an aging mobile command post they use in operations around the city.

The City Council recently gave the department the go-ahead to buy a 2016 Sprinter 3500 van for $147,306 from Ohio-based Farber Specialty Vehicles.

The van will take the place of an RV-size mobile command post that police have used for 25 years, according to a staff report prepared by Newport Beach police Lt. Damon Psaros.

The city had budgeted $500,000 to replace the command post, but police chose to go with the downsized, lower-cost option because it provides more flexibility, according to the report.

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“The Police Department narrowed down its choices to the class of command post vehicle that will fit in one standard parking space but will still allow for multi-mission capability,” Psaros wrote.

Police said they wanted a vehicle that is nimble enough to operate in a dense beach community like Newport Beach but also large enough to to hold personnel and essential equipment like an onboard generator.

As a bonus, anyone with a standard driver’s license can drive the new command post, unlike the older model, which required special certification, according to the report.

“The new command post vehicle is also more versatile in that it can be used for a multitude of assignments, from DUI checkpoints to detective investigations, along with daily patrol-related occurrences and activities,” Psaros wrote.

The vehicle will include a printer/fax/scanner machine, a roof-mounted TV antenna, a siren, a swing-out 26-inch TV behind the driver’s seat, a 40-inch TV, a trailer hitch, and video and HDMI connections at each workstation.

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Jeremiah Dobruck, [email protected]

Twitter: @jeremiahdobruck