Holland council approves purchase of mobile command center for police dept.

Carolyn Muyskens, The Holland Sentinel
·2 min read
Though not the exact model Holland Department of Public Safety will order, this image was shown to Holland City Council Wednesday as an example of a mobile command vehicle similar to the one the department is ordering.
Though not the exact model Holland Department of Public Safety will order, this image was shown to Holland City Council Wednesday as an example of a mobile command vehicle similar to the one the department is ordering.

HOLLAND — The Holland Department of Public Safety will be getting a new mobile command center early next year after the Holland City Council authorized the $390,000 purchase this week.

The vehicle will replace the police department's 22-year-old mobile command vehicle which had issues with reliability, lack of space and no generator.

Mobile command centers are used by police and emergency management in responding to lengthy and complex incidents, such as search and rescue operations and situations that require the use of the police department's negotiating team, such as people barricaded inside a building or hostage situations.

The vehicle is outfitted with office space inside for command officers and negotiating teams to work and sketch out operations plans.

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"This custom mobile command unit has been in the works for several years," Holland Police Capt. Keith Mulder told council Wednesday. "We started research in April of 2020."

The vehicle is expected to be delivered in early 2023. The funds to purchase it were set aside in the Fiscal Year 2023 budget, approved by Holland City Council earlier this month, but the police department moved up the order timeline to lock in the price before anticipated increases.

At the same meeting, council recognized the students of the Holland Youth Advisory Council for another year of work and approved a grant application submittal to the Michigan Arts and Culture Council on behalf of HYAC for $2,000 to bring representatives from the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi for an event about indigenous people's land use and sustainability.

The grant application was presented by new employee Connie Locker, the city's first grant manager. The newly-created position in the finance department will seek out local, state and federal grant funding to match with city projects and initiatives and manage the application and the documentation and reporting processes.

— Contact reporter Carolyn Muyskens at cmuyskens@hollandsentinel.com and follow her on Twitter at @cjmuyskens. 

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Holland Police Department buying mobile command center