County unveils new command center

The detectives investigating the May 2005 triple murder at Wolf Lodge gathered beneath a tent – their only shelter from the rain – as they strategized and evaluated evidence gathered from the crime scene.

“It was raining, it was wet, miserable and cold,” Kootenai County sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said.

Wolfinger, who has worked out of the back of patrol cars and out of the cabs of pickups, said the new Mobile Command Center unveiled by the county Friday is a definite improvement over the 1981 converted school bus used in past years.

The $350,000, 40-foot trailer is equipped with a state-of-the-art communications system for radio communications, phones, Internet and TV. Funding for it came from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the county and private donations.

“The bus served its purpose,” said Sandy Von Behren, director of the county’s Office of Emergency Management. “But it was way past overdue to be replaced. We would be called out and sometimes we’d make it and sometimes we wouldn’t.”

Von Behren said the old school bus would often have to be towed back.

She said the bus was much smaller than the trailer, which includes a conference area, kitchen area and a bathroom. People inside the bus had to duck so they wouldn’t hit their heads on the air conditioning unit.

The equipment was outdated, too, Von Behren said, and was mostly hand-me-downs from agencies that were replacing their department’s equipment.

Wolfinger, who serves as his department’s spokesman, said it will be easier for him to send out press releases and answer media questions from the new command center. He can charge his cell phone, use a satellite phone if he can’t get a cell signal and send faxes and e-mails from remote locations.

The truck that will haul the new trailer was purchased with funds from the county’s Office of Emergency Management and the Sheriff’s Department.

Von Behren said volunteers with Emergency Management made the command center a reality. She said the volunteers, working alongside emergency responders, saw the school bus was crowded and the equipment outdated.

“I want to give credit to the volunteers that have put in hundreds of hours, not only coming up with the idea, but the planning that they did and for urging us to go after the funding to get it,” she said. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have received it.”