Bridgeton’s Mobile Police Substation
By Albert B. Kelly
When it comes to preventing crime, there is nothing quite
like having a police presence as the fundamental piece in the deterrence tool
kit. While there are a few souls out there who will try their luck in the
presence of police regardless, most people realize that it’s better to move
somewhere else if their intent is to break the law.
As far as having a police presence in our neighborhoods,
this mostly happens through patrols whether by car, on foot, or even
occasionally on a bicycle. On any given shift, it happens in between calls and
in the midst of any number of things that officers are responsible for from
shift to shift. But when it comes to particular neighborhoods, complexes, or
“hot spots”, not all “presence” is the same.
That’s where the idea of a police substation comes into
play. Initially, the idea was to have a small substation in a particular area
or neighborhood where past experience and current circumstance say it might do
the most good by beefing up the police presence and putting the bad guys on
notice while keeping them off balance as well.
But here’s the thing; the bad guys and troublemakers are for
the most part a movable bunch. It matters because if you spend many thousands
of dollars renovating some small building at a fixed location, it will
certainly have the intended effect and the knuckleheads will move to some other
neighborhood somewhere else, but then what? At some point, a fixed-location
police substation becomes obsolete.
That’s why, in consultation with the police chief and
business administrator, the decision was made to create a mobile police
substation as part of the law enforcement tool kit. The thinking is that when the
lawbreakers move to some other area looking for new shadows to hide in, police
can adapt and respond as needed. The same is true when police become aware of
information about some possible future thing that’s about to go down somewhere-
they can deploy accordingly.
The mobile police substation is a box-truck type vehicle
that was transferred from the fire department over to the police department
several years ago and was mostly used as a major crime scene command post in
situations where officers needed to be stationed at one location for long stretches
of time. In addition to what was already in place, the mobile substation now
has infrared camera monitoring equipment, computers, communication equipment that
connects the unit to headquarters, and some additional lighting.
My compliments go out to Chief Gaimari because, working
within the budget constraints that plague local government in general and
Bridgeton in particular, he was able to get the mobile substation outfitted and
ready to go for less than $2,500. While we will be working to identify more
resources for this initiative in the future, we now have a starting place and
sometimes that’s the hardest part.
While it is important to realize what the mobile police
substation can be as a tool, it is also important to know what it cannot be-
which is out in the community every single day or even out on the street all
night on a given shift. This is not from a lack of desire, but with high call
volumes and various assignments necessary to handle that volume, it’s just the
way it goes.
Then again, wall to wall substation coverage is not
necessary or always desirable. Aside from the mobile substation being used on a
strategic “as needed” basis, there is the element of surprise. And because it
is mobile, the bad guys won’t know when or where the police will set up and
establish their presence - moving on to some other neighborhood to avoid the
police won’t be a solution either.
But that’s the point. Places only become “hot spots” because
individuals or small groups have some small comfort level in setting up shop at
some specific location. Wherever that happens to be, the mobile police
substation will change that calculus precisely because they can drop anchor…a visible
statement that says “we’re here” in an unmistakable way and they can roll from
there.
The mobile substation will be a movable asset going to
community events helping to improve the relationship between our citizens and
our police. The ribbon cutting will take place on Tuesday, October 3rd
at 3:30pm at the Police & Municipal Court building located at 330 Fayette
Street- come check it out.
