Recently, the Benton Police Department acquired a retired ambulance that belonged to the military. The ambulance was acquired at no charge, outside the yearly $1,000 membership, through the 1033 Law Enforcement Support Office program, which allows for the transfer to law enforcement agencies.
The ambulance was retired after 25 years of service on an army base in Louisiana, where it only gathered 18,000 original miles on it. It has since been repurposed as a Mobile Communications Unit (MCU) that will be utilized by the department Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) members during critical incidents, such as hostage or barricaded situations. During a natural disaster response, it can also be utilized as a mobile command post serving as a communications post for first responders.
The MCU was checked and found to be in mechanically sound shape when it was picked up. The CNT members spent time sanding the paint and working on other cosmetic irregularities it had. Most of the original emergency equipment, such as the lights and siren, was able to be utilized as they were, with the exception of changing out the blue light covers. The vehicle was then professionally wrapped by High Velocity Printing & Graphics in Bryant using asset forfeiture money.
The CNT members have already used the MCU for a recent training session and are looking forward to utilizing it for additional training sessions, as well as real incidents when they occur. It also gives the team a needed storage vehicle at low cost that will allow them to rapidly travel to crime scenes should the need arise. In addition to this vehicle, other items recently obtained by the department through the 1033 program include; Humvees, storage containers, blankets, and first aid kits.
