IREDELL COUNTY, N.C. — Iredell County Sheriff Darren Campbell calls the department’s new mobile command unit a gamechanger.
It’s a temperature-controlled space where deputies can work alongside other agencies, like the FAA and NTSB, anywhere they have major calls. Campbell says it’s equipped with two-way radios, satellites, thermal imaging and cameras.
“Basically, if we had something bad, we lost power, or we lost communications … we still can control all of our communications here," he told Channel 9’s Erika Jackson.
The new unit has already been a resource at several investigation sites. Sheriff Campbell says his deputies worked out of the bus while searching for a missing teen earlier this year. The 14-year-old was found safe more than two days later.
In December, they parked it at the Statesville Airport after seven people died in a plane crash, including former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle. Deputies were able to work in the bus alongside federal investigators.
“Everything was done on scene and made it a lot more efficient,” Campbell said.
Iredell County received money from the North Carolina General Assembly to buy the bus for $1.2 million. The sheriff hopes it will make the nearly 600 miles that make up the area a safer place to live.
“The word is all about efficiency and safety to our citizens, and this was able to definitely make that a possibility,” he said.
The Iredell County Sheriff’s Office believes this is the most modern mobile command center of this caliber in our region. The county has a smaller, older bus it plans to donate to an agency that was impacted by Hurricane Helene.