Eden Prairie’s practice of sharing police resources with Edina, Minnetonka, Hopkins, and St. Louis Park helped it earn a $963,000 federal grant to help buy a new mobile command center.
The balance of the $1.2 million purchase OK’d by the Eden Prairie City Council on Nov. 12 will come from the city’s capital improvements program.
Work by local and federal elected officials, including 3rd District Congressman Dean Phillips, to champion Eden Prairie’s application for U.S. Department of Justice funds was instrumental in winning the grant, said Police Chief Matt Sackett.
“But really it’s the ability to keep this high level of technology and response available to others, and to partner with agencies around us,” he said. “I think we’re going to succeed as a city if we keep those around us as partners.”
Sackett said Eden Prairie police share negotiators, SWAT teams, and other resources with those cities. That includes Eden Prairie’s current mobile command center, which is 23 years old and reaching the end of its useful life. St. Louis Park is the only one of those other cities to have such a vehicle, said Sackett.
Residents are most likely to have seen the current mobile command center at large community events, such as Eden Prairie’s Fourth of July celebration. But it’s also used for unplanned major events, the police chief said, such as plane crashes at Flying Cloud Airport or major house fires.
At large events, the vehicle takes on a variety of roles. It can be a place for police and fire officials to meet at the scene of an emergency or provide respite to emergency responders working long hours at a fire or accident.
“And also just being that kind of visual presence of safety and security at an event – that is a place to go for help,” Sackett added. “So it kind of centralizes our ability to be there for the community.”
The large price tag is due to the vehicle’s size and capabilities, said the chief. The new mobile command center will have four “slide-outs” – sections of the vehicle’s body that slide outward to extend its workspace. Then there’s the electronics, such as phones, computers, and cameras – all the technology needed to manage a scene. “It starts to add up,” Sackett said.
The vehicle is expected to be delivered by its maker in Burlington, Wisconsin, around February 2026. “It will come with everything. It’s turnkey and ready to go,” the chief said.
The current mobile command center has minimal resale value, so the department is looking at repurposing it for use as a different type of vehicle, he said.
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