For Immediate Release

Thursday, Oct. 15, 2015

Contact: John Guilfoil
Phone: 617-993-0003
Email: john@jgpr.net

Burlington Police Deploy New Mobile Command Vehicle

BURLINGTON — Chief Michael Kent is pleased to announce that the Burlington Police Department’s new Mobile Command Vehicle is now available and ready to be deployed in the community.

In 2014, the Burlington Police Department received $100,000 in funding through the Cummings Foundation’s $100K for 100 Grant Program to acquire and equip a Mobile Command Vehicle.

“We are extremely grateful to the Cummings Foundation for selecting the Burlington Police Department as one of the recipients of this award,” Chief Kent said. “This invaluable project will exponentially improve services for our residents.”

The vehicle will not only be deployed in Burlington, but will be available to neighboring communities when needed.

It will be used to supplement the department’s Incident Command System — which manages critical public safety situations — to improve effectiveness and efficiency of operations.

During these incidents, the Mobile Command Vehicle retains all the strengths of the traditional command post, while providing unique advantages that are particular to mobile command, including:

• Mobility for rapid deployment, seamless command post transition and rapid command post relocation to the closest safe location in relation to the incident scene.
• The ability to improve communications and coordination between agencies through radio technology that allows agencies to speak with each other over their own frequencies.
• The capacity to advance the investigative operations through on scene technology by using the vehicle’s operations to attain, analyze and rapidly disseminate information to police personnel.

“Our new Mobile Command Vehicle is going to allow the department to expand and improve services while on patrol, at a crime scene or during an investigation,” Captain Gregory Skehan said. “Not only that, but we will be able to provide assistance to our counterparts during critical incidents.”

In 2014, the same year the Burlington Police Department received its grant, the Cummings Foundation provided 38 grants in Middlesex County, 25 in Essex County and 37 in Suffolk County. The Woburn and Wilmington police departments were also awarded $100,000 each for various endeavors.

“The $100K for 100 program is geared toward supporting communities where the Cummings organization operates. We really want to give back and support those areas,“ said Joyce Vyriotes, Communications Director at Cummings Foundation. “We’re big fans of Burlington and of course we’re so appreciative of the Burlington Police Department and all they do to keep the community safe.”

About the Cummings Foundation

The Woburn-based Cummings Foundation, Inc. was established in 1986 by Joyce and Bill Cummings of Winchester, Mass. With assets exceeding $1 billion, it recently joined Barr Foundation and The Boston Foundation as one of the three largest foundations in New England. The foundation is currently accepting Letters of Inquiry for the $100K for 100 program’s 2016 grant cycle. Visit CummingsFoundation.org for more information.

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