Unit 808

Oshkosh Auxiliary Police – Mobile Operations Command Center

July 5th 2006.  The Auxiliary was called out to assist at a fire scene security detail on 9th Street. As the investigation unfolded our involvement turned into a 24 hour per day, 5 day event. Auxiliary Officers provided 131 total hours of crime scene security for this arson investigation.

During our after-event debriefing, comments were made that given the many multi-day and over night assignments our Unit has involvement with, a useful tool we were lacking and might want to consider would be some type of command post vehicle.

That debriefing meeting was the start of a long term fundraising campaign that resulted in our new Auxiliary Police, Mobile Operations and Command Center Trailer which saw its inaugural use during the 2008 Special Olympics Polar Plunge event.

Once we came to the conclusion we would embark on the largest fundraising effort our Unit was ever attempted in our 49 year history, we knew that in order to be successful, we would need to put significant effort into the project.

Some initial investigation was completed to determine what options we could consider. General budgetary costs were gathered to develop a realistic cost projection and fund raising goal. This information was placed into a project proposal letter and presented to the OPD Ranking Staff. The Staff replied with unanimous approval and support of our project.

After receiving approval to proceed with the project, with the assistance of Dorry Wilner, a fund request packet that included a Request Letter, Unit Information Sheet and Reply Form was prepared. The method chosen was a mailing campaign. The packet would be the primary way we hoped to receive donations.

Significant time was placed into developing a database of various area organizations, businesses and industrial plants as well as attempting to identify key personal contact names within each operation. Throughout the remainder of 2006 and into 2007 personalized letters were sent to hundreds of potential donors.

By the fall of 2007, we had received $8,000.00 of donations from some 50 various organizations, businesses and individuals. On September 12th, Dorry informed me that we had received the donation that would put our efforts over-the-top. We had received a $9,000.00 Oshkosh Community Foundation, Horace M. Foulk Memorial fund, Community Impact Grant! With a total of $17,000.00 available, we were ready to move forward with our project.

After visiting various local trailer sales lots, our team put together a final specification list. That list was sent to 3 different trailer vendors. Upon receiving the quotations, each was evaluated to insure the quote met our requirements.

Based on pricing, Captains Trailer Sales in Kaukauna was chosen as the potential vendor. We visited Captains to review our project and were told that the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department had purchased 2 trailers for similar purposes. We asked for a reference and contacted Outagamie to arrange a discussion and inspection their trailers. We received nothing but positive feedback regarding Captains Trailer from Outagamie County. Based on that reference and very competitive pricing, we felt comfortable and finalized our order.

January 23, 2008. Our trailer arrived in Kaukauna from the CargoMate Trailer manufacturing plant in Elkhart Indiana…the result exceeded our expectations!

Our inaugural use of the Command Trailer was by every measure successful! The trailer was put into service on Thursday February 21st and manned for overnight security at the Special Olympics Oshkosh Polar Plunge. We staffed the trailer from 4:00 PM that evening until 8:00 AM the following day. Even with temperatures in the single digits, the furnace in the trailer made our security command post very comfortable.

The following day, Friday February 22nd, we again staffed the detail from 4:00 PM continuously until the Polar Plunge ended Saturday afternoon. The trailer performed exactly as planned. It was the central gathering point for all security services. It was even sought out by several needing first aid. The trailer allowed our Auxiliary Officers to congregate and review the operation objectives using various maps and event layouts made available. Furthermore our radio installation allowed for central communications just as planned.

We could not be more pleased with the results! The entire 18 month effort was very rewarding. Needless to say we are extremely grateful to all those who stepped up and supported our Unit by providing a donation for this project.