One day after most neighborhood groups in Roanoke observed National Night Out, the city was demonstrating its commitment to community policing once again by allowing citizens to tour the Police Department’s Mobile Command Unit.
Roanoke police parked the recreational vehicle-turned-communications center outside Fire Station # 3 on Williamson Road, and laid out all sorts of information for those that stopped by. Many of the pamphlets highlighted what homeowners and renters could do to prevent burglaries and vehicle theft.
“Start by locking the doors if you’re not home and not leaving the keys in your car,” said Detective Allen Williams, who also investigates arson cases for the city. Leaving doors open and unlocked is “just an easy invitation” to a criminal. “Don’t make it easy,” Williams notes. As for the mobile command post, Williams said they use it “where we have a tactical need for it.”
That includes the scene of major fires, where it becomes a communications center. Roanoke police also used the mobile unit when searching for toddler Avion Lewis last year. The mobile unit also provides shelter from the cold and rain if officers in the field need a respite. “A little bit of a refuge,” said Williams.
During the Christmas holiday season it has been used as a command post in the parking lot at Valley View Mall. Once hooked up to a phone /internet line, dispatchers can send units out on calls, they can receive calls, send faxes, e-mails, etc. “It gives us somewhere we can have a meeting room,” said Williams. Not to mention a commanding presence when parked in a neighborhood or mall parking lot.
One of the more successful community programs offered by Roanoke City police in recent years are VIN etching sessions that allow officers to add a vehicle identification number in additional places to make vehicle theft more difficult. It’s hard to sell a stolen car or chop it up for parts if it can be traced, said Det. Jimmy Price, who works auto theft cases for the city. For a city its size, Roanoke has a fairly large problem when it comes to auto theft according to Price, who had literature available about VIN etching in the Mobile Command Unit.
“We take that VIN number and etch it into all your windows,” said Price, who called it a “deterrent” rather than a foolproof method of stopping thieves. “A thief is going to go after another car that doesn’t have that.” Price said a special method is used to tag motorcycles, since they don’t have windows to etch.
Price doesn’t think there are major chop shop operations in Roanoke; vehicles stolen here “are going somewhere else” to be parted out, in his estimation. There is actually a problem with Moped thefts right now – “they’re too easy to steal. If they are sitting in your yard [thieves] are going to push them off if they want it.”
“Criminals are getting smarter and smarter every day,” said Price “so we have to get smarter and smarter every day. We do our best to stay one step ahead. We also want to get closer to the community and let them know that we’re here to help them when they need us.” The Mobile Command Unit is a big part of that effort.
(The next free VIN etching program for Roanoke residents takes place on September 11, in the Target parking lot at Valley View Mall from 10am-2pm. Autos and motorcycles will be etched. An average of 50 or more have shown up at the last few etchings. )
