John Mannion

Camillus, N.Y. - The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office has received a $1 million federal grant to purchase a new mobile command center.

The money was secured by Rep. John Mannion (D-Geddes) using money earmarked in a $1.2 trillion government funding bill signed by President Donald Trump in February.

Mannion joined Sheriff Toby Shelley at the sheriff’s office heliport on Cessna Drive in Camillus on Friday morning to announce the grant.

Mobile command centers are typically used by law enforcement agencies when they spend several hours on scene for emergency calls or high-attendance events.

The department’s old mobile command center was removed from service in 2023 after its frame rusted, Shelley said. Since last year, the department has used a 26-foot-long trailer center as a temporary replacement.

The department deployed its command center for about a dozen emergency calls last year, according to Thomas Newton, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office. One incident was a 13-hour standoff in Salina in January where one man was fatally stabbed.

Shelley said the center now being used is not big enough to house the operations they need for emergency situations.

“Bringing the incident command people together - the fire chief, emergency management, the sheriff - all those decision-makers in one spot was a challenge in our little trailer,” Shelley said.

The new 38-foot-long command center will not only be larger, but it will also be equipped with more high-tech law enforcement equipment, such as new cameras and drones.

The sheriff’s office considered not buying a command center but sharing ones operated by the Syracuse police or the State Police.

Newton said they decided to buy a command center because it is difficult to connect their high-tech equipment with another department’s equipment. Also, it can be logistically difficult to share and get another department’s command center to a scene, he said.